I'm not that into costumer service, but...
You know what is the best part of having a blog? You get to review all kinds of things. And then, you get to pretend that people actually care what you think, and actually read it. And so, I review movies, and books, and more books...but tonight, I'm doing a restaurant.
Let me begin by saying that I am loving being part of the Medical Lab Science major family. I haven't really connected to a lot of people at college. I haven't been at disconnect, but I just never really had a lot of people I could call my friends. Just friendly acquaintances. And as my mother knows, that's fine with me. I didn't really have friends growing up, and it never really bothered me. But, it is nice to have them, even if I don't hate not having them. Last year, I did some things with my coworkers in American Heritage, and it was fun. However, being in Medical Lab Science (and now, actually in the legit program), I spend 5-8 hours a day with the same 34 people. And we have a lot in common. Especially personality-wise.
So, I actually connect to a lot of these people. And tonight, some of us went out for Halloween to a little diner-type place called Sammy's. The main draw about Sammy's to the "hipster-scence" in college is that they have pie shakes (and being hipster). Essentially, they have ice cream shakes, but they shove an actual piece of pie into the blender with it. If pie isn't your thing, they have the pie shake equivalent with cupcakes. I just got a 1/2 shake and some fries. It was a good shake. Like, really good. And the fries were good fries. They really were. However, I do have one thing to say about Sammy's. TERRIBLE customer service.
I don't think I've ever complained about costumer service, and it didn't so much bother me, as it was just very noticeable. There were probably only about 10-15 people in the diner (it being a weeknight and all). That's not that many people. However, it took them about 10 minutes for them to even acknowledge that we were in there. And when we had looked at the menu and decided what we each wanted, we stood by the counter at the ordering place for 7 minutes before the came to take the order. This wouldn't be that big of a deal. There were only three people working that night, and one had gone to get more ice. So, they were busy. But the girl behind the counter, making the shakes who was also working the register could have very easily said, "I'll be right with you to take your order." But instead, she didn't even acknowledge our presence, or give us any indication that she knew we were ready and waiting. As a first-timer at Sammy's, I was even starting to wonder if that wasn't the order-taking place.
And when they finally came to take orders, they stopped several times in the middle of the order taking to do something else. After ordering, it took them more than 10 minutes to give us MILKSHAKES. And then, one of the people with me originally wanted a 1/2 shake. But you can't get 1/2 shakes with cupcake shakes, because apparently they can't cut cupcakes in half. But no biggie. She just switched to a whole size (even though it was twice the price). However, once we were waiting, the shake-maker came to inform her that they were out of that type of cupcake. And we saw that happen to another customer as well. Don't you think that the cash register person (being the same person as the shake-making person), would know that they were out of that cupcake before waiting 5 minutes to say that? So, my friend switched to a pie shake--but it was a half-size. So, that means that it should be half-size price, right? Seems reasonable. The cash-register person didn't know what to do. Why couldn't she just have a full size, the cash-register-shake-maker person asked? Well, she had wanted a half-size the entire time, but you can't cut cupcakes in half, so she got the full-size. But now, the cupcake she wanted isn't here, so she wants a pie. So now, she can have the half-size.
Luckily, when the girl that went to get ice came back, she gave my friend a gift card for double the difference between a half and full to both reimburse the money and compensate for the fact that she couldn't actually have the menu item she had asked for. It generally seemed that ice-girl was better at customer service than cash-register-shake-maker girl and fry-and-burger-boy. She actually acknowledged people. When patrons came in, she would say, "Welcome! Menus are at the end of the counter, and you can order at the cash register." Too bad she wasn't there when we got there.
So, some people would have gotten very upset by this. I just kind of watched it and thought, "Hmm...I wonder how Robert Irvine (the Restaurant Impossible guy on the Food Network) would approach this one?"
Let me begin by saying that I am loving being part of the Medical Lab Science major family. I haven't really connected to a lot of people at college. I haven't been at disconnect, but I just never really had a lot of people I could call my friends. Just friendly acquaintances. And as my mother knows, that's fine with me. I didn't really have friends growing up, and it never really bothered me. But, it is nice to have them, even if I don't hate not having them. Last year, I did some things with my coworkers in American Heritage, and it was fun. However, being in Medical Lab Science (and now, actually in the legit program), I spend 5-8 hours a day with the same 34 people. And we have a lot in common. Especially personality-wise.
So, I actually connect to a lot of these people. And tonight, some of us went out for Halloween to a little diner-type place called Sammy's. The main draw about Sammy's to the "hipster-scence" in college is that they have pie shakes (and being hipster). Essentially, they have ice cream shakes, but they shove an actual piece of pie into the blender with it. If pie isn't your thing, they have the pie shake equivalent with cupcakes. I just got a 1/2 shake and some fries. It was a good shake. Like, really good. And the fries were good fries. They really were. However, I do have one thing to say about Sammy's. TERRIBLE customer service.
I don't think I've ever complained about costumer service, and it didn't so much bother me, as it was just very noticeable. There were probably only about 10-15 people in the diner (it being a weeknight and all). That's not that many people. However, it took them about 10 minutes for them to even acknowledge that we were in there. And when we had looked at the menu and decided what we each wanted, we stood by the counter at the ordering place for 7 minutes before the came to take the order. This wouldn't be that big of a deal. There were only three people working that night, and one had gone to get more ice. So, they were busy. But the girl behind the counter, making the shakes who was also working the register could have very easily said, "I'll be right with you to take your order." But instead, she didn't even acknowledge our presence, or give us any indication that she knew we were ready and waiting. As a first-timer at Sammy's, I was even starting to wonder if that wasn't the order-taking place.
And when they finally came to take orders, they stopped several times in the middle of the order taking to do something else. After ordering, it took them more than 10 minutes to give us MILKSHAKES. And then, one of the people with me originally wanted a 1/2 shake. But you can't get 1/2 shakes with cupcake shakes, because apparently they can't cut cupcakes in half. But no biggie. She just switched to a whole size (even though it was twice the price). However, once we were waiting, the shake-maker came to inform her that they were out of that type of cupcake. And we saw that happen to another customer as well. Don't you think that the cash register person (being the same person as the shake-making person), would know that they were out of that cupcake before waiting 5 minutes to say that? So, my friend switched to a pie shake--but it was a half-size. So, that means that it should be half-size price, right? Seems reasonable. The cash-register person didn't know what to do. Why couldn't she just have a full size, the cash-register-shake-maker person asked? Well, she had wanted a half-size the entire time, but you can't cut cupcakes in half, so she got the full-size. But now, the cupcake she wanted isn't here, so she wants a pie. So now, she can have the half-size.
Luckily, when the girl that went to get ice came back, she gave my friend a gift card for double the difference between a half and full to both reimburse the money and compensate for the fact that she couldn't actually have the menu item she had asked for. It generally seemed that ice-girl was better at customer service than cash-register-shake-maker girl and fry-and-burger-boy. She actually acknowledged people. When patrons came in, she would say, "Welcome! Menus are at the end of the counter, and you can order at the cash register." Too bad she wasn't there when we got there.
So, some people would have gotten very upset by this. I just kind of watched it and thought, "Hmm...I wonder how Robert Irvine (the Restaurant Impossible guy on the Food Network) would approach this one?"
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