confusedEating out recently (in the last couple months - I've been getting bad service. Three times at three separate Applebee's and tonight at a TGI Friday's. The Applebee's has been dealt with, but what brings me here, is this, and it includes tonight's visit.
When I talked with the manager at Applebee's - he asked me what they could do for me (well, us, it was me, my sister, and BIL, I was the only one who ordered anything) - the waitress was not doing her job, to be frank - no refills (we all had water, but still), never came to check on us, nothing. I just spoke to the manager as it's a case of training, or retraining, or something. I didn't want the girl to lose her job, and I wasn't hunting a comp (I got it, but I wasn't hunting for one).
I believe in informing management when staff does good or bad. I don't expect much out of it, unless something goes horribly wrong. Then I expect the world to stop >:)
I told the manager I didn't know what he could do (1st time I'd ever been asked such a question - didn't have an answer really, beyond, don't let it happen again), and he said he'd work something out. Check hadn't come, and it never did. I left the girl a tip, natch, because while it wasn't the best service, she deserved something...really. food was ok - and while we didn't get refills on water, well - there's no money in it...
At TGI Friday's tonight - it was me, my husband, his sister, husband and two kids (we took them out as a thank you for car work BIL did for us) - eldest boy (just 3 yrs) was making slow, but solid way through cheeseburger...the chick hardly came by to check on us - was confused over how many checks there were (she asked at the beginning, 1 or 2, we said 1 - we got 2), I nearly had a minor fit over no refills again (I don't like drinks going empty), and she took forever in between when we did see her (damn good thing we were right by the drink station). Going back to the sprout - waitress cleared my husband's plate, left mine. Came back, took mine, took SIL, took nephew's - and he was still eating!!!! He looked around like a deer in headlights - very distinctly heard him ask "Mommy, where's food?" and we were all surprised - she'd already taken it to wherever TGIF puts their plates (no bus tubs anywhere, so I guess they go straight to dishwasher??) Yeah, you betcha we called the manager. One suck though - SHE came back to the table with him, and of course, heard everything! Luckily we weren't being mean (heh), just speaking the truth - I saw her face when it was explained about nephew. (close to horrified shock) tl;dr - nephew got a free dessert, and in fact, so did we all :)
but again, manager asks "what can i do for you to fix this?" and again, it wasn't enough to get her fired, or $70 comped (3 steaks, 1 chick/shrimp, 1 kids meal, 5 sodas) - just something. But damned if we could figure out what we wanted in return. I mean, this particular restaurant, my immediate family (as shown in Applebee's ex) don't patronize (we have one closer to home)...
TL;DR - when did it become SOP for managers to ask what the customer wants in compensation?? Is it a case of too many customers being EBs? Gah! now i have to think about that too.
and can any current or former TGIF servers/line cooks tell me what cut of steak the flat iron is?? *custom cut for TGIF* is all I'm getting.(there may have been confusion on flat irons tonight)