Clockwork5
Member
Yes the restaurant dropped the ball. They should have discounted your bill, given you a gift card or paid for your dry cleaning. I'm sure any one of those options would have been fine with you and it is what should have been done.
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Waitress poured hot soup on me, restaurant did absolutely nothing
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Yes the restaurant dropped the ball. They should have discounted your bill, given you a gift card or paid for your dry cleaning. I'm sure any one of those options would have been fine with you and it is what should have been done.
Soup in jeans also ruins it too. You should wash them as soon as possible or the bacteria will begin growing and give the jeans a really weird (but not unpleasant) smell...
Yeah, I'm really confused as to why people are giving you a hard time when you were very reasonable about the whole thing. Lord knows some old woman would have fussed up a storm...
Yeah, I'm really confused as to why people are giving you a hard time when you were very reasonable about the whole thing. Lord knows some old woman would have fussed up a storm...
CarpeDeezNutz
Member
Even if OP didn't say anything I would have comped his meal. Some people suffer in silence.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
this is confusing. do you have any data on this? from the restaurant's perspective the customer left happy: he accepted the apology, didn't care the soup was spilled, and still left a tip. all data says he would most likely return.
You haven't explicitly said you're upset about it but the way you come off makes it seem like that. It could just be you come off passive-aggressive in general and if so, my bad.
You still weren't guranteed a free soup. If you made as big of a deal at the restaurant as you have here, you would've been compensated. You didn't and they took that as a sign that you were okay with it and didn't feel entitled to a free meal.
On top of that, there are some factors you aren't even considerong. Depending on the cuisine, different cultures have different standards as to what makes good customer service. Also, you can't gurantee that management even knew what happened. Sure, it was small and you think they would have, but you don't know that for certain. And regular waitresses don't usually have the authority to give you a free meal.
Tinfoilhatsron
Banned
Yeah this is me. Just don't go back OP. Anyway I feel like some chicken noodle right about now.
Not if I do it first!
George Washington
Member
They should have done something.
Clockwork5
Member
disappeared
Banned
Saying "because they're in the service industry" like the worker owes their very life to the customer.
Yeah, I don't plan on going back. All of my co-workers were surprised that they didn't comp me either. So I'm guessing that left a bad impression on them too.
Sorry I read too much into the topic you made by engaging it? I'm typing this up while listening to a podcast so I guess we're both nailing this whole casual conversation thing.
I'm desperately hungry, now...
I mean, you are technically correct that there are no rules but common sense says that this person had a bad experience and is probably not going to come back. This also applies to everyone at his table, those people might not come back if they didn't think the situation was well handled. Since restaurants rely on repeat business, the extension of this common sense is that it is easy to go above and beyond the simple apology and possibly retain them as a potential customer. Why risk the negative reactions, just comp the meal.
Surface of Me
I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
Comping a meal over your own own mistake is equivalent to handing over your soul to a customer?
dickroach
Member
lol yea. that's what i said.
They apologized, and he accepted without hesitation. What more should they have done given the OPS acceptance of the apology? Why can't people just communicate what they want instead of expecting a different outcome by saying nothing?
they're all named Margo
tbh unless was food was great or I was a regular I'd probably avoid going back as well.
disappeared
Banned
It must be because that was all the text you typed without elaborating.
I doubt you're actually "confused"
Benzychenz
Member
Not a massive deal. Especially if she gave a sincere apology and you didn't make a fuss.
Where I work we probably would have offered you a free drink or something though.
Where I work we probably would have offered you a free drink or something though.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
all common sense says is he left happy because that is all he showed. he showed he was ok with the apology and the spilled soup, so ok he tips. to the restaurant they fulfilled their compensation. at a certain point the customer has to speak up. let's say you spill soup on someone and comp them. how are you sure they want more? what if they want dry cleaning or a gift certificate on top of it? you don't. it's a negotiation and OP showed he was 100% fine with just an apology. i can't blame the restaurant for not doing more if the OP clearly didn't show he wanted more.
Forsaken82
Member
Groups of 6+ often already have the tip included in the pay. Not sure what's so funny about that... it's a common practice at least in the states.
always crazy bacon
Banned
Wow this topics blown up, not surprising it's Two Worlds again. He's making all you Millennials look bad.
Does absolutely nothing about the spilled soup, sits there waiting for the manager to comp his meal, he even pays the tip without saying anything. Then goes home to complain about it on the internet safe behind his touchscreen.
This whole topic is just him looking for validation for his inaction and when he does not get that because he's been called out on his pissive aggressiveness starts to get snarky at people pointing out where he's gone wrong.
While were at it, title says poured, but the story is spilled.
Imperfected
Member
Perhaps soup-soaked jeans will be the new trend?
Surface of Me
I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
Why couldnt the restaurant exercise good customer service without their hand being forced to do so?
Beerman462
Member
There are are starving children that would love to have soup spilled on them OP. Jesus get over it.
/s
I don't understand the get over it / move on posts either. Short answer is they should have compensated you in some way beyond an apology. It's just good for business. If you would have made a big deal about it at the time they would have compensated you at least. I've sent food back and not made a big deal, but got the meal for free ect.
Not sure what I would do in this situation. It would really depend on how my day was going beforehand.
