Customer service sitch - am I a dick or no?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Last night we stopped to pick up sushi on the way home.

Ordinarily, the service there is great. Exceptionally great. Really, really great.

My wife ordered, paid, and sat down. (We went dutch as a compromise, I’d gotten the movie tickets and wouldn’t hear of her getting dinner because I typically eat five times as much as she does.)

As I was ordering, the phone rang. She picked up the phone, and took a delivery order. Fine. Short call, maybe three minutes.

She finished with that, and I reiterated my order, which she scratched on a notepad. I got out my wallet, and the phone rang again. “Hang on.” This person had several questions about hours, location, specials, etc. Again, short call, two - three minutes.

She hung up, picked up the scratch pad, walked over to the till, and entered the first item of my order as I got my card out in anticipation of completing the transaction. And then the phone rang, again. “Oh, hang on a minute.” More than a minute, actually - this was a large order. I waited another four - five minutes with my wallet out.

As I had been standing there for ten minutes with my order no closer to the kitchen, I waved my hand at her and said “Forget it, I’m not hungry.” She furrowed her brow a bit at that, but carried on with her call. Then I went to sit down with my wife and wait. And fume.

I was a bit mad; I don’t see this as any different that allowing three customers to cut in line ahead of me - at some point I expect that I am going to be served and that the other customer is going to be asked to “wait a minute.” My wife’s order had already gone to the kitchen, at that point I just wanted to get home and did not want to wait another 15 minutes after her order was ready.

But we did wait. Turns out she went ahead and passed my order to the kitchen after I sat down. I said, “I’m sorry, I though you understood that I had cancelled my order - as I was waiting for you I realized that I didn’t really feel like sushi after all.” This is true, actually - sushi was my wife’s idea and I remembered I had leftover lasagna waiting.

Now this is bothering me a bit. My wife was mortified and had no problem expressing that - and ordinarily I am not a “difficult” customer; I know that customer service is difficult and hate people that are assholes servers. On the other hand, I feel bad that they went ahead and prepared my order and had to bin it.

But I had decided against it and said so, so I don’t feel responsible for that. I also don’t think it’s reasonable to leave a customer standing there for that length of time, I think that well before the five minute mark she should have asked the other party to “hold” and allowed me to finish my business and sit down with my wife.

I know that if I feel crap about it it’s probably not for nothing, I could have explained myself better and maybe ought to have taken the order anyway, but I had honestly lost the taste for it.

The worst thing is that it’s my wife’s favourite sushi place and right on the way home from work, so at some point I am going to have to confront it. Hell, I am partial to the place, myself. The owner and the sushi assembly guys are friendly to the point of remembering tiny personal details disclosed at the last visit and asking follow-up questions about them. This girl was a new hire.

The whole situation was so atypical, in both the poor level of service and my reaction to it. Usually, they are awesome - and I am usually mellow to the point of milquetoast when it comes to my expectations. I probably would have just put up with it if I was craving sushi myself, but I stood there long enough waiting to get pretty damned sour.

What’s the right thing to do, here? Mild complaint letter? Abject apology? Some weird combo?

2

That is a little strange. I get the impression the cashier isn’t too experienced with handling both in-store customers and phone customers.

I have a favorite Japanese place by work with the same situation; lots of call-ins while you’re standing in line. When it was just the owner taking orders, he was pretty good about alternating between the phone and in-store, and certainly would never ‘cut’ someone in line like that. As soon as he was able, he put in a second register and hired someone to just take phone orders.

Really, if they’re that busy, they ought to have two people available to handle orders. They can probably afford it.

As for what to do about it, I sympathize. I’ve been embarrassed enough at a few places to never go there again, because I didn’t know how the cashier would react to seeing me again. If it’s a favorite place, though, I’d give it a little bit of time before you order from them again, and then don’t make a production of it. Unless, of course, the same thing happens again. Then I’d make some noise.

3

Huh, I would have probably accepted the order in that situation as I had placed it, am known in the restaurant, and usually get good service. I doubt it wouldn’t have gone to waste in the fridge. I agree that the phone thing is irritating and I would have probably said something then to the owner. I’m not sure what the best answer is other than to have one person answer the phone, and another take the orders - but of course that is another expense that needs to be paid for.

When I go to a busy fast food restaurant (rarely) I usually go thru the drive thru as they seem to get priority.

4

It sounds like it was an aberration; if you like the place, and they’re usually good, I’d just ignore it. You got your message across, it most likely won’t happen again, and it’s not like they ordered you out of the place.

I might be irritated if I were your wife, though. If my normally mild-mannered husband decided to get pissed off at a restaurant just because he was not the one in the mood for sushi (you said you’d have probably put up with it if you had been the one craving it), I’d be angry. If you get poor service, you’re allowed to complain, but making an issue out of it only because it wasn’t your choice of restaurant is incredibly rude to your spouse.

5

Don’t go there for a couple of months. Spending my money elsewhere usually is satisfaction enough for me.

6

The restaurants I’ve worked at have had a “phone orders are priority” rule. The waitress in this story simply seems overworked and had an impossible set of tasks ahead of her. If I was that worried about it, I’d have a quick word with the management about phone order priority, but I wouldn’t make it personal about the waitress herself.

7

I think you did just right, and as a former food service worker, I thank you for your forbearance. As you said, the girl was a new hire, so hopefully this won’t happen again. I don’t see that you were obligated to take the food either.

I’d just go on as usual, and if the situation comes up again, speak to someone about it. (On the bright side, if she does remember you as a difficult customer, she probably won’t dare to take a bunch of other orders before you!)

