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You should be glad nobody did anything to your food. If i was in the kitchen and you talked to a server like that your food is getting dropped on the floor and spit in or worse. Everybody should be required to watch Waiting.... once in their lives. It will make you respect restaurant workers more.
Where was there a lack if respect in that exchange? The questions all seemed pretty logical to me- it just took more than one question to get to the actual real issue.
Yep, they're absolutely delish. BTW, where are y'all meeting these women who are so crass as to actually complain about a restaurant being a chain? That's just bad manners. If a gentleman suggests a restaurant where I don't like the food I might suggest somewhere else with comparable prices, but I can't imagine saying something like, "I don't eat at chains."
And it would be just as annoying if a male companion said it.
Atlanta's suburbs are amazing rich and diverse. For starters, I'd highly recommend Historic Roswell for townies who are not in the know. And I eagerly await the day los Hermanos deigns to come inside the Perimeter.
You should be glad nobody did anything to your food. If i was in the kitchen and you talked to a server like that your food is getting dropped on the floor and spit in or worse.
Dropped on the floor and spat upon for a simple series of questions? Geez buddy, you need to take an anger management class.
There was no sarcasm involved, it was a simple and respectful exchange. The thought that food was pre-preared at a sit-down restaurant had never occurred to me, so I was only trying to figure out what was going on.
Cqholt's comment is well-taken, though. Not necessarily the spitting in food and dropping it on the floor issue, because I certainly hope I frequent restaurants that are managed better than to allow that....but at lesser quality establishments, I worry a lot that the people who are handling and storing my food are not aware of appropriate food safety issues. It is extremely easy to get foodbourne illnesses from eating out and it happens all the time. Most adults never figure it out because it manifests itself as simple indigestion or mild discomfort in healthy people, but every once in a while, you can get that extra nasty bug in there and have a really rough time for the next 24-48 hours!
Gwinnett county puts the full health inspection reports on its health dept. website. I like to read the entire thing because sometimes places can get knocked down for a series of rather insignificant violations. But some of the things you read on there are horrifying, and do you know who the worst offenders typically are? You guessed it....Chinese buffets! Those places are death factories (mold on soda nozzles, flies in soup, expired meat, unsafe refrigeration temperatures, stuff you wouldn't believe!)
The problem I have with this line of questioning is that it almost seems like you holding the server accountable for something that she has no power over. I mean really, does a server typically have that type of power over the logistics of chicken availability issues? That issue it seems like, is above her paygrade.
I can almost imagine this server being an 18 or 19 year old female simply trying deal with a long day of being on her feet...going through all sorts of psychological pressures from dealing with multitudes of people with different personalities and many of them not very open-minded or patient; And to add on top of all that you have a couple of very particular customers who are very demanding and want things their way...which is fine I guess.
But why take that frustration on the small fry? Why not go up the chain of command and take the anger to the management?
It would solve a lot of problems at many of these uncaring mega-corporations if people were more vocal to management about their issues with the products and/or services, rather than taking the rage out on the little guy.
I work in a customer-service oriented position myself and it always ticks me off when people would try to hold me accountable for situations out of my control. Even when I give them the names and phone numbers to all of the people in my chain of command, they are only satisfied with chewing me out because I just happen to be the one unlucky representative of my organization closest to their level for them to verbally jump on me.
It just seems kind of cowardly as far as I'm concerned. Want things your way? Fine. It's your money and if you are choosing to spend it at a business you should expect some decent service proportionate to the dollars that you spend.
But...Doggone it!!!
Don't fuss at the help if they got no power over the situation. That's arrogant and unfair and just not right.
That's the main problem I have with this American culture. We worship the ground that management walks on, but we take an elephant-sized dump on the workers and other assorted low-level peons who are simply trying to get through the day without going "postal".
Phew....okay...done with my rant on this issue.
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Originally Posted by ATLTJL
I understand why Applebees gets a bad rap.
I remember many years ago I was at an Olive Garden and ordered the chicken parmigiana. The server informed me they were out of it. The coversation went like this:
Her: I'm very sorry, but we are out of chicken parmigiana. Me: You're out of chicken parmigiana? So you're out of chicken? Her: No, you can order any one of our other chicken dishes, we are only out of chicken parmigiana. Me: I don't understand. If you have other chicken dishes, that means you have chicken. So what are you out of? Breading, marinara sauce, or parmesan cheese? Her: None of those things. We are out of chicken parmigiana. Me: But if you have all of those things, why can't they make more chicken parmigiana? Her: Because it is prepared before it gets here.
That was the last time I ever ate at Olive Garden.
When people say they dislike chain restaurants, I don't think that they mean they hate restaurants that have more than one location, I think they mean they hate any restaurant that serves food that is prepared at some kitchen in Dallas, flash frozen, sent to a distribution center in Kansas City, sent to locations around the country, and then reheated and served.
So to judge chains is incorrect. Many chains do not do this, and some mom and pop places do serve prepared foods.
Last edited by AcidSnake; 12-21-2011 at 05:50 PM..
