I really think that many of the people responding have never seen a Johnny Rockets. It isn’t a McDonald’s but it is more like a Steak 'n Shake. Here is the particular location in question:
As you can see it isn’t what many would consider a “sit down” restaurant but more of a diner type of experience. The article said there were many empty tables. I’m 20 years younger and would have still pulled out a chair from that front table while I waited for my burger. Plus it was after her show so it was probably way past their dinner rush.
This is why the owner of a diner where I used to cook would tack an extra 25 cents onto to-go orders. Those boxes cost money, and she got fed up with people ordering “to-go” and then sitting at a table and eating out of the box. She saw it as a completely unnecessary waste.
Aretha Franklin is suffering (and maybe dying) from cancer.
And I’d have one thing to say to that employee: If you’re lucky enough to get old and people start treating you like shit, remember this moment. And if you think you are not going to get old, you are sadly mistaken.
Would you be so quick to defend if it was some other random woman? Other posters didn’t make it about Aretha, but made general comments about 72 year old women. Would my 84 year old mom deserve to be treated this way?
I can’t speak for the quoted posters, and my mom didn’t make it to 70. But even if someone told my wife that she couldn’t sit while waiting for her order and there were tables sitting empty, it’d be the last time they saw a penny of my money. Age doesn’t enter into it, it’s a customer. Why make them needlessly uncomfortable?
If they were rude while enforcing said stupidity, I’d at least rant about it here.
I like to order to go from a downtown diner/burger joint. One time, after I ordered but before I got my food, it began to rain. HARD. So I said, “Maybe I’ll eat here instead.” The restaurant folks had no issue with it and even laughingly agreed that it would be preferable.
I did this last week - I went to a Chinese take-out place and sat at a table while they prepared my order. After I picked it up, I realized that I didn’t want to take it back to the office and eat it at my desk after all, so I bought a Coke and ate my meal right there. I would have been shocked if they had made me leave.
But I can understand the restaurant’s POV. It costs more to serve someone food at a table than to hand them a takeout order. When you add up all the little details - like laundering the table cloth and washing the dishes and cutlery, there are also other financial penalties.
But it would have all been so easy to avoid. All the customer had to do was to tell the restaurant they wanted to eat the food at one of their tables when they ordered it. That is so simple. Why didn’t they do that? And if they forgot, why didn’t they explain that to the restaurant before they sat down and maybe even offer them a couple of dollars for their increased costs? Surely there was a happy way to resolve this problem. Wasn’t there?
Have you read a single thing posted in this thread other than maybe the first paragraph? She didn’t want to eat there… she wanted to sit down while she waited for her food. JR is not like McDonald’s it will take 10 minutes or so to get your burger. There are no table cloths (see the pictures I linked to earlier). There is no additional tax to be charged. She was not going to use the silverware or dishes. There are no “financial penalties.” She wanted to pull out a red vinyl and chrome chair and sit on it for 10 minutes after performing a concert earlier… and did you catch she is in her 70’s.
Bottom line is the waitress was a Bitch with a bad attitude… the chain agrees, and she is being re-trained.
It drives me nuts at Panda Express that they insist on putting everything in the styrofoam takeout box even when you tell them you’ll be eating there. They not only use the styrofoam box but then put that in a plastic bag. The money they’re wasting must be astronomical, not to mention so much additional garbage in the landfills.
I always reiterate “for here” when they automatically grab the styrofoam and then they’ll give me a paper plate. But I’ve also been told at some locations that all orders are served in styrofoam regardless of where you plan to eat it. (Sorry to go off on a tangent. Just a big pet peeve of mine.)
My wife and I used to eat regularly at a local chain eatery (now closed) where Ms. Franklin was also a regular patron. We saw her there about three or four times. The waitresses (who we were all on a first-name basis with) would say she was “difficult”.
But aside from that, I think that in this case you’ve got an employee trying to do their job by enforcing a policy of questionable nature (stupidity-wise). The fault isn’t with the employee, but with the employer for having the stupid policy.
I agree. Easier to throw an no-name employee under the bus than to admit that maybe your policy needs ‘re-thinking’. 50/50 it could be the chain or the employee.
I was at an event once that AF also attended. I avoided her, and while I didn’t see any ‘difficult’, she was definitely drama. And so many celebrity gawkers playing up to her.
I’ve never eaten food ordered as take-out inside the restaurant, and I can’t say that the idea ever occurred to me, honestly.
People like you are the reason assholes pull that “Don’t you know who I am?” bullshit. And that, frankly, is the Godwinization of customer service disputes. I’m sorry, but no matter what kind of idiocy you’re dealing with, when you play the “but I’m so-and-so” card you automatically lose.
That is exactly the right answer when someone starts name-dropping or but-I’m-famous-ing. Unless, of course, you’re the little old guy up the road who used to carve birdhouses and sell them on the side of the road, who is King Forevermore of answering “Do you know who I am?” He apparently told Steven Seagal “No, I don’t know you, but if you’ll give me your daddy’s name I might know him.”
Also, if you’re such a big stinking deal that dropping your name should get you special/better service, how on earth do you not have people who can call your order in ahead of time and go in to pick up the food?
Don’t know Johnnie Rebel’s, but most burger joints one is expected to bus their own table. I have had a few hassles with that over the years. I get up from McDonalds and leave their paper on their table and a subhuman asks me if I am not going to throw my stuff away. I always answer that I am checked out right now. Maybe if they’ll get me a time card and check me in I will