Lately I seem to be running more and more into situations where an employee wants to argue with me. It isn't usually something that is a big deal but the level of argument turns it into a big deal.
I get 1 hour for lunch and I often take that lunch with co-workers so we can get out of the office and hang out and socialize or vent as needed that day.
Bad service #1:
Co-worker and I had decided to stop by the store to buy a few things before we grabbed lunch. We only get one hour so after the store we hurried over to one of our favorite Bento style places.
Because we knew we were in a little bit of a rush but also knew we had enough time to sit and eat I wanted to try and make things quicker by asking if I could have a small togo container when my food was brought to the table instead of having to wave someone down to get it after I had eaten. This just makes getting out the door faster. Since you pay when you order this seemed like a reasonable thing.
So I explain to the lady what I want and she looks completely put out.
Her: "But the food comes in a bigger container!"
Me: "I want the food as usual. I just want a small togo container brought with the food so I can take my left overs and get going" (I always have some left overs)
Her: "But the togo is smaller than the regular plate. You will get less food."
Now rinse and repeat the above about 4 more times.
So when my food comes... it is in a large togo container that serves less than the bento box it usually comes in. Fuck.. I give up. I eat my food and then have to grab a smaller togo container to take my left overs because this big togo container is pretty pointless for a small portion of food. The waitress looked completely frustrated that I had just asked for a togo container when she gave me my food in a togo container. We all share a fridge at work and I am NOT going to take this one larger container that has only a ball of rice and some chicken in the corner of it.
Hey lady.. if you would listen to what I am saying you wouldn't need to be frustrated right now. Even my co-worker was baffled by this because I was being pretty clear about what I wanted and even tried to explain what I wanted in a different way but she got the wrong impression with my first explanation and was not willing to let go of that wrong impression and LISTEN. Yes.. it is probably unusual for someone in a hurry to ask for the side togo container before they have even gotten the food but why is it such a big fucking hassle to just do things out of order for the customer. I wasn't asking just to be a pain in the ass. It took more time to argue with this lady than it did to just ask for the container at the end of my meal. That was highly frustrating.
Bad service #2:
Since we stopped going to the place in #1, we tried another place.
We go in and sit down. The waitress comes by and gets our drink orders. She returns with our drinks and two bowls of egg drop soup. Seems they give out egg drop soup complimentary. I hate egg drop soup but notice there is a meal that comes with miso and I love miso. So I order my meal and when it comes out, I notice there is no miso. I wait a bit before flagging the waitress down.
Me: "This order was supposed to come with miso."
Her: "You got egg drop soup."
Me: "I wanted miso."
Her: "You want to order a miso?"
Me: "No. The meal was supposed to come with one."
Her: "You get salad or miso with that meal."
Me: "No. Please go check the menu. It said salad AND miso."
She leaves, checks the menu and then comes back.
Her: "You had egg drop soup."
Me: "I didn't ask for it. I wanted miso."
Her: "Everyone prefers egg drop soup."
Me blinking and thinking 'I hate it so clearly not everyone likes it.'
So basically she decided without asking me that the FREE egg drop soup was my choice over the PAID FOR meal that comes with Miso and she made that choice for me because who likes Miso? Certainly nobody does and she seems to think this is perfectly fine and reasonable.
I can understand that the customer is not always right. In both situations I gave up realizing it just wasn't worth the hassle. At no point did I raise my voice, speak in a rude manner and I even had a smile on my face, thanked them for the service and tipped my usual 20%. Those small things just are not worth the trouble but it keeps happening and it is starting to piss me off. I don't think I'm being unreasonable in my requests?