# Restaurant screws up your order. How hard do you expect them to work to make it right? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 6, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540 "2020-02-06T14:47:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/21 "2020-02-06T16:20:01Z")
In general, if business screws up all I want is acknowledgement of the mistake and an effort to fix it. I’d take the coupon and the mistaken pizza unless it had a topping I didn’t like, but even then I wouldn’t be a jerk about it. The only time I get angry is if no one gives a shit. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/22 "2020-02-06T16:47:57Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Indeed. JFC, what the hell is wrong with those people? The restaurant handled it perfectly. Every business is going to screw up every once in awhile. What’s telling to me is how they handle the screwup. Their response was textbook A+ customer service behavior from my point of view. Agreed, one of the things that I really liked about how they handled the situation is that they gave me a _choice_ between option A and B. That shows understanding of the situation and respect for the customer. Another response presented as a “take it or leave it” reaction would have probably worked but wouldn’t have earned them much loyalty from me. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/23 "2020-02-06T16:54:56Z")
A few years back, a friend and I finished an after school round of golf, so it was dinner time by the time we left the course. He decided to check with his parents to see if they wanted McDonald’s food also, which they did, so we went through the drive-through and got four dinners. So, we all sat and unwrapped out meals when, suddenly, I heard a booming expletive from my friend. Somehow, amazingly, the one thing they forgot to put in his quarter-pounder with cheese was THE BURGER ITSELF. Sure, somebody could hiccup and forget the pickle or lettuce or onion, but the freaking burger itself?! Really?! LOL Well, he went back in a rage, and I had a story I could tell for years to come. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/24 "2020-02-06T17:27:12Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Always a pleasure to overhear the kid with the blue hair, facial scar, and 1 inch ear gauges say dryly, “I _am_ the manager.” Let me speak to your father! > [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > It’s even cooler when Becky turns to storm out and smacks her nose on the glass door. She’s GMO sensitive, OKAY?! GAWD! ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/25 "2020-02-06T17:50:29Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Always a pleasure to overhear the kid with the blue hair, facial scar, and 1 inch ear gauges say dryly, “I _am_ the manager.” I worked at a place (in corporate/back office) with a storefront presence. The believed in the philosophy of job inflation so the lowest level employee was given the title of ‘Manager’. It was explained to me when some customer came in wanting to speak to a manager, that employee could truthfully answer that they _were_ a manager. Of course the customer didn’t realize they wanted to speak to a general manager or a facility manager, the two upper levels that really had any ability to make any sort of deal. :smack: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/26 "2020-02-06T18:04:53Z")
Sounds quite reasonable. 95% of the time restaurants do the right thing and it isn’t worth a holy war. The very few times restaurants have screwed up and not made it right, I’ll use social media and/or the local neighborhood Facebook group. But that’s really rare. Last summer I was grabbing late night Mexican and the guy working screwed it up and was so stoned there wasn’t much sense in trying to get him to remember how to make the quesadilla without onions since he messed it up twice. I half wonder if he was messing them up just to have freebies for his stoner buddies that were toking it up right outside the door. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/27 "2020-02-06T18:07:53Z")
Gotta go with **Cheesesteak** on this one. If one of your friends tried that crap at any place I ran, he’d still be bouncing when he hit the far curb. Perma-ban as well.Nobody should have to deal with assholes like that. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/28 "2020-02-06T18:12:22Z")
That’s a good pizza place, keep them around. I ate at a Denny’s recently, got eggs and bacon and it took a good long while to get there and when it finally did the hash browns were so overcooked I could’ve broken a tooth on the damned things. When I advised the waitress of that and asked if they could bring me some edible hash browns, she didn’t even ask, just whisked my entire plate away! The eggs and bacon were FINE and I was hungry, dammit, and wasn’t 'much in a mood to wait for an entire other plate to be fixed. I wasn’t too happy about it, but also not really in a mood to make much of it at 0600 either. Just chalked it up to “Well, that’s Denny’s for you!” and I won’t be going to another one of those places for probably the rest of my life. They really do suck and always have. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/29 "2020-02-06T18:28:52Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Let me speak to your father! That’d be a big mistake. The father of a kid like that is far too short on fucks to go giving them out to the Beckys of the world. 😉 Ah…good times ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/30 "2020-02-06T18:34:34Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > That’d be a big mistake. The father of a kid like that is far too short on fucks to go giving them out to the Beckys of the world. 😉 > > Ah…good times I’m assuming all these “Becky” references relate to some joke or pop culture something-or-other that I’m just not getting. Can anyone bring me up to speed please? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/31 "2020-02-06T18:37:52Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > after apologizing profusely, she offers the following: I get a choice, either I can wait 12 minutes while they remake my correct order or she can give me a coupon for one large pizza for free - my choice. Either way, I can keep the incorrect pizza in my hands. This is absolutely appropriate and sufficient. Anybody who doesn’t accept this and demands more is being an ass. (Unless there was some good reason to believe that it wasn’t an honest mistake, or the restaurant makes that sort of mistake frequently.) