In the past few blogs, I’ve reviewed a pub and an optometry clinic (check below) and it really had me thinking about things I hate when it comes to customer service. For every great experience, there’s eleven that weren’t. This week, I’d like to share two pet peeves of mine and I invite you to share yours as well. Something you notice that really pisses you off. That’s right, this week is all about caring and sharing.
Pet Peeve #1 – Clearing my plate
I worked in restaurants for almost a decade before I realized this was a problem. I did it. My managers trained me to do it. That doesn’t make it any more correct.
Plates should not be cleared until everyone at the table is done eating.
OF COURSE there are exceptions. If it’s a table of 20 and that one molasses-eater is holding up the rest of the table, by all means, clear the table so no one else suffers. However, if there are two people eating, maybe on a date, don’t clear one’s plate so the other is eating alone. Yeah, yeah, turn and burn. I know how restaurants are built more for getting people in and out rather than their experience but guess what, the table will like you (bigger tip) if they don’t feel part of the conveyor belt (bigger tip) and it seems like you want them there (bigger tip).
*I’ve repeatedly told servers to leave my plate alone while I wait for the rest of my table to finish. Try it. The server will look like a deer caught it headlights.
Pet Peeve #2 – Texting in the workplace
I once went with my father, a man with the patience of…a person with little patience, to a department store to pick up a repaired watch. We must have stood there for 5 minutes with no one at the counter. We looked high and low and straight across but nobody. Finally, my dad looked over the counter to see a teensomething crouched down and texting (I’m not here to be a teen-hater but if the Iphone fits…).
I’ve worked in restaurants where waiters would duck down in the wait-station to answer the phone or text their friends. TECHNOLOGY STAYS IN YOUR BAG. Sorry to break your self-entitlement bubble texters, but you’re not important enough to be on constant standby. The world (aka your friends) will be just fine while you “work”. Employers should not allow staff to have their phones at work and if employees have a problem with that…well it’s a tough economy and other people would really like that job…
Sorry, I’m a hard ass today but these are my pet peeves.
Check out these sites on customer service:
thelittlepiggy – Victoria restaurant reviews.
telloscar – a Canadian forum on good/bad customer service.
www.sbinfocanada.about.com/od/customerservice/a/custservrules – blog on “8 Rules for Good Customer Service”.
So what are your pet peeves? Comment, critique and complain below.
2 Comments
I’m sure that I have many more but this one pet peeve comes to mind now because I have been shopping fr shoes recently.
I hate it when I go into a store looking for a specific product and when the salesperson realizes that they don’t have what I’m looking for, they proceed to recommend nine other products that are similar to what I was after. The problem is…THAT’S NOT WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!
I understand the desire to be helpful or (God forbid) earn some commission and a living, but beyond one…possibly two other suggestions, it’s obvious you don’t have what I need.
I am an intelligent person and I have a good idea of what I am want when I enter the store. I am not a clueless neanderthal that needs to be taught how to hunt for product. I have survived this far…and some say have even evolved.
Why is it so hard to fix stuff. They had it then they played around with it and it doesn’t work any more……I can’t call Orillia Ont. They had trouble calling me.Now with that.I called in today wanted hepl with the same thing. HOW I can;t call out no dial tone they can call in but nothing happens on my end other than the answering machine picks up…COME on GET with it……..