Just plain rude! (page 3)

onintwo

I'm sorry about your experience there. It sounds terrible. I certainly wouldn't go back...ever.

Point of law: If you are served what you ordered and you eat the food, you are obligated to pay for it. Regarding bad service, you certainly can complain to management, and should. But you did that to no avail. So don't go back, and don't refer them to your friends.

Also....these people who are advising you about using devious measures to "get back" at the restaurant, really make me wonder. There's no way you can justify lying and making up a big stories for the health dept. or do any of the things suggested. Well outside of the bounds of honesty. It's actually childlike, if you think about it. The way school kids might react in the fourth grade.

Just don't go back. Relate your experiences to others. That restaurant will collapse with this kind of scrutiny and comment. Hopefully, that will be good enough satisfaction for you.

Onintwo

BeautifulGarbage

Speaking Chinese in front of you isn't exactly rude. Just as is it isn't rude for French or Italian staff to speak in their mother tongues.

I would strongly disagree. Speaking, right in front of your customers, in a language that you know they don't understand, especially WHEN YOU CAN SPEAK THEIR TONGUE, is extremely rude IMO. Yes, it gives a very strong impression that they are speaking about you and don't want you to understand.

I've had this happen to me. The two clerks just chattering away in Spanish pretending I'm not there. One time, I got so annoyed that I said:

"YO! CUSTOMER HERE! You know, the reason YOU are here?! Perhaps you can at least have the courtesy to ignore me in a language I can understand."

Stefanie

Exactly my point! I dont care what language they speak, but she spoke it in a rude tone and looked at me while she was speaking it. I know spanish and i would never do that to anyone. It just plain rude.

Mary

these people who are advising you about using devious measures to "get back" at the restaurant, really make me wonder. There's no way you can justify lying and making up a big stories for the health dept. or do any of the things suggested. Well outside of the bounds of honesty.

Riiiight. After all, we all know that Chinese restaurants are so well known for having clean and ordered kitchens. I can almost guarantee that any restaurant that treats their customers so pathetic are almost certainly lacking in hygiene in the kitchen area.

Stefanie

Mary, thats what I was thinking. The restroom was filthy. Besides they shouldnt have anything to hide and a visit from a health inspector would be doing all patrons who go there a favor.

Satans little helper

I agree with double edge, it's a cultural not racial thing. I used to work in a Chinese restaurant and they were very insular. They were Chinese Malaysians and didn't get the whole concept of making people want to come back. The younger people there did get it and the place was popular because the food was great and the guy running the bar was awesome

gitasatsangha

There seems to have been something of an outbreak of Chinese restaurants where I live, lately. I'm talking maybe 10 or so in the last three years in a two mile radius. They are not all equal, and that goes for food and for service. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that most of the people opening these business have little knowledge of the restaurant business before opening their own (or of management, or of food for that matter in one case). I figure the bad one's will cease to be patronized, in a buyer's market, and the good ones will hopefully make it, same as anything else. On the other hand, some of them are really nice places to eat. (A waiter I know at one, always make's an origami swan for my girlfriend, when we come in. I make him some paper boat or propeller thingy). Maybe if there was some McDonald's of Chinese Food those problems would equalize out, but then the food would be bland and it wouldn't be fun anymore.

Just learn some Mandarin dirty words.

Scully

When I first started working, I learned a motto that was very valuable in the service industry.

If you provide average service, nobody will notice. It's what they expect.
If you provide exceptional service, people will appreciate it and come back. It's what they like.
If you are rude and/or provide lousy service, people will tell everyone they know. It's what they hate.

Word of mouth advertising works in reverse too. Often times a bad review stays with you longer than any exceptional review.

Love, Scully

Sara Annie

I've always thought that there would be a great business in teaching 'foreigners' the cultural ropes in dealing with Americans - something very simple like giving out extra napkins without making a big deal about it....

This made me laugh so hard I think coffee came out of my nose--I have noticed how napkin stinginess is a common trait in the asian restaurants we frequent. As is the policy of paying for soft-drink refills. It's an ill-conceived attempt to manage costs, but those two items are such a small percentage of total expenses that it's silly to keep such a tight hold on them.

It's interesting that people who have a good experience at a food-service establishment will generally tell 1-3 people about it, but those who have a bad experience will tell 10-12 people about it on average. Good service has it's PR rewards, but they pale in comparison to the reputation damage that can be done for bad service.

Bad experiences in the food service industry can be mitigated, almost always, by proper handling by management along with a sincere attempt to correct the situation to the customer's satisfaction. Customers are 5 times more likely to return to an establishment where they had a bad experience if they are handled graciously and generously afterwards.

(Wow. I'm the most boring woman on earth. My degree in Hospitality Management still comes in handy sometimes, I guess.)

Just plain rude!

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