Saturday, March 20, 2010

I want to cancel my orders !! angrily !!

Why is it when it comes to food and hunger, people gets angry so easily ?
I know you're hungry, but we're doing the best we can here.
If you want fast food then go to a fast food restaurant, and then what ? you're gonna get angry because there's a long line there too ?

So a family came and ordered stuff and a fish dish that requires some time to cook.
20 minutes later, 2 guy came and complained that their orders haven't arrived yet, but other guests have had their orders.
We asked the kitchen and they're still preparing it and we explained that the other guests might have their orders first because their orders take 2 seconds to prepare and it was a different dish.
5 minutes later, the whole family came to us at the cashier, angrily and the dad said "I want to cancel my orders, I'll pay for what's there on the table and I want to take away the chicken dish"
our waiter then handled the chicken dish and put it in a doggy bag for them to take away.
So we decided that they didn't have to pay for anything because it's partly our fault, but hey... in my defense, he ordered that fish dish that takes a long time to cook, not our fault.
All the drinks were there, the chicken dish and the rice was there, but the fish and something else wasn't there yet.
So I said "The meal's free sir, we're very sorry for the inconvenience"
and they didn't even say anything, they just left
but before they left, they give us the "I want to kill you" look
the look was so hateful, it was unbelievable
It's scary how people can get that angry and hateful over food.
I know you're hungry, so eat what's on the table first, and if it's a full house on the restaurant, you can't expect to get your food in 5 minutes !!
You should see his face, it was pure hatred
People scare me sometimes, just because they pay for a meal doesn't make them God

Things you should know about Restaurants

First I should explain :
in a busy restaurant, you might have to wait for your orders to arrive, that's a given.
then there's a possibility of a mix-up :
- where your orders might get sent to another table
- or your orders might gone MIA (waiters forgot to check them in, foodchecker made a mistake and put your order on the bottom of the order pile)
and then there's the I come first I should get my food first complaints where other guest who arrived later than you got his order first = this is because he might order something quick to whip up or the chef happens to cook the same dish for another table so the chef would do 2 dishes at the same time, while your roast beef has to slowly set in the oven.
so we got that clear, right ?

I mean, a space shuttle can go crushing down and killing people and you don't even get that mad !!!
you'd understand, right ?
so try to understand that in a restaurant.... as much as we need to be professional and make guests comfortable, we are also human and we make mistake.
The kitchen is hot and everyone's working hard and under pressure.
then the waiter have to cater every little requests "Can I get a refill please", "I need tomato sauce", clearing up table, taking order, cleaning up your kid's spilled food all over the floor, "I need another tea please" etc etc

I know it sounds one sided and biased
so I'm going to also speak from a guest point of view from my own experiences dining at other people's restaurants
Yes some waiters are annoying and rude and some are smelly ;p
(but they're probably just part timers because the restaurant's short on staff, I can ensure you, no restaurant would want to hire a rude lazy waiter. So please don't judge a restaurant from their waiters.)
and some restaurants do charge super expensive for yucky food
and you can't even get a decent iced lemon tea without sugar and you have to ask them 3 times to finally get it right, they're like robots who are capable of doing 1 thing only !!
and a lot of bla bla bla

My point is, there's always two sides in every story
and the next time an unpleasant thing happened to you in a restaurant, don't jump into conclusion too fast, try to understand first :)

Snobbish Cheapskate

Okay... the title may seem "unequal"
I mean.... how can you be snobbish and a cheapskate at the same time ?

So.............
One fine Sunday
Restaurant was crowded
A couple and their family at this table asked for the bill
then the couple came to the cashier to pay
they walked towards us with a hateful frown on their face, yes a hateful frown while we sat there smiling.

So the husband said
"This Restaurant is so expensive, I've never been to such an expensive restaurant, this is like a trap"

while the wife gave us the evil look
me and my mom looked at each other with the "huh?" look
I mean, come on man, we sell mineral water for half the price at what they sell at McDonald's or any other fast food restaurants. If he's never been to a restaurant "this" expensive, then he's never been to a restaurant at all, hey, he probably will yell at a fast food resto for selling fries at such a price.
Then my mum said politely "well, sir, the price is there on the menu"
He replied snobbishly "I never bother to look at the price on the menu, I don't care much about them"
then he continued "This is unbelievable, outrageous price, I'll never return here again"

We couldn't say anything at all at that time
what ? apologize ?
What should we apologize about ?
If you think that our price is too high, then don't eat here
Don't eat and get angry at us after you're done eating
The price is clearly printed on the menu, read it !!!
We just processed the bill and He paid, still with that ugly frown on his face
and we said thank you.
and we're actually glad that he said he'd never returned again.

