Sunday, December 20, 2009

Always Tell The Supervisor

Three nights ago I had this table of 10. Some arrived early and ordered some drinks that was followed shortly thereafter by the rest of the crowd.

The first few brought a cake for the girl with the seventeenth birthday. Oh joy!

So I put it in the fridge as it was her favourite cake and this was going to be her surprise at the end of the meal. The meal progresses along and I am doing the table checks , refilling sodas and getting drinks for the adults. Everything is a thumbs up it appears. The food is good etc..

Then upon clearing I notice that the birthday girl has left quite a bit on the plate and starts complaining that the food was cold and the steak wasn't cooked for her at the proper temperature. Boyfriend beside her starts complaining of the same thing.

I mention to her that I did do the table check and was around the table so why did she not let me know. I take the plates away and start getting the cake in the back ready with a candle , knife , plates and forks.

I wanted to get the cake out quickly so I could move the meal forward , get the coffees or whatever else they needed and get them out of there. But when I got back her mother who was sitting at the other end of the table mentions to me about her daughter's steak so now I realize this is a big deal. I get the supervisor over to talk to her.

It is not that I was going to ignore her complaint but when someone complains and they have had that plate in front of them for 45 minutes , well I figured the issue was a dead one. I did offer to get it redone though. Shortly thereafter the supervisor makes his way over and she gets her discount.

Her mother meanwhile is still a bit upset at apparently the way I treated her daughter by seemingly ignoring her when I cleared her plate. Appearing indifferent I suppose.

I tell her I informed the supervisor and that he has already spoken with her. She then calls the daughter at the other end of the table over and ask if this is true. The daughter says yes and that some of her meal will be taken care of. Oh her mother says , I didn't know that why didn't you tell me ? Her mother then says to me that her daughter thought I was a little ignorant of her complaint. Then I chimed in , oh were you upset with me??

Then I added this beauty , I said when there is a complaint like that I don't get involved because it disrupts the service. I just call the supervisor over to handle it.

You know if some 17 year old is going to complain 45 minutes after being served and now her mother is ganging up on me I take it off my hands. The situation is hopeless for me to correct.

Well when I told her this her and everyone else at the table was commenting on how excellent the service was and how they loved the meal. I looked like a real star now instead of the insensitive waiter I was a minute ago.

What I do now especially working for a corporate chain is when the situation is beyond my capability to fix I just call the supervisor. Even if the person refuses to allow me to fix the problem I get the supervisor over. I just take it off my hands and let the supervisors deal with it. My job is to serve and if someone is going to give me a hard time I wash my hands.

Never try to fix a hopeless case. Concentrate on serving the others. Let the supervisors deal with the impossible ones. That is what they want to do anyway. It will save a lot of e-mail complaints to corporate afterwards.

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