Whatever happened to the "thank you?"

[damasa]

So...as it starts, I was sitting at home earlier tonight with nothing to do when I got the craving for a delicious, warm meal from the golden archs (Mcdonalds). I leave my house, hop in my car and head out to the nearest one I could find. I hop into the restaurant and I'm the only customer in line. There are three employees that are all near the registers at the front of the counter, but not one asks if they may help me. I've been in banking for a few years now, since I started college, and through many harsh training programs, I've realized that making a customer happy will keep them coming back. So, eventually one of the workers decides to head to the register (about three or four minutes after I had been standing there). Now I know that he is ready to wait on me, but I wait for him to ask, or see if he will. Another minute passes by, and finally I decide to go up, because the guy isn't going to ask to help me. I get there, and he still says nothing. I give him my order, he never asks if it was for there or to go. Since he didn't ask, I didn't give an answer. So he rings up my order and tells me the total. I pull out a crisp ab from my wallet and hand it to him, as he rips the thing out of my hands. He takes it and gives me back my change...mumbling the amount I'm getting back. He never repeated my order back to me, for all he could know, I was ordering a blue elephant burger with purple wings. He doesn't say that he's receiving a five, and he doesn't tell me the amount I'm getting back, just a mere mumble. OOOOOOOOOOOO by now I was getting pissed. As he goes back to the other workers and they being to speak of their useless banter, I begin to look at the sign directly above my head which clearly states, "Proud to serve our customers within 90 seconds." HAHAHAH..I laugh to myself, seeing as I've been ther almost five minutes.....so..I eventually get my meal...there's no thank you.. no, your welcome, even after I still say thank you..nothing...is this what things are coming down to? People don't have the deceny to simply say "thank you?"

[ZTAngel]

Maybe it's just the evilness in me but I always report stuff like that to management. The other day, a friend and I were at Friday's. We sat there for 20 minutes and nobody came by to get our drink orders. I called a waitress over and my friend asked her where our server was. She said to us, "Well, I'm supposed to be in this area but I'm off now. Sorry." She walked away. I saw the manager walk past our table. I got his attention and reported the problem to him. I'm assuming that the waitress was reprimanded. I ended up with free food. yum, yum.

[damasa]

Yea..I hear ya there..I'm sure I could have done something like that..but I just don't have it in me...I can't be cruel to someone even when they are being cruel to me...maybe it's how I was raised, maybe it's just me being polite, or mayb it's me being stupid and wondering why I get screwed over all the time...hrm...lol.. I dunno.

[James]

In fast food these people are making slightly above minimum wage, not much incentive to be nice or to excel in customer service.

ZTAngel, I find myself doing the same things at times. If I wait to long I'll go looking for the manager and ask him whether they want to actually Greet Me . . . and sometimes I'll leave after politely making my point.

[juniorgrrl]

It really pisses me off when my boyfriend and I go into a restaurant and have a waitress/waiter treat us like crap because she/he figures we're not going to tip well because we're young. Usually, they end up geting a reduced tip simply because we're treated so badly.

I've had the min. wage jobs myself and realize that its hard to be enthusiastic for $5.15/hour. But basic politeness shouldn't be contingent upon a wage. When I go to a fast food place, I don't expect fine table service. But I do expect common curtosey. And that includes more than one napkin dammit!

[Lil_G]

I never complain about garbage service before my meal has been cooked, who knows what surprises you'll find waiting for you. Whenever I get terrible service I don't go to that restaurant (at least for awhile) again and tell a lot of ppl about my bad experience. That's a good way to stick it to 'em.

[Thrillhouse]

Originally posted by ZTAngel
Maybe it's just the evilness in me but I always report stuff like that to management. The other day, a friend and I were at Friday's. We sat there for 20 minutes and nobody came by to get our drink orders. I called a waitress over and my friend asked her where our server was. She said to us, "Well, I'm supposed to be in this area but I'm off now. Sorry." She walked away. I saw the manager walk past our table. I got his attention and reported the problem to him. I'm assuming that the waitress was reprimanded. I ended up with free food. yum, yum.

Yeah I had to wait in line at taco bell the other day for my food for 20 minutes. Needless to say I got a couple free tacos out of it.

[ladybug1116]

I had the same thing happen at a Friday's here. The waiter didn't take our orders for over an hour!! And when he finaly brought our drinks he plopped them down on the table in front of my friend and said "Diet Coke is one straw, Regular is two. Help yourselves" and then he walked off I went and talked to the manager very discreetly and she was very nice and accomodating. Then at the end of our meal (after the waiter had horrendously screwed up the checks which he told us to fix ourselves) the manager came out and asked if food vouchers would be acceptable and she was nice and gave our entire party $15 coupons!!!

