Many people say they are fine in stressful or unusual situations, when they aren't. The onus is on the authority figure to recognise this, like going 'above and beyond' in customer service. Sure it was an accident, but the OPs clothes were soiled and it can be an embarrassing experience, compared to something like a forgotten dessert.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Waitress poured hot soup on me, restaurant did absolutely nothing
- Thread starter Two Words
- Start date
- Status
theofficefan99
Junior Member
This. I don't know a manager anywhere that wouldn't comp someone had they known about it. Clearly the manager here didn't.
TC had soup spilled, waitress apologized, prolly felt terrible and was shitting her pants about getting in trouble, TC said it's fine.
Yes, it sucks that TC didn't get anything comp'd but at the end of the day he got a sincere apology and he did the girl a massive favor by not causing a scene, potentially costing her a write-up or her job.
Can this topic end now lol
Dude, she's a waitress. What the fuck.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
The onus isn't on the restaurant. He accepted the apology (that conveniently went from emphatically to frazzled and hurried).
He literally put up a front that said he was fine and the situation is resolved. You can't blame the restaurant for not doing more when he can't even bothered to act even a bit upset.
He played himself.
Now he regrets it.
Now he wants validation.
This is why he's literally saying people are arguing in bad faith because they believe he's being entitled as he's not actually contacting the restaurant. He's trying to slyly seek validation for his inaction. Who wouldn't? The other interns probably said, "dude, why didn't you ask for a free meal and shit? You had soup spilled on you!"
edit: fixed a word
AuthenticM
Member
TC should have been compensated and anyone saying otherwise knows jack shit about customer service.
How is this thread 18-pages long.
How is this thread 18-pages long.
But also it's not that big a deal that he wasn't.
I don't usually respond to you anymore, but misquoting me is an issue. I said she emphatically apologized, not empathetically apologized.
Dash_Riprock
Member
Its a Two Words thread.
I don't understand why TwoWords is getting so much grief here. And I also don't understand how anyone could say that just because she apologized that it should be the end of it. If you were in his shoes would you not want more than an apology? It sounds like some of you have been programmed to side with businesses thanks to McDonald's vilifying the woman who got scalded with coffee. He's not even trying to sue or get anyone fired.
Good customer service means doing the right thing for the reasons. At the very least his meal should have been comped and his clothes paid for to be dry cleaned. Some of you should be ashamed of yourself for calling him out like you have.
Good customer service means doing the right thing for the reasons. At the very least his meal should have been comped and his clothes paid for to be dry cleaned. Some of you should be ashamed of yourself for calling him out like you have.
I'm not trying to be combative but i don't know how to say this without it sounding frank/brash but do you not have a higher standard/expectation for how you get treated in the food and hospitality sector?
A lot of being made of the fact that the server apologized and the OP accepted her apology but as i see it, the bigger issue is about how the server didn't offer more than the bare minimum to fix a rather egregious mistake
the server may not be in a position to offer anything, may not have thought about it, may have panicked, may be new
OP's grievance, as the title suggests, is with the restaurant and OP failed to make the restaurant aware that he had a problem
Subpar Spatula
Banned
Let's say someone spills something on me. They apologize, I shake it off, say it's fine, and the rest of the time I'm in their company I act OK. Do you think I'm doing my part to let people know I am upset?
Alright, now fast forward a couple hours: what if I start talking to other people -- not the spiller -- that I'm upset. What would you think I'm doing?
Let's say people say to contact the spiller to get this smoothed over and I don't but continue to say "they should have known." What do you think?
Like, all signs point to him putting up a front and being "polite" about it but then coming home and complaining. He never showed any inkling of being upset to the restaurant. He decided to show NeoGAF he was upset.
At a certain point you have to take up your grievances with the parties involved. If you do not want to do that then do not expect anything from them. You're being passive-aggressive at this point -- especially when you decide to slam their restaurant behind their backs when they believe (based on your reaction and statements to the accident) things to be fine.
The standard depends on how upset you are. That's it. A restaurant can go above and beyond if they want but they don't have to. That's all there is to it. Have a problem with it? Speak the fuck up.
Livingskeletons
If I pulled that off, would you die?