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/32 "2020-02-06T18:38:02Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > I’m assuming all these “Becky” references relate to some joke or pop culture something-or-other that I’m just not getting. Can anyone bring me up to speed please? > [@](#): > > Becky is a derogatory American slang term for a white woman. After Beyoncé used the term in 2016 in the song “Sorry”, on her album Lemonade (“He only want me when I’m not there / He better call Becky with the good hair”), it came to mean a “white girl who loves Starbucks and Uggs and is clueless about racial and social issues”, according to the New Statesman. In 2019 the dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster wrote that: "Becky is increasingly functioning as an epithet, and being used especially to refer to a white woman who is ignorant of both her privilege and her prejudice. > **[Becky (slang)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becky_(slang))** > > Becky is a female nickname for Rebecca (a name found in the Old Testament of the Bible). > In some areas of popular culture, the name is a pejorative American slang term for a young white woman. The term has come to be associated with a "white girl who loves Starbucks and Uggs"; for this reason, "Becky" is often associated with the slang term "basic", which has many similar connotations. > In 2019, dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster wrote that "Becky" was "increasingly functioning as an epithet, ... ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/33 "2020-02-06T18:43:17Z")
Though, there’s a newer meme character who might fit even better. “Karen” refers to an irritating, entitled person (particularly a middle-aged white woman), and one of her traits is that she insists on speaking to a manager to express her disapproval. > **[Karen](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/karen)** > > Karen is a slang term used as an antagonistic character in memes. "Karen" is generally characterized as an irritating, entitled woman, sometimes as an ex-wife who took custody of "the kids." ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/34 "2020-02-06T18:44:04Z")
Many thanks **madmonk28** and **kenobi 65**. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/35 "2020-02-06T18:45:45Z")
The only thing that’s surprising me in this thread is that people went with Becky instead of Karen. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/36 "2020-02-06T18:50:21Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > The only thing that’s surprising me in this thread is that people went with Becky instead of Karen. They’re twin sisters. Actually, I went with Becky because the Karen in my circle of acquaintances is named Becky. And also because I am readily confused. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/37 "2020-02-06T18:53:20Z")
It must be exhausting to live with that level of self entitlement. No service is ever good enough and you always have to be on hair trigger ready to escalate a situation up to an 11. Sometimes, you just want to take your pizza and go home to watch the ballgame, you know? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/38 "2020-02-06T19:54:27Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > I report the error to the manager on duty and after apologizing profusely, she offers the following: I get a choice, either I can wait 12 minutes while they remake my correct order or she can give me a coupon for one large pizza for free - my choice. Either way, I can keep the incorrect pizza in my hands. I didn’t really want to wait and eating two pizzas by myself seems problematic so I take the coupon and my peppery pizza and go on my way. What’s a large two-topping pizza cost? Maybe $16 with tax? As compensation for taking an extra 12 minutes of your time? That’s $80 per hour. Pretty nice pay, if you ask me. Sounds like you handled it well, and so did they. 🆒 > [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > To my way of thinking, this was a perfectly acceptable resolution to this minor error. I’ve worked enough restaurant jobs to know that people screw up. I’ve done it and the situation is rarely helped by one or more parties resorting to screaming or abuse. > > Upon related this story to a couple of people, the consensus seems to be that I let them off too easily. Some degree of displayed anger plus demanding the coupon and the remade pizza AND the peppery pizza made by mistake AND a call to the corporate HQ to complain is the appropriate response say some. I don’t have time for that and I don’t need a free (mediocre) pizza that badly. People who lead off with righteous indignation when a mistake is first discovered are: - people who don’t see restaurant workers as ordinary fallible human beings - enjoy lording their power over those workers as much as they can - have poor control over their temper - some combination of the above three These are people I don’t really want to hang around. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/39 "2020-02-06T21:41:27Z")
I’d take _Darlene_ over Becky, any day. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540/40 "2020-02-06T22:34:51Z")
I’ve been sent the wrong thing before (delivery, so no option to swap it) but it was something I also liked, so just kept it, like you did. If if was in a sit-down restaurant then I guess I’d tell the staff so that they know that another customer might be getting the wrong item, or if it was something I really disliked or couldn’t eat, then I’d politely ask for it to be changed, but otherwise, who cares? Everyone makes mistakes now and then. You’d not only be making life difficult for the staff for no good reason, you’d be turning your meal out into an argument. OTOH I’ve been given the meat option instead of veggie a couple of times and asked for it to be replaced, which I think is reasonable, and one time the restaurant actually refused and shouted at me in front of other customers. Obvs after that I didn’t actually want the food, suspecting that any replacement would have been spat in or worse (which I don’t think is common, but neither is shouting at customers) and it took a while to get my money back. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-screws-up-your-order-how-hard-do-you-expect-them-to-work-to-make-it-right/847540.md?page=3)