Terrible service vent
HBirdie
member
So, usually I'm pretty proud of what a good customer I am and how polite I am to servers and retail workers and whatnot, but tonight I was so frustrated that I can't speak up for myself! My husband and I went to this pizza place/bar for dinner, and had a terrible experience. One server took our order and then a different server came to take our order again, and she seemed really confused that the first guy had already done it. Not a big deal. But then 45 minutes later we still didn't have food (even our appetizers) and they hadn't come to refill our waters or anything. Then they bring us salads that we did not order instead of the yam fries that we did. They finally bring us the yam fries, then it was at least another twenty minutes of waiting for our pizzas. The entire time we ate, they completely ignored us despite DH trying repeatedly to flag them down for more water (we were kind of stuck in a corner). So we just watched as the waitress helped the tables behind us multiple times (and flirted with the loud, drunk party behind us A LOT), while ignoring us completely. When we finally did get someone to bring us water (by actually getting up and asking for it), she acted like it was a huge inconvenience. It was awful! Neither of us are the type to complain or ask to talk to a manager or anything, so now I'm just grumpy and wishing I had done something. Oh well. Does anyone else have this problem of being too polite to stand up for yourself, even when you should? I feel like generally my nice attitude get me further and waiters tend to treat us well, so I don't know how to handle it when they don't.
Ugh. Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. I'm annoyed, but at least I'm full!
Re: Terrible service vent
I learned the way to still feel polite about it is to make sure you talk to the manager for exceptionally good service too. if your waitress rocked it... tell the manager. if they sucked... tell the manager.
If you can't deal with confrontation: write a letter to corporate.
I am totally that type of person. I was a server/bartender for a while so I don't ever complain and always just chalk it up to bad luck. But, like you said, for the most part my niceness gets me farther with service. I had an experience at a local well known restaurant: my friend and I went in just for appetizer and drinks (mine virgin of course) but we got the food about 35 minutes after we ordered and our drinks sat empty for a solid 10 minutes. Mind you we were one of 3 tables in the place at the time. When our food finally got to our table it was like it had been sitting in the window for about 20 minutes (which makes sense). There were mini burgers that I swear the buns were hard as rocks. My friend and I were actually knocking them on the table to hear how loud they were. Her boneless wings had about a half an ounce of sauce on them and they were cold. It was awful. But we just laughed it off as long as we could and then paid and left. We still tipped her our usually 20% but as we left we wanted to go back and ask for a manager.
In the end, it was just one meal so it's not the end of the world. There are many other worse things that could happen to us. Thanks for letting me vent on top of your vent!
Since it happened so recently, please call the restaurant. If you still have the receipt, get it out and be able to tell them EXACTLY who your server was. If you don't, try to describe her to the best of your ability. Let them know that you were in no way pleased with the service (tell them what happened), that you won't be returning, and that you'll be letting your friends and family know about the experience. If you don't still have the receipt, call their corporate office (if it's a chain), and make sure that they know, too. Restaurants can't improve unless customers speak up.
I did finally, after 4 blood draws during two different pregnancies, complain to my OB office about their new phlebotomist. She started midway through my pg with dd2 and is so rude. She's not friendly at all, doesn't even say hi. She's rough with the needle, doesn't even acknowledge that I spoke when I told her that I don't have great veins and that she'll have better luck with a smaller needle. Doesn't even warn you when she's about to stick you!
I get that her job is to draw blood and not be my friend, but seriously, she's dealing with the job most women dread having done the most!
The rest of the office is SO super friendly, kind and warm to the patients, so she's really the odd one there.
When I found out I had to do the 3 hour GD test, I asked if she had a day off during the week, because I didn't want to see her. I ended up telling the nurse who calle about her behavior, and someone must have said something to her, because she was a bit friendlier for that 3 hour test!!