That's the hottest your lap has been in years OP.
The onus IS on the restaurant. It's on the waitress to understand she has ONE JOB: customer service. She is TERRIBLE at it.
Acerac
Banned
Do you understand the context of this clip, or do you think it's just a person clapping emphatically?
and as a customer the onus is on you to escalate the issue if you feel it's not being handled properly
Or you are free to choose that if the management/waitress do not escalate it appropriately on their own, then you can decide this restaurant provides poor customer service and decide to leave it for good.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
How about letting them know that then? Instead of acting cool about the situation?
You're literally being super passive-aggressive about this.
"I wanted more."
"Should have talked to them."
"They should have known. I don't want to go there anymore now."
"Did you even talk to them?"
"Nope."
you can do both, get the compensation through escalation and then never go back
Acerac
Banned
Exactly. Proceeding to tell other people you know not to go there because their customer service is unusually shitty is a perfectly justifiable way to approach the situation.
The people who claim that nobody knew about the situation despite a literal human being dumping soup on you are strange to me. Perhaps the management didn't know, but if that were the case the server failed to do her job.
Right. You can address the situation as it occurs, or you can roll with it and do what you want later. I often do the latter myself.
What I will never understand is telling someone a situation is fine, not receiving comp, and then declaring that to be bad customer service. The root is a communication problem, and the problem originated with you telling the waitress it was okay.
What was the name of the restaurant?
Sure. My feeling was that if they didn't proactively handle the situation, then I'm just going to pay my bill and not come back. Not sure why so many people act like that is such a terrible route to take. As it stands now, either the waitress decided to hide her mistake from management, which is a big mistake, or the management chose to not proactively address the issue. Either way, I find them to give bad service and I don't plan to go back because of it.
No shit he should've been more assertive but the only reason we're saying that is because she didn't do her job. She should have the notion to 'take care' of the client in that situation. This is common sense and she's horrible at her job (or just afraid of getting in trouble).
Crazy part is the shit customer service some of you seem to be used to. Sheesh.
so offering compensation wasn't the test (because if you wanted compensation, you would have asked for it right?)
it was the waitress not proactively trying to compensate that didn't pass muster
If they needed me to tell them that having hot soup spilled on me was below the kind of customer experience I expect, then they are delivering bad customer service.
Noodle Wave. I don't know if they are a big chain or anything. Either way, I don't think this restaurant really speaks for the others if they exist.
Night Angel
Member
A good restaurant would've had the manager at your table to check in on you and comp your meal at least.
People in this thread must like being doormats if all they expect is an apology for something like this. They ruined your clothes and could have burned you. A free meal is just good business.
You shouldn't have to complain to have the restaurant respond to you getting a bowl of damn soup spilled all over you.
People in this thread must like being doormats if all they expect is an apology for something like this. They ruined your clothes and could have burned you. A free meal is just good business.
You shouldn't have to complain to have the restaurant respond to you getting a bowl of damn soup spilled all over you.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
Uhh... the OP is the one that accepted the apology. He said everything was fine. He was unable to muster the courage to speak up about something that clearly made him upset (as evident from this thread).
I agree with most of what you're saying in a very general sense however i disagree with the cornerstone of your argument...
Absolutely disagree here. The standard depends on the mistake. We're not talking about the server mistakenly brushing up against his shoulder. She spilled soup on him and ruined his clothes. I don't think it's up for debate to say that's an egregious mistake and as such the server, much more so given that we're talking about the food and hospitality sector, should feel compelled to do more than just give an apology regardless of how polite the customer reacts.
She didn't bother to do more and for me that's the problem. The server could have offered a comp even if their hands are tied. If they weren't fully authorized to do it on their own then at that point that's an L they should be willing to take if it means getting management involved in order to make up for the mistake and make the situation right.
She made a pretty major mistake and the fact that she doesn't attempt to do more to rectify it other than offer an apology i think is pretty lowbrow.
We don't know what was said but if she were a good employee, hell one deploying common sense, she wouldn't let the customer brush it off. She'd take the initiative to take care of her client and do so on the bill. She didn't. Pair that with the OP who lacks assertiveness and you've got this thread.
