So the wife and I ventured out late Friday evening to grab a burger. We went to the chain Red Robin. It was around 8:00 or so. When we went in there were a few people sitting in the lobby. The hostess said it would be a 45 minute wait.
Let me diverge here. My wife is one of the nicest, sweetest people you could ever meet. She doesn’t ever say an unkind word. Yes, opposites do attract. She is never snarky. Sarcasm is lost on her.
Back to the lobby of Red Robin. The wife looks around and sees that at least 75% of the tables are empty. She said simply “There are a lot of empty tables”.
The hostess replied “Unfortunately, like a lot of places we are short on wait staff”. All was fine if she left it there. It is a common occurrence these days. Sometimes we wait it out, Friday we were both hungry.
The wife said nicely “OK we will go somewhere else”. No problem, just a business deal that didn’t happen. No one was angry. My belly was a bit disappointed, but that was a First World problem that I would not have a cheeseburger with a fried egg on top for dinner.
A I turned to leave the hostess said “Feel free to fill out an application for server if you don’t want to wait next time”. If life was a cartoon you would have heard screeching brakes from my shoes as I came to a stop. The wife pushed me out the door before I could respond. Maybe it was a joke. Maybe it was a frustration from turning away patrons. Maybe it was the smart ass comment it sounded.
What it really was, as the wife said to me as we walked to the car, a “guarantee we will never, ever go there again”. When you anger the wife, it is forever.
Complain to the manager, that was not cool at all. What is this, no one wants to work without making $20.00 a hour with no education.
ReplyDeleteThat was just plain rude. Your wife is right, never go there again. And as Cheryl said, contact management and let them know why. Inexcusable.
ReplyDeleteIt was a smart-ass remark! Contact corporate not management.
ReplyDeleteContact everyone.
ReplyDeleteDid ya get her name before ya left?
So this was an unfortunate situation, and I agree with your response. Plus I too would not frequent that establishment again. Given the opportunity what would have been your response?
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what I would have said. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not generally a jerk. I do work in sales and customer service.
ReplyDeleteI would probably ask her if she is trying to be funny. And point out it was exceedingly rude.
In fairness, I felt like their service was shit the first and only time I went to one, which was probably almost 10 years ago at this point. Plus, the food was pedestrian at best, and they took forever to bring out the second helping of "never ending" fries. I've never felt any particular desire to go back. Don't know how they stay in business.
ReplyDeleteThere's a locally-owned bar and grill just as far west as the Red Robin is north of us. We'll go to the bar and grill in a heartbeat.
And if someone told me that at a restaurant, I would, literally, tell them to GFY...and that we would never be back. And would tell people we knew to avoid the place.
ReplyDeleteServe the public, or shut up about your problems.
She probably voted for Biden anyway.