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Yesterday I went to a very busy historic area of Annapolis MD. All the sit down restaurants were just jammed for lunch. After a 30 minute wait for a table we finally ordered and waited....and waited... and waited... and WAITED for our food. After an hour we found the manager and told him we had been waiting for 60 minutes for our food. He got angry and told us if we did not like his place go somewhere else, there was a hundred people outside waiting for our table. We got up and left.
We were forced to not eat until we finished touring because all the restaurants were jammed.
Just because a place is crowded and is in a tourist area, does this give them the right to have slow service, rude staff and poor food?
Don't you usually find restaurants with a captive audience to be poor?
That must have been a horrible experience for you. Of course, I would never go back ....... but I'd go one step further. Write an editorial in the local newspaper.
Recently, I went to breakfast. Nice, quaint place around the corner from me. It was just me - party of one. I ordered breakfast and a tomato juice. I drank the tomato juice and 45 minutes later, I contacted the server about my order. She was snippy and said "I'm really busy - I'm taking care of a party of 10". I told her to cancel my order. She snipped back "have a nice day". I was furious. I went up to the cashier to pay for my tomato juice, the manager heard me and told me not to worry about the TJ. I told her that server should be fired, and I haven't stepped foot in that place again. Too bad, they had great food at great prices and outside dining. But I'm stubborn
Sounds almost like a "supply and demand" syndrome. They don't really care about how they treat customers if the demand for their services is greater than the supply of like services. They don't care if you walk you because they have hundreds more waiting for and willing to pay for their product. It's sad to think that's their mentality ...kind of like the SoupNazi on Seinfeld; you the customer are at their beck and call instead of the other way around.
If the situation were any different, they'd have a difficult time staying in business with attitudes like that! You're right, it just shouldn't be right but evidently, it is what it is.
The historic area of Annapolis is crazy on the weekends....we try to eat elsewhere on the weekends when we are there. No excuse for rude behavior though.
I know where you were and because there are only a handful of restaurants, they can pretty much call the shots. And it's not like they were serving gourmet food.
I sympathize with you and your experience. You might want to try the Chamber of Commerce, the BBB (for what they may be worth), tourist operators/agencies that serve the area, etc. There is no excuse for rudness and poor service. Good luck!
I'm not excusing rude behavior from wait staff at all, but some people need to realize that the restaurant business is among the most demanding and stressful industries to work in (especially in America where people are obsessed with food!)
I've worked in the restaurant industry and while your food may have taken 45 minutes, it could be because that other party of 10 was being very demanding, changing their order multiple times, adding on appetizers halfway through, asking to pre-order desserts. Yes, people do this, and this hinders the kitchen staff's ability to cook your food and it hinders your server's ability to cater to their other tables. Some people think they're the only ones in the restaurant and that their waiter or waitress is their personal servant.
I've always said that everyone should work in the restaurant industry at least once in their life.
You make some good points, Jeremey. I've never worked in the restaurant industry but I've heard numerous comments from others who have expressed the same sentiments. Thanks.
We were recently in a well known restaurant with a name related to a "pepper" and the waitress was also taking care of a table with about 10 police officers. She barely looked at us the whole time and when I asked for a cup of ice to put in the ice tea she had just refilled with warm ice tea, she again just dropped off a full cup of ice without a word even a look at either of us.
And I know I will catch he** for this, but she literally got a .50cent tip. She obviously though she would be getting a great tip from the cops since she couldn't be bothered with out table!!!
We were recently in a well known restaurant with a name related to a "pepper" and the waitress was also taking care of a table with about 10 police officers. She barely looked at us the whole time and when I asked for a cup of ice to put in the ice tea she had just refilled with warm ice tea, she again just dropped off a full cup of ice without a word even a look at either of us.
And I know I will catch he** for this, but she literally got a .50cent tip. She obviously though she would be getting a great tip from the cops since she couldn't be bothered with out table!!!
You were right when you said you'd catch hell.
When you see a server waiting on another table with 10 people, give them a break.
Did she get your food correct?
Did she bring your Iced Tea?
Did she bring your ice?
I'm not excusing rude behavior from wait staff at all, but some people need to realize that the restaurant business is among the most demanding and stressful industries to work in (especially in America where people are obsessed with food!)
I've worked in the restaurant industry and while your food may have taken 45 minutes, it could be because that other party of 10 was being very demanding, changing their order multiple times, adding on appetizers halfway through, asking to pre-order desserts. Yes, people do this, and this hinders the kitchen staff's ability to cook your food and it hinders your server's ability to cater to their other tables. Some people think they're the only ones in the restaurant and that their waiter or waitress is their personal servant.
I've always said that everyone should work in the restaurant industry at least once in their life.
Jeremey,
As a manager in the restaurant industry right now, I see this every day.
I totally agree with you!
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