So that you know, we always put our price on the menu, we ourselves don't like it when we go to a restaurant where the price is not on the menu, we don't like that !!
and we don't want to treat our guests that way, we want them to know our price before ordering !!!
Even so...... they get pissed at you....... oh my.... some people

and guess what ?
While he paid, his wife approached another table and said "Watch out eating here, they're expensive and they trick you with the prices"
The guests at that other table didn't respond, probably afraid of this old cranky creepy lady jabbering away.

So they left soon after.
Crazy family huh ?
Their whole family (6 of them) sat for almost 3 hours and only spend around US$40 and they hate us for it.
I mean..... Have they actually ever been to a restaurant ?
They've probably never been to a mall either
A cinema ? what's dat ? $5 for a ticket ? that's outrageous !!
They'll probably yell when they have to pay for kid's school fee too

Monday, December 14, 2009

Annoying Kids at Restaurants

Have you ever sat in a Restaurant and the kid on the table next to you starts shouting, running around, throwing stuff ?
yeah ?
You feel like moving to that secluded corner table right by the toilet just to avoid choking the kid yourself ?

Some parents are super unbelievably ignorant to just let the kid do his/her thing and not do anything about it.
yes... Some parents are ignorant selfish people.
there I said it.

I was at the cashier the other day and I started hearing "clank clank" sound.
I looked up and there was this kid, probably 2-3 years old, throwing every single spoon and fork that was on the table, to the floor.
What did the parents do ?
Nothing.... they were talking casually to each other, as if nothing happened.
Whatt ????????

I had to ask one of the waiters to politely let the parents know to "control" the kid.
Even then, the parents seemed slightly unhappy that the waiter interrupted their chat.
Unbelievable, you'd think that'd be the end of it ?
Noooooooo !!!
The mom sat the kid on the table , next to the tissue and guess what ?
yes.... The kid started pulling tissues out of the box and throwing them on the floor.
Again... the mum didn't do anything about it, the dad ? yeah... same diff.

One time we put a stack of flyer/brochures on the cashier table and this 2 kids keep coming back to grab some.
We thought they were grabbing them for their parents/uncles/whoever that was standing right outside the restaurant door, because they were just getting ready to leave.
It turns outtttt............... they just took the flyers for fun, it was a game who can get the most flyers. Some folded it up to make paper airplanes, some just threw them out in the air like crazy kids, some collected them and put it in their bags.
and Where are all the parents ? standing there, some are talking to each other, some are watching them and none of them even bothered to tell the kids to stop.

We've also had quite a lot of irresponsible parents, letting their children running around the entire dining area bothering other guests.
or parents telling kids to order whatever they want, or grabbing whatever snacks they want, and not wanting to pay later on.
Some parents just don't care what the kids do.

It may seem funny if it doesn't happen to you.
But seriously.... it's just so bloody annoying !!!!

Some people are just so rude and it's reflected on the kid.
Some kids just went up to the waiters and started yelling "ice cream, ice cream, ice cream", even if the waiter was taking order or bringing order to a table.
Then the parents came and you'd thought they'd apologize for their kids behaviour, Nooo... they go "Get us 3 ice cream to table 7"

Oh well....
I guess it's just one of the things we have to "endure" in this business.
We have to stay super nice and friendly and polite no matter what.
And there'll always be annoying, disrespectful people in every aspects of life anyway.
probably when they think they're paying for a service in a Restaurant, they get to act however way they want.

Even so,
some people I've met are just the nicest people in the world, very friendly, polite, kind, and some kids.... yes some kids are also very well-mannered.
They'd say please and thank you and give you the warmest smile in the world you just want to leap out and give them a big hug.
Thanx guys :)

Monday, July 13, 2009

How long do you stay at your table at a Restaurant ?

They sit there for Quite some time, apparently.
well, some of them at least.

