One Small Bite

A while back I was in a restaurant that shall remain nameless. Suffice it to say that it was a big, busy corporate chain. This particular evening, the restaurant was rather busy and I had family and friends with me.

We started our evening in the lobby of this restaurant chatting about various topics. After a long wait, we were seated at a circular booth where we fit cozily but comfortably. One would have thought that we might have been in a bad mood after the wait and yet we were all having a great time. And that's when the trouble started.

Keep in mind that the restaurant was busy. It must have been understaffed as well because we had to wait an interminably long time for even the smallest of amenities like water. In addition, when the wait staff finally did show up to take our order, they disappeared in the middle of the process. When they returned, they continued as if nothing had happened leaving us all wondering.

Given how busy the place was, we weren't surprised at how long it took to get our meals. We were surprised at how long it took to get our drinks and that our server was not the one who delivered them. Nor did he deliver the soups and salads or even the meals. In fact, he never returned to our table. None of the other wait staff seemed to care about us either.

Having said all this, one would think that there's no lesson here, nothing of interest except a blogger whining. The truth is that there are several lessons here starting with the big one; care about your customer. Obviously, there are a number of reasons why our experience was the way it was. Had the wait staff shared that with us, we might have been more understanding rather than growing increasingly frustrated. In addition, the simple act of making sure that our drinks were full, that we had utensils or even checking on us would have helped. Knowing how busy it was, had the manager or any of the management come round to check on us would have helped.


Could these simple things have made our experience that much better? Absolutely! In fact, it might have made all the difference. What do you think?

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