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The restaurant and the entitled customer
By adamg on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 6:36am
Myers and Chang in the South End tweets:
Customer forgot doggie bag w leftovers. Too far away to come back and get them. Now wants gift certificate to replace them. Thoughts?
MC Slim JB, who writes about restaurants, has a simple reply: NFW.
Patrick Maguire, writing a book about service industries, promptly puts this in his hall of customer shame.
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Comments
Give them a gift certificate
Give them a gift certificate good for 1 doggie bag left by other customers.
Put the doggie bag in the fridge
Then call the customer back and tell her she has one day to pick it up before it is discarded. Problem solved and everyone's happy.
Well....no.
I'm certain the restaurant didn't call the person up and say "Hey, you left your leftovers". That means that the person realized it and then wants the restaurant to deal with it. What if M+C had simply said "Sorry, we didn't find any leftovers". Does the restaurant have to cover your losses if you left them on the hood of the car as you drove away?
On top of that, gift certificates are NOT appropriate. It's a total loss for the restaurant. They got paid $20 to cook and serve you that food. You paid and everything is fine. You then left it at the restaurant. They can't serve it again and they can't cook it again...so why do they have to essentially refund you the difference of what you didn't eat? It would be an absolute loss in their book to give you gift certificates for the portion you didn't eat...and all because you left it there?...as MC Slim JB said "NFW".
Also, what keeps the next person from eating half of what they ordered, asking for it to-go, and then leaving it and requesting half their money back...this time intentionally? You'd be under water so fast, you'd be able to find Nemo.
IF, and that's a big IF...IF you wanted to do anything out of the kindness of your heart, offer them a free app or something for their next visit. You can make it half the size of normal and lose the least amount of money just to make a single customer happy. But I don't think any other customer is going to up and leave you if they hear you didn't gift certificate someone who left their food at your place.
It wouldn't be a total loss Kaz.
Customer service 101. People are funny like this. If customers don't get what they want, sometimes they do not go places anymore. There isn't a right or wrong answer to this, but giving the customer what they want isn't always that bad in the long run.
I don't think a restuarant should tweet about something like this either.
And...
You can also "customer service" your way right out of business when you operate on tight margins, like most restaurants. That's why I mentioned that I doubt there are any other customers who are going to hear this one person's plight and that you didn't give them free money and go "well, I never! I'm never going to M+C again!". So, losing a single money-grabbing customer isn't a loss at all.
True, but
the higher quailty the restuarant, the more BS little stuff like this they do for you. What is this doing to cost them at the most, $10, $20?
I went to Flemings once with a group of about 8, and the waiters service was below average. He forgot a round of drinks twice, and forgot our deserts and we told him that we couldn't wait because we were late for a show.
I assume a manager saw this because the waiter then came over and said the entire meal was going to be paid for (probably a $600-$900 meal).
I've always been under the impression that well known establishments like Flemings and M&C are usually better off letting the customer win on small issues like a $20 gift certificate.
Also, I'm not sure if the Flemings experience would have effected me if they had not comped the meal. Sometimes waiters have a bad day, and I probably would have gone back.
Also, we don't know the tone of the caller from the M&C case. They could have demanded a gift certificate and acted like a pompus a-hole, but they also could have had a better reason. Sometimes people don't finish most of their meal for various reasons (sickness, emergency, etc) and they want to bring their meal home with them.
To even ask for a gift
To even ask for a gift certificate in that situation, even in the nicest of tones, is acting like a pompous a-hole. Sure M+C could afford to give away a $20 gc, but why should they? On what principals? That they may lose this customer? Good riddance!
Still though....
customers can be assholes, but if you want business, you have to cater to them sometimes.
Maybe not in this case
M & C goes for cutting edge social marketing angles, this tweet was brilliant in my opinion. So much buzz created by these jerks and the Tweet. We don't even know for sure whether M&C gave them a gift certificate, but whether they lose that one customer doesn't matter. I'll wager they've gained quite a few from the free publicity.
Yea you may be right.
Like my friend that throws people out of her resturant because they act like aholes. Basically frees up a table for someone that wants it.
some customers aren't worth having
Joanne Chang is one of those restauranteurs who not only bends over backwards for her customers, but also takes their complaints seriously, sometimes to a fault. Rewarding a customer demand for something so absurd is setting yourself up to get smacked again and again by obnoxious, entitled, and frankly dishonest customers. These folks should be ashamed of themselves for such an asinine request and glad that M + C just put it out there as a "what do you think?" and not publicly telling them to go screw themselves for being such jerks.