Some people just order 1 iced lemon tea and 1 soft drinks and sit for hours and hours.
It's totally acceptable when the Restaurant's not busy.
But if you're sitting there during jam packed hour,
plus you're taking that 1 big table in the corner.
That causes a problem.

Yup... there are other people waiting to be seated, hungry people.
and you're like, sipping your almost empty glass of iced lemon tea ?
and secretly try to smoke your cigarette when nobody's looking ?

and the worst thing is....
one the my waiters would come up to them and ask them nicely if they could move to a smaller table.
They got mad !!! and offended !!!
They actually start yelling
"Why are you treating me so disrespectfully ?"
"I paid for these drinks and I deserve to sit anywhere I want"

Oh man....

Another group of guests actually ordered food instead of just drinks,
(Around 10 - 15 guests)
but once they've finished eating, they remained sitting there
chatting for hours and hours, up to 4 hours even.
One by one would leave and there were only 4 guests left.
So since we have another guests of 15 people waiting to be seated.
We asked them if they would kindly move to a smaller table.
The same drama repeats all over again.
They actually got angry at us and told us what a bad service it was.

Oh boyy....

I'm not saying they're all like that.
Some are very very nice polite understanding people.
I mean like, If you've been sitting on that table for 2 hours and there are other people standing waiting to be seated, the reasonable thing to do is wrap it up and go, right ?

But sometimes people think when they go to a Restaurant and paid for their food,
they deserve to do whatever they want regardless.
Unbelievable right ??

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

How do you handle super annoying guests ?

There are rude guests, there are annoying guests, there are loud guests, there are impolite guests, etc etc etc.

So, the big questions is, How do you handle super annoying guests ?
Well, you're in the Service industry, you're in the Restaurant business.
There is only one way to handle them.
A Big Sincere smile and treat them well.
Customers are not always right, but We always have to treat them with respect.

So a Sincere smile always help :)
Besides, there are also super nice guests, super honest guests, super nice guests with super cute kids.
In whatever things you do, there are always ups and downs, just take it lightly with a big sincere smile :)

Honest guests - Dishonest guests

Sometimes guests/customers order stuff and sometimes waiters forgot to give the cashier the order papers, so some food/drinks don't get charged.

You know how waiters wear that apron thingy that has a front pocket to put the pen, order booklet and order papers ?
So after writing down an order and tending to 3 other tables, he forgot about that one particular order in the pocket.
or they just realized it and handed me the order paper 10 minutes after the guest has paid and left the premises.

Sometimes guests even Lie, yes they just simply lie, they ordered a soft drink and when charged, they simply refused to pay and said they didn't order the drink. So we had to find the waiter that tended to them and confirmed the order, only then, the guests would unwillingly pay the bill.

So.......when it comes to paying at the cashier,
There are different types of guests :
1. They don't care
yup... they don't care about what's written on the bill, they don't even look at it.
They ask for how much and paid. No questions asked.

2. Dishonest guest.
They know every single item that they ordered, but if it's not listed on the bill, it's not their fault, so they keep quiet and paid only what's listed on the bill.
Hey... it's not entirely their fault is it, it's the Restaurant's job to keep an eye on everything that's ordered.
But it's kinda dishonest, don't you think ? Sometimes waiters can't keep track of everyone, what if a quest took a pack of peanuts from the snack shelf and didn't tell the waiter? or their kid grabbed a pack of candy while not even the mom noticed ? I think some honesty from the guests is needed :)
I'm not gonna lie, I honestly have been one of those "Dishonest guest", and kept quiet about an uncharged glass of fruit juice, paid the bill and then quickly left before they realized and charge me for it. But I know better now ;)

3. Honest guest.
They don't know every single item that they ordered, (big family) and paid the bill.
But then they came back and said "We forgot to pay for 1 Iced tea, luckily we haven't left yet, we were getting on the car and my aunt asked me whether I've paid for that additional Iced tea that she ordered last"
Wow right ???? Such an Honest guest, it's not about the price of 1 Iced tea, it's about principle.
I so admire that in people.
We even had a guest returning after 30 minutes, she was on the way home and she came back because she forgot to pay for 1 dish. Amazing honesty isn't it ?
Bless those people, not because of the money they paid, but their honesty and their kindness really warms my heart :)