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