Night Angel
Member
It's on the restaurant to make it right. If the restaurant only responds to demands rather than taking that step themselves, they offer shitty customer service.
Acerac
Banned
You shouldn't have ghosted the restaurant and instead been more direct about how you really feel
The restaurant shouldn't have been abysmal at customer service.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
Again, it's a mistake. What happens next is crucial: are you upset? If you're not then you're SHOWING the other party everything is fine. He even said it was. That's the issue here. He failed to communicate and it led him down here. How much a business needs to comp someone for a mistake is up to them. A business can go above and beyond and offer them gift cards, free comp, and drinks if they wanted to. You get what you ask for. The key is to ask for it. An apology is just fine. You're not hurt, your time wasn't wasted, the servers or management weren't being defensive about it. Nothing like that. They were decent to him. What he needed to do was speak up JUST LIKE HOW HE IS SPEAKING UP IN THIS THREAD but he did not.
How much a business comps you is up to them. If you feel you're entitled to more than demand more. If you cannot demand because you're too polite or timid then that's on you.
I searched for reviews of said place on Yelp (there's four of them, not sure if it's the exact same store) and found this 4 star review from 2015, OP:
Sounds like they do give comps.
The restaurant shouldn't have been abysmal at customer service.
It's weirdly obsessive to be so fixated on an honest mistake :* I never expect anything more out of anyone or any business, and if I really do then I'll make my voice heard. He didn't!
Crimson_Echidna
Banned
If the employee makes a mistake but then I assuage them of responsibility by telling them "it's fine" or "don't worry about it" then yes, the onus is absolutely back on the customer.
I get that OP probably didn't want to be the bad guy and get the employee in trouble, but if I feel like I'm experiencing "shit customer service", I'm going to speak to a supervisor about it, not bank on the employee to try and be a mindreader.
Almost 1000 posts in lol.
curls
Wake up Sheeple, your boring insistence that Obama is not a lizardman from Atlantis is wearing on my patience ð¤
You did a typical British thing by saying absolutely nothing. The best thing to do to rectify this sticky situation is to write a letter of complaint. You might get some vouchers.
Night Angel
Member
Don't ask don't get is fucking horrible customer service. I hold my experience at a restaurant to higher standards than the airport.
I was in hospitalities for a good while. Even if a customer says everything is okay and don't press the issue, a respectable place would offer something--free dessert, gift card, comp the meal or something. I think that's the point OP is making, that management took no action themselves and that's strange in itself.
So the people at the restaurant are supposed to just be psychic?
Is this like an American thing?
Night Angel
Member
You don't have to be psychic to know that you fucked up when you spilled an entire bowl of hot soup on a customer.
curls
Wake up Sheeple, your boring insistence that Obama is not a lizardman from Atlantis is wearing on my patience ð¤
He could have been dressed in finery. It was a bit of a screw up.
Yeah, but if he says it's okay you'd just kinda assume it is, I think.
I mean OP would totally be in the right to get back in touch and clarify that it's not okay. But I don't think it's outrageous that he'd be taken at his word.
Could OP have said/demanded more? Absolutely. But i'll be damn if i give a pass to a server who apparently doesn't have the decency to internalize that spilling soup on someone is a major offense that deserves more than just an apology. That's a major mistake for what is suppose to be one of the many competencies of your job.
Nothing removes the fact that the server should WANT to do/offer more than just a simple apology regardless of how the customer reacts given that they should KNOW that spilling soup on someone is a major fuck up. If that server walked away from that situation telling themselves "well I apologized and he accepted so everything is ok" then that's a clear cut indication to me that's not someone who values or knows how to give good customer service
Acerac
Banned
Assuming one will be compensated for such a major blunder is actually very fair and healthy. Since they did not, he will no longer return there, and tell others that it is an iffy place to visit. This all seems to make sense to me.
No obsessing has been done here, and it seems odd that you would use that terminology. Do you think that any person who makes a thread about a subject is obsessed? Why?
What did you not read the first post in the thread?
curls
Wake up Sheeple, your boring insistence that Obama is not a lizardman from Atlantis is wearing on my patience ð¤
He was crying on the inside though. 😢
- Status