8

I wouldn’t consider a 3 minute phone order as a short call. And waiting for 10 minutes is just intolerable. At the second “cut in line” you should’ve been more forceful in getting your order in. As it came down, you were fully correct in refusing the order that you had cancelled. Since it was a new person servicing you and you’ve been very pleased with service up to that point, treat the incident as an aberration and give the place another shot.

9

Apologize abjectly to your wife, if she’d appreciate it. But I think I’d let things drop otherwise–especially if a lot of your frustration comes from the fact that your wife’s order was taken a small eternity before yours was. This is partly because this is a favorite local restaurant, and partly because since this is a favorite local restaurant you know the bad service was an aberration. Should your judgement on this being an aberration change, first write a complaint letter, then spend your money elsewhere.

Yes, at some point your order should have been dealt with and the phone customer asked to wait–although, in general, phone customers (and sometimes drive-in customers) do get a tad of priority over people in stores/restaurants because the physically present person can see that there are 15 people in line and only 3 servers, while the person on the phone can’t. (Also, time passes faster for the person on the phone. ) That doesn’t make you feel better when all the phone orders occur immediately in front of you, but it is part of why it may happen.

And as long as I was still in the restaurant when my order was prepared, I probably would have paid for it, accepted it and eaten it, rather than feel guilty about it going to waste. I’m not saying that’s the right approach, I’m just saying that’s the most likely approach I would have taken.

10

I know places that deal with phone orders only after the physically present people are taken care of. These are not chain restaurants, and value patrons at the place over phone ins. You got treated badly this time, so don’t be upset at being pissed.

11

After the second call, I’d have taken out my cell phone and called the restaurant (surely their number is all over stuff near the register, right?) to give my order. I’d also probably start my order with something snarky like “Now that I’ve got your attention…” Yes, I’ve done this before. And, yes, it’s stupid that telephone calls have a higher priority than people waiting in line.

Failing that, I’d definitely have spoken with the manager about the experience. If they don’t have a policy of alternating phone orders with live orders, they should. If they do, it should be explained to the new hire.

12

Drive thru orders do get priority. The reason is that the service time expectation that comes down through corporate/management is a lot less for drive thru orders. As I recall from my time at wendy’s, we were expected to maintain an average 15 second or less wait time at the second window and 45 seconds for in store orders. The drive-thru time is easier to measure as there is a sensor that times every car at the drive-thru. (There are ways to manipulate that, but not in front of the manager of course!)

13

Why on earth should he apologize to his wife? The restaurant treated him shabbily, made a mistake that was completely their fault, and his wife didn’t back him up. SHE should be apologizing to HIM.

What I might do at this point is have a talk with management at the restaurant - something along the lines of whether your expectations to not have to stand there waiting while they take phone order after phone order are realistic or not. I don’t like that, either - I’m at the front of the line for all intents and purposes over calls that come in after I’m getting served.

14

I don’t think you did anything wrong. You canceled the order before it went to the kitchen and during an unexpected wait. Nothing wrong with that – if they want to take calls first that’s fine but the consequence is that some in store customers will drop out of the ordering process. And then she brought you your food anyhow, and you told her, correctly, that you had canceled the order. Nothing wrong with that either. So long as you weren’t raising your voice I think you’re fine.

Now, if you want them to treat you and your wife wonderfully each time you go back, then you might have been better to keep quite. But, not being rude and aiming for favored-customer status are two different things – you are obligated to the former but not the latter.

15

I’d say the only problem here is with the inexperienced new girl. Don’t hold it against her and go ahead and drop in soon for some sushi when you’re pretty sure it will be slow and the owner/manager will be there. Calmly relate the events to him so that he can educate her about their policy concerning onsite/call-in customers.

Apologize to your wife if she’s still concerned about it and offer to take her out for sushi. You’re not in the wrong here, but a little gesture will go a long way. :wink:

So taking both pieces of advise will get you some good food with good company. May even get the food comped if the manager is in a good mood and you’re not an ass.

16

Why apologize to the wife? She was mortified and let him know it. I don’t think he owes her an apology, but if he apologizes to anyone, it makes a lot more sense to me to apologize to the wife as a “social lubrication” thing than to apologize to the restaurant, which did treat him shabbily.

17

Even as someone who hasn’t worked customer service in close to 20 years, I can tell you that, while one phone call might have been acceptable, the second call while you were still attempting to order should have gone like this:

“<name of restaurant>, can you hold please?” (puts phone down and takes order from waiting customer)

After she takes your order, it’s back to the waiting customer on the phone before she waits on the next in-the-flesh customer. That’s proper prioritizing that ticks off no one.

So, yeah, she was wrong to keep you waiting. And she was also wrong to send your order to the kitchen, although she very likely thought that was what she had to do to keep you happy after her initial mistake. So, she was wrong on two counts, but at least with the second one she was trying to make things right.

Me, I’d let the whole thing slide. Odds are she learned from this little episode, and in my book, folks are entitled to one screw-up. Now, if something like this happens again, you definitely have a legitimate complaint, and you should let the higher-ups know that she needs some instruction.

18

You’re not doing the business a favor by accepting bad service. I would bring it up to the owner if it happens again for sure, assuming you like the business.

When I’m disgusted with a business I DON’T say anything. I just fire them. I’ve watched many bad businesses go under because their service was so bad. If I like a business I will try to pull the owner aside and explain the situation for his/her benefit. To further drive home the point I would refuse any comps. I will drive miles out of my way to support businesses I like.

19

What iamthewalrus said. I’ve done this, too. Called them up on my cell phone. “Now that I have your attention…”

Larry Mudd is exactly right, it’s like three people cutting in line in front of you.

20

Sometimes, wisdom dictates an apology even when you don’t believe yourself to be at fault.