Twitter is your friend
Pete, Myers and Chang tweets about everything - it's both clever and scary. Previous post: "Police action outside our door!"
Follow them if you want to be entertained.
Yea I can see that side too.
(To John and Sally)
Some places are different with their customer service. A friend of mine owns a resturarnt and although most of her customers love her, she doesn't put up with any shit from them.
I've seen her throw people out of her resturant if they were rude to the waitstaff or just being generally unreasonable or assholish.
It's awesome sometimes seeing people get what they deserve!
Where is this?
I might like to try it!
If a place doesn't take smack from some customers, that means management is paying attention and the staff will have both good morale and be expected to be top notch.
food
as far as i know most resturants make most of their money selling booze. thers not as much profit in food. mcdonalds makes thier money on french fries and soft drinks. The food get you in and the wine steward and the bar tenders bring in the profit.
profits
i used to go to hilltop they would serve you drinks while you stood in the hall way waiting to be seated they already made their money. before you even sat down. Booze rules. a table of 6-8 people hanging around all nite eating all nite is a loser. one table with 2 people wine food $100 average in and out every 30 45 minutes all nite long thats were the money is. food along with some bogus chef is something you have to deal with to sell the finest wines and spirits your bottom line. french fries and coke are king at mickey ds popcorn is king at the movies. Ps after you got a buzz on they could serve you cardboard with ketchup on it.
food
the bottom line to all my post is . buy a few drinks or a bottle of wine and be a good tipper and they will make sure you get your doggy bag. hell they may have given me your doggy bag. hell i didnt even order the shrimp. dont do this they dont want you taking up space nursing a cup of coffee.
Actually, giving the customer
Actually, giving the customer what they want is NOT always the right thing to do.
Remember when Costco had a lifetime return policy? You know why it ended? Abuse.
Remember when walmart let you exchange anything without a receipt? Guess why that ended? Abuse.
Everybody is better off if the customers that abuse customer service never come back. This customer sounds like someone who on their return visit would find a hair (their own) in their $40 meal after eating 80% of it, and then demand a new one to take home.
Once in a while, you have to tell certain people to GTFO and never come back, for the benefit of everyone else.
A friend of a friend abuses
A friend of a friend abuses LL Beans unlimited returns policy like this. Since they can return an item for any reason no questions asked they'll buy some clothes, wear them until they're not good anymore and then return them.
Sounds like the customer is
Sounds like the customer is an entitled asshole. When you're that kind of person, you don't get sh*t.
NFW indeed!
I was going to go into my usual townie rant about South End carpetbaggers and their stuck up attitudes..but...not today, I'm in too good of a mood.
I kinda had the same thought...
but then I remembered that they were "too far away" to come back and get it. So they're probably from Chestnut Hill or Wellesley or someplace.
The customer should suck it up
My wife is addicted to the concept of leftovers. She will literally order a meal with the idea that she will eat half (used to be less than half at that) and eat the rest another day. But do you know what she would do if she forgot her leftovers? Sigh and get over it.
Sure, it would be nice if M&C offered something, but it's not bad customer service not to. It's not like the restuarant screwed up- if the customer didn't ask for the doggie bag, the food would have ended up in the trash.
You Can't Make This Shit Up
Thank you for the link.
I think the twitter/facebook restaurant updates are brilliant. They keep a restaurant on the forefront of customers' minds. In a neighborhood with so many options like the South End, it's a great way to gain an advantage. Coppa/Toro are great at this also.
The comments on the blog in response to this issue are priceless. Entitlemania is alive and well in Boston and well beyond.
http://www.servernotservant.com/
The customer's request is unreasonable, BUT
I still believe that the customer's always right. My family had stores (both sides of the family) and you treat people well. It's good for your karma and your reputation.
Rhea
"You Treat People Well"
Rhea- I don't know of any successful business owners, managers or employees who don't believe in treating customers well. Naturally their livelihoods depend on treating customers well.
The customers who are abusive, rude, abnoxious, arogant, bigots, etc., are not right, they are DEAD WRONG. If you tolerate those people you're sending a message to your employees that you value the customer who is wrong more than you value your employees.