My personal rant thread!!!
 

Today, I went and had an early supper at a buffet. It was time for the supper items to come out.

So, I munched on a few items until the crab legs came out. When they came out, I got a plate of them.

The waitress tells me that I came in 5 minutes before the official start of the supper buffet. She tells me that I have two choices: pay an extra $5.00 just to eat crab legs or she can take my plate away immediately.

(Now, normally I would not have been bothered to pay the extra $5.00, b/c I thought I was paying that price anyway... But, it was the manner in which she came to my table yelling at me very loudly so that everyone could hear that pissed me off...)

I told her I didn't have a problem with paying for the supper price, but in all fairness some kind of sign should have been displayed saying that you could only eat the crab legs if you ARRIVED not a moment before 3:30.

She then proceeds to grab the plate away from me. She tells me to leave and loudly accuses me of trying to cheat them out of a plate of crab legs!!!

I cannot stress how shocked I was that she would actually take a plate off of my table.

I told the managers and all they said was that she was not supposed to take anyone's plate away. She was SUPPOSED to tell me that if I wanted any more I would need to agree to pay the supper price. (This would have been perfectly acceptable!)

But, to add insult to injury, they hand me the receipt to sign and say, "Don't forget to leave a tip..."

ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

I swear I will never go there again... If you eat in Murfreesboro, TN and want to know where I am talking about, PM me.

Oh, geez. :eek: I can't believe that--you've got to be kidding me! How rude! I would not have left a tip...or maybe I would have, but it wouldn't have been any more than the amount of change I could dig out from under the seat of my car. To embarrass someone like that is extremely impolite...I can't believe she took the plate off your table! Why don't you write a letter to the local paper?

I would have told them to KMA on that tip mess!! You leave a tip because you had good service!!

I would write a letter to your newspaper and name the restaurant as well as call the BBB. Hit them where it hurts. Did you get the names of the waitress and managers!!

I would post the name of the restaurant in this thread. Seriously, bad business deserves to be reported.

OK... sounds like they have a draconian policy over people sneaking in a few minutes during lunch buffet time and piggybacking into the higher-cost dinner buffet menu. How the waitress handled it was downright inexcusable. I can only justify such behavior if she had spotted you trying to do the sneak over several visits; even then there is a more diplomatic way to handle such a situation.

Case in point: a couple of months ago I went to a gas station near my old apartment. Filled up the gas tank (paid outside with my credit card). When I finished filling up the gas tank, I stepped inside the store thinking of getting something. Having not found what I was looking for, I went back into my car. The convenience store attendant then comes up to me and starts accusing me of shoplifting. I promptly and angrily deny it (did the person think I fit the profile of one? I dunno.) Such an accusation leveled against me without sufficient proof is enough to set my blood boiling, not to mention the potential consequences of a defamation of character lawsuit.

So, when the clerk asked me to leave and not to bring my business again, I gladly complied. I make sure to mention to my friends and family not to shop or get gas there ever again. I hope the place goes out of business.

You said supper...that makes me laugh! :) Sorry about your experience. You should definately help to not bring business to that restaurant. Tell all your friends and family and the idea about writing to your local newspaper is a good one. If possible, you should try to write to the corporate office of the restaurant. I'm sure they'll get in a lot of trouble! Good luck!

:eek:

Uhm, looking at your signature, I'm assuming that you are pregnant?

Who on earth takes food away from someone who is preggers? Seriously!

Sounds like she could use a lesson in manners. Honestly, I can't believe someone would go about that in that way. It makes you wonder what she was really upset about, and why she was taking it out on you. Did ya end up leaving a tip? I wouldn't have.

Thetagrrl,

Yes. I am pregnant. I went in at such a crazy time, b/c if I don't eat every three hours on the dot my blood sugar drops dangerously low. I don't want anyone to think I went in trying to cheat them out of supper food at a lunch price.

NOOOOOOO... I did NOT leave a tip.

A bit more clarification to the situation. This was at a family owned Chinese buffet. The owner/manager spoke just a bit more English than the waitress did. They all had names I could NOT pronounce, so remembering them would be impossible. It is entirely possible, looking back, that one of the only phrases they know at the checkout counter is, "Don't forget to leave a tip." But, I am still inclined to believe they did it to be a smarta$$.

Again, I had expected to pay the higher price b/c I thought it was already supper (That's what we call "dinner" in the South, lol) time since the supper items were out.

I have been making it my business to tell everyone I know what happened. I was by myself, so I was an easier target for them to embarrass. (If my 6'2", 275 lb. husband had been there, I bet the waitress would have acted differently.)

i smell a law suit. if it wasnt posted they are at fault.

No way!!! How rude! :eek:


Is that to say that, if a customer goes in at 3:29pm, they pay the lunch price but only get to eat for one minute??


All my life, my family has eaten dinner at 3:30pm (home, restaurant, whatever). At the Hometown Buffet here in SoCal, we occassionally arrive 20-30 before dinner/supper service and the price change (which I think is at 4pm). And do you know what? They don't care! The staff simply changes out the trays. No one goes around asking customers to upgrade their lunch price or snatches ham slices off the tables.


If the restaurant is THAT concerned then:

a) They should close the restaurant from 3:30 - 4:00pm in order to change the trays and shoo lunch customers out

or

b) Providing that 3:30pm is their supper service time, then they should start charging customers the dinner price starting at 3:15pm.


Plus, the fact that you are pregnant really makes them look quite unreasonable. It's like grabbing a cup of coffee away from an old man and yelling, "Look, pops, no refills!! Take your cane and get out of here!"


I'd agree with the suggestions to write a letter to the local paper.


What a nightmare!


.....Kelly :)

Whoaaaa! That is rude!! :eek:


I'd definitely spread the word to my friends & family about that place. I'd be inclined to think you aren't the only person that's experienced their little rant, either. Just crazy.

You know I hate it when you go out for dinner only to receive poor service...however this is beyond rude and poor service.

A little story though-
My friends and I went to Old Chicago where my then boyfriend worked (it had just opened). This girl was our waitress and it took her 15 minutes to approach our table after we were seated. Then it took another 15 minutes for our drinks. Then it took an additional 10 minutes for her to come back to get our order...we were ready about 20 minutes earlier. Someone ELSE had to bring out our pizza...and then it took another 15 minutes after it arrived for out waitress to ask us how it was or if she could get us more drinks. Finally we were finished and it took a HALF HOUR to get our check.
So what did we do? We asked for the manager, who sat down with us and listened to our complaint. Being that the two friends I was with were in food service also, they knew how to properly attend to guests. He asked us what we wanted...a comped meal or something? We said, no, we just wanted you to know how poor of service we got.
We paid for our meal and drinks, tipped 20% and from that time on, everytime we came to that restraunt the manager served us himself and made sure we were well taken care of.