Friday, November 14, 2008

Mind your mouth, as well as your manners.

Saturday evening, my husband and I, along with a friend of ours, decided to grab dinner at a local restaurant. We thought it would be a nice way to end the day, as they had been out deer hunting for most of it. We don't typically eat out, mostly because we both love to cook. We like this restaurant, though - good food, laid back atmosphere and affordable.

I ordered a Julienne salad, and our waitress said "Oh, the cook is gonna love you." I said "Because it's easy to make?" and that's when everything started to slide downhill.

Apparently she was being facetious. When she brought our food, she went on a rant, directed at me, about how it took time to slice the ingredients for the salad, thereby pulling the cook away from all the other orders waiting to be made(there was only one other customer present at the time, and the food I ordered was offered on the menu). Well, I guess I've been disavowed of the notion that a salad is easy to make.

I had a really hard time eating. Suddenly, I lost my appetite, and any desire to stay. My husband and friend looked at each other, and then at me, with confused expressions on their faces. They asked if I wanted to go home. I told them to eat their food.

I've been thinking about this since it happened. I was embarrassed to be berated that way in public. It was incredibly rude and unprofessional. And we won't be spending our hard earned money there again.

It did teach me something, though. No matter what your job is, how you conduct yourself, moment to moment, day to day, will ultimately impact your bottom line.

3 comments:

Janna Leadbetter said...

Wow, what a shameful experience on the server's part. She should have known better. I'm so sorry you had such a rotten experience with it. And at a favorite restaurant, no less!

Reminds me of the time I went through the bank drive-through. Had some miscommunication with the teller, who was frustrated with me. But she didn't turn off the mike before she turned to her neighbor to huff about me. Wow, that had me steamed, and I told her she'd been unprofessional. Got a handwritten apology in the mail from her a few days later. If only they could all be aware of their mistakes.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Way to provide awesome customer service (both of them). But really, if it is so complicated to make, why is it on the menu?

Deranged Princess said...

That's not a good experience to have at a favorite place to eat. You did good though, I would have snapped.