[princessbee21]

I can't stand rude people in public places ! I mean, who chose that job for you, me or you ? There is no reason to be rude to people unless that specific person is rude to you...even then, in some cases, it's just better to "kill them with kindness", and make them look really small and silly by being rude without a cause !

[James]

The converse should also be true, if you get really premium service you should say something in praise to a manager. I regret that I don't think I have ever really done that. Although I tip pretty well having worked for tips myself.

[Kevlar281]

Well I would just like to say pleases and thank-yous are alive and well in Texas. It really doesn’t matter where I am or how old the person behind the counter is I always start out with “Yes Sir can I please get…” It’s just the way I was raised and I expect the same type of consideration regardless of where it is or how much they’re getting paid. I’m not saying people aren’t rude here but I think it has a lot to do how you treat them. I always think it’s a bit weird when I go out of state (up north) and get funny looks for being polite. I even had a waitress request that I not call her mam.

[lindsay_iu]

Wow, nothing excuses that kind of behavior. I absolutely hate when people cannot say thank you. I worked in a grocery store for 3 years (kill me), and some customers were so rude. I hated it. It won't kill you to say thank you. Since I've dealt with horrible customers in the past, I try to be the perfect customer now. I try to be accomodating to whomever is helping me with whatever. A smile, a thank you, and a good attitude are musts.

[SaffyASK]

Originally posted by James
In fast food these people are making slightly above minimum wage, not much incentive to be nice or to excel in customer service.

ZTAngel, I find myself doing the same things at times. If I wait to long I'll go looking for the manager and ask him whether they want to actually Greet Me . . . and sometimes I'll leave after politely making my point.

I want to start this out by saying that I work at McDonald's and I do so 6 mornings out of 7 at 5am before I have to go to class for the day. I understand that these people are not getting paid much, however, there is an important point which I would like to make.
This is that, when you are friendly and courteous to your customers, they will be friendly and courteous to you back. There are always a few bad apples, but in general people appreciate a smiling cheerful McDonald's employee(especially at 6am when no sane person is cheerful.
It goes back to the golden rule that we all learned about when we were in kindergarten-we all need to treat other people the way that we want to be treated and this applies to work as well as play. You may not get paid much, but if you are nice to people, they will be nicer to you as well and it makes your job so much easier that sometimes you can even forget that you're only getting paid 5.15.

[curiouss]

Originally posted by ZTAngel
Maybe it's just the evilness in me but I always report stuff like that to management. The other day, a friend and I were at Friday's. We sat there for 20 minutes and nobody came by to get our drink orders. I called a waitress over and my friend asked her where our server was. She said to us, "Well, I'm supposed to be in this area but I'm off now. Sorry." She walked away. I saw the manager walk past our table. I got his attention and reported the problem to him. I'm assuming that the waitress was reprimanded. I ended up with free food. yum, yum.

Something to consider:

I've been a hostess three different restaurants within the last year. I've seen it all. I'll say 95% of bad service at restaurants are unintentional. Majority of time, when we keep guests waiting we are TOTALLY unaware that you guys are even there. Everytime I work I always forget at least one party waiting to be seated.
Also, on the servers part, many times they don't even know that they have been sat for numerous reasons. Another thing, just because you see empty tables it dosen't mean that they are open to guests. When or if you guys complain to the management, please be aware that you may get innocent people fired.

[AOIIAngel]

Originally posted by curiouss


Something to consider:

I've been a hostess three different restaurants within the last year. I've seen it all. I'll say 95% of bad service at restaurants are unintentional. Majority of time, when we keep guests waiting we are TOTALLY unaware that you guys are even there. Everytime I work I always forget at least one party waiting to be seated.
Also, on the servers part, many times they don't even know that they have been sat for numerous reasons. Another thing, just because you see empty tables it dosen't mean that they are open to guests. When or if you guys complain to the management, please be aware that you may get innocent people fired.

Lets see.....I have been in the restaurant business for 8 years, as a hostess, bartender, server, corporate trainer, and a manager, and sorry, but if you had been one of MY hostess, you would have been fired. Your sole job is to take care of the guests, and if a restaurant employee can't do something that simple, well, you shouldnt be working there. I admit, OCCASIONALLY you may get busy with another party, but there is NO reason to immediatly stop by the guest and say "Give me just a moment and I will be right back" It isnt a hard job, and I absolutly hate it when I go to a restuarant and get horrible service. And I have no problem mentioning it, because I do know how it works. You should NEVER tell a guest no, but explain why they have to wait, or can't have that certain table. About 90% of people will understand and won't get mad and end up complaining. Its all called "Guest Service" and it really isnt hard to do. And if you are having a bad day or whatever, don't take it out on the guest, cause that is who is paying you!!! As long as you are helpful and courteous, they will respond in the same.