I'm married too, but here's the problem with your argument. What good does it do you to "put thought into it" if the woman doesn't appreciate the person you are. Shouldn't the point of a date be to get to know one another better. Shouldn't that be the important thing, not where you're eating. I could understand if you took a first date to the Sonic or something and ate in the car, but why should it really matter? In my opinion, overly-critical women who care about where they're taken are not worth the pain and hassle. After all, that pain and hassle will still be with you if you end up marrying them. A man needs a laid-back woman, not one who thinks that they're "too good" or "better" than a particular place. A man who lets a woman dictate choices and who is too picky about something as unimportant as where to eat, is a man who is in for some major problems in the future. Of course, there are exceptions, but it reeks of narcissism. No man wants that.
The problem I have with this line of questioning is that it almost seems like you holding the server accountable for something that she has no power over. I mean really, does a server typically have that type of power over the logistics of chicken availability issues? That issue it seems like, is above her paygrade.
Who is holding her accountable? Who said "it's your fault that your restaurant ran out of chicken parmesan"? The customer was puzzled because the answers he got from the waitress weren't making any sense to him, so he asked for clarification. That's it.
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But why take that frustration on the small fry? Why not go up the chain of command and take the anger to the management?
What anger??? I saw no anger in the exchange that was quoted above. I only saw a bunch of questions. Is it wrong to ask your server questions?
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I work in a customer-service oriented position myself and it always ticks me off when people would try to hold me accountable for situations out of my control.
If you think that exchange was a customer holding a server accountable for corporate decisions (indeed, holding the server accountable for anything) then you need to improve your comprehension of the spoken word.
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That's the main problem I have with this American culture. We worship the ground that management walks on, but we take an elephant-sized dump on the workers and other assorted low-level peons who are simply trying to get through the day without going "postal".
And if it wasn't clear before I will make it clear now: you are overreacting to the situation as it was stated.
I can't believe there are guys who actually take a girl to Applebee's, or consider it. Where do you buy her birthday gift, Walmart? Did you get her some nice cubic zirconia for Valentine's day?
It's been years since I've eaten at an Applebee's, or Chili's, or Olive Garden. In fact, the last time I did was when I lived with my parents in the suburbs. I was generally grossed out, but not necessarily with the food. It was more the fat f***s who were stuffing their faces and then stumbling to their cars in glutinous stupors. That's no atmosphere for a date.
And I would have a lot of respect for a girl who refused to eat at Applebee's, because that means she has respect for what she puts into her body. Applebee's and the like offer high-fat, high-sodium, high-cholesterol, and high-calorie meals. Not only is taking a date to Applebee's not classy; it's unhealthy.
Maybe the problem with service isn't the customers, maybe it's that people who work in customer service have giant chips on their shoulders before the conversation even starts?
Hmmmm, just saying.
There wasn't even a complaint in that conversation, just trying to understand the situation. If the server had just come out and admitted earlier in the conversation that the food was pre-prepared, I wouldn't have had to ask so many questios. Besides, that conversation was 15 years ago, and I don't even know how close I just came to the actual conversation, I was just trying to convey the gyst of it.
Your point, however, assumes that I actually care about how Olive Garden does. As a customer, complaining to the manger would be doing the company a gigantic favor, because then they would become aware of a situation that maybe should be addressed. I actually became the kind of customer that companies absolutely hate the most: the guy who doesn't really say anything, just makes a decision to never return.
In having that conversation, I almost did the company a mini-favor. You see, customers don't generally want to talk to managers and make gigantic scenes. We don't usually push the chain of command higher than customer service. That's because it's your job as a customer service employee to go to managers and say, "Gee, a lot of customers seem to be complaining about X, Y, and Z." In the business world, the complaints are supposed to filter up through customer service and get to the managers at the end of the day. Understand that customers don't really have the time and inclination to write letters and wait to talk to managers. Why should we? It's so much easier just to go to the competition. Your duty as a front line customer service employee is to stop that from happening because you are often the only line of defense to prevent it.
So if you go to your job with a giant chip on your shoulder and have a bad attitude about things you can't change....well, you're not doing the company that you work for any favors. Maybe customer service isn't the field for you. It's really meant for people who get a good feeling for solving issues and recovering customers before they go elsewhere. You might say the same for servers.
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It was more the fat f***s who were stuffing their faces and then stumbling to their cars in glutinous stupors. That's no atmosphere for a date.
What you just described is Golden Corral! A friend of mine started refusing to dine at Golden Corral in college and I couldn't figure it out. It took me a few extra years to figure out why it is so gross.
That friend is a physician. He told me to consider how many people leave the bathroom without washing their hands. Then realize that all of those people are using the same ladels to scoop the food onto their plates that I am. So it's like shaking hands with all of those people right before you eat. I've pretty much been grossed out by buffets ever since, but the big fat families teaching their fat kids horrible eating habits just makes it even that much grosser.
A lot of how much of that you see at chains depends heavily on where they are. The Chili's on North Druid Hills and Lavista has a lot less of that than most of them. Similarly, most chains in college towns are pretty decent.
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That's just bad manners. If a gentleman suggests a restaurant where I don't like the food I might suggest somewhere else with comparable prices, but I can't imagine saying something like, "I don't eat at chains."