/s
I don't understand the get over it / move on posts either. Short answer is they should have compensated you in some way beyond an apology. It's just good for business. If you would have made a big deal about it at the time they would have compensated you at least. I've sent food back and not made a big deal, but got the meal for free ect.
Not sure what I would do in this situation. It would really depend on how my day was going beforehand.
LookAtMeGo
Member
We had this service training thing at my work, which is at a high class fancy shmancy hotel chain. One of the things mentioned was the human capacity to complain. We love to complain. One of the major talking points was how to right a situation and how to fix something that went wrong. You dont want someone to leave your establishment with a negative experience on their mind.
Statistically if someone has a good experience somewhere, they tell 1 or 2 people about it. If they have a bad experience they will tell 10 or more people about it. So its your job as an employee there to take a situation where someone might feel the need to complain and you turn it into a positive one. If anyone had come up with the answer to apologize sincerely as to the question "how do we handle spilling hot soup on someone?" And offer nothing else besides that apology, they would have been told how bad of an answer that was.
This situation was not handled properly and anyone who works in the industry knows this. OP should not have had to make a big stink about it for them to rectify the situation. Bad etiquette for the restaurants staff on display here. Lost business is lost business and thats bad business.
Statistically if someone has a good experience somewhere, they tell 1 or 2 people about it. If they have a bad experience they will tell 10 or more people about it. So its your job as an employee there to take a situation where someone might feel the need to complain and you turn it into a positive one. If anyone had come up with the answer to apologize sincerely as to the question "how do we handle spilling hot soup on someone?" And offer nothing else besides that apology, they would have been told how bad of an answer that was.
This situation was not handled properly and anyone who works in the industry knows this. OP should not have had to make a big stink about it for them to rectify the situation. Bad etiquette for the restaurants staff on display here. Lost business is lost business and thats bad business.
The part that makes it passive aggressive is this thread. It makes you seem ingenuine when you accepted the waitress's apology and a failed attempt at getting something for doing nothing.
I don't want to rag on you because frankly some people are blowing it out of proportion but it's hard to deny this thread doesn't seem whiny at the very least.
Nordstrom already sells jeans with pre-installed dirt stains. Time to pour some soup on there and rake in the profit!
Fatality.
Sometimes you have to decide if you want to play the "I'd like to speak to the manager" card. What's more important, not looking like kind of a dick or not being somebody that got soup spilled on them only to pretend they don't care when they really do?
A good place would have taken care of you before the choice even came up. This place didn't, and you chose.
A good place would have taken care of you before the choice even came up. This place didn't, and you chose.
I asked for feedback from those that have had similar experience or have worked or do work in the service industry. Basically all of them feel that the restaurant should have compulsively done something to address it.
And yeah, I said earlier that "pour" was not the right word to use. That was my mistake.
Imperfected
Member
Charge extra for soaking it in Michelin star chef soup, when actually we're just dipping it in a vat of bargain minestrone in the factory. I can dig it.
I want to believe, that wasn't a typo!
Glass Shark
Banned
She apologized, you said it wasn't a big deal, and you didn't ask to get your bill adjusted. Nothing wrong happened here. Get over it.
You're drawing up this weird image as if I'm here seething over it in secrecy. I didn't want to make a scene and I didn't want to make the waitress's day worse. I used to work retail for a long time and I always appreciated the customers that understood that people make mistakes. That is a separate issue from feeling that the restaurant failed to address the issue. These are not contradictory or passive-aggressive views.
disappeared
Banned
Good, so you feel validated.
LabouredSubterfuge
Member
It's probably worth considering whether the clothing of the OP was permanently damaged first and, if so, the value of those clothes at a used value. Also whether cargo shorts were involved. Then we can factor in primary or secondary mental harm.
I think the funniest part of this thread is the number of people clearly ignoring people who have actually worked in the service industry.
The restaurant shouldn't have comped his meal just out of moral obligation, it's obviously going to affect their business if they make a habit out of bad customer service. If a waiter spilled soup on me then didn't offer anything to rectify the situation I also wouldn't have said anything but I also would not return to that restaurant and would warn my friends to stay away from it.
We've already got everyone's favorite cargo-shorts supporter in this thread. I wonder if the involvement of cargo shorts would change that poster's mind on this topic.
The restaurant shouldn't have comped his meal just out of moral obligation, it's obviously going to affect their business if they make a habit out of bad customer service. If a waiter spilled soup on me then didn't offer anything to rectify the situation I also wouldn't have said anything but I also would not return to that restaurant and would warn my friends to stay away from it.
We've already got everyone's favorite cargo-shorts supporter in this thread. I wonder if the involvement of cargo shorts would change that poster's mind on this topic.
Dash_Riprock
Member
Edit: misread, my bad
Don't know why you're so focused on how validated I am feeling.
Magicgamer101
Member
Yeah they should have compensated you. I would have asked but you shouldn't have had to. Topics on waiters are always weird to me, this and how some waiters think customers have to tip because they don't get paid enough.
Also learn how to complain. You're paying for a service so you're entitled to that right. If I fucked up while working I'd want people to complain.
Also learn how to complain. You're paying for a service so you're entitled to that right. If I fucked up while working I'd want people to complain.
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