Mar 27, 2017

Dinner From HELL!!

I didn't want to share this story on here because I like to keep this blog positive but I can't shake the horrible way we were treated and how upset I allow this person to make me. Let me backup and explain. 
Late Saturday evening after spending a nice afternoon/early evening with my Dad for his Birthday, Mr. J, Jake and I decided to stop off at the local pup/eatery for a quick bite.  As we entered the parking lot there were a lot of cars. This is the type of place that never has more than 2 or 3 cars in their parking lot. Even during dinner or lunch hours. 
As we entered the establishment we noticed that there was a fund raiser going on in half of the restaurant. The woman who was running the benefit said that we weren't allowed to eat there unless we donated money. When I asked the waitress if that was true she said, 'No, you can sit on the other side and order from the menu'. We seated ourselves, got our own menu and waited for someone take our drink order. It was several minutes before I had to ask someone to take our order. After our drink order was taken we then waited another several minutes before our order was taken. Despite the crowd on the other side they had staffed several waitresses and waiters. So under staffing was not an issue. When we finally got our food mine wasn't prepared correctly and there was no utensils and since our waitress never came back I had to hunt someone down to get us utensils. That person was gone for about 5 minutes and came back and said he was sorry for the delay and that he has to wash some for me. 
By this time Mr. J and I are so upset that I ask if I can speak to the manager who I then learned is also the owner. In my conversation with the owner my intent was to express my concern for the lack of customer service. I had no intention of this turning ugly and I respected that he was busy. I said that as a local establishment we want to support your business but with this type of service we are having a hard time doing that. That is when everything turned ugly. This man was clearly flustered and unable to handle this large crowd(something he is not used to). 

Without getting into every single detail of what happened I will post my review of his business. I am BIG on customer service. I will treat you with if you treat me with respect. I was so appalled by his behavior that I posted this review on Better Business Bureau Yelp, Google Review, Facebook, TravelAdvisor, Etc. I made sure to post this on all three of his restaurants. (I don't mess around)

Worst service!! Owner had a crowd (fund raiser) for the first time since opening and was unable to handle the volume. He stayed open to the public but when we complained about the poor service (no service) we were belittled and treated awful. He called us names in front of my 8 year old son. When we asked him how he runs a business when he treats his customers this way he said, "I have 3 businesses, I'm a millionaire. How many business do you own?". When I said 'you can't expect us to pay for this after how horrible you've treated us' he said, "you're god damn right I am". Several times the F word was uttered. In front of my son. Please think twice before giving this type of person your money.

I just can't shake how disappointed I am in myself for allowing this horrible person make me feel the way I did. I felt so helpless in that moment and feel like the only thing I could do was give my review. 

Have you ever had a customer service experience that left you completely speechless?


7 comments:

Beth (Coffee Until Cocktails) said...

OH my god. I can't believe he would call you names and swear like that, especially in front of the kiddo! If they wanted to just host the fundraiser they should have closed to the public. I'm so sorry that happened and I am glad you spoke out about it. I can't stand poor customer service. Was this someplace up by Mr. J or closer to us? Just curious because I'd plan to not go there if it's near me!

Unknown said...

OMG OMG OMG.

First, I am SO sorry to hear that you had that experience, but I can't even begin to understand how this man let his emotions get the better of him and to treat you with such completely disdain/disrespect. And to curse in front of your child. WOW. Talk about unprofessional and incredibly rude behavior. Also eww at his "I'm a millionaire" comment. Vom.

I'm a small business owner. I love to support other local businesses, especially mom and pop shops because there is a LOT of competition out there, but you have an experience like that, you never go back. And this man learned a very hard lesson that day.

Sending much love to you, my sweet!

Unknown said...

That is insane! I'm a small business owner and after living in NYC and Chicago and now living in rural Indiana where there aren't a lot of chains, I LOVE supporting small businesses. It is such a shame that you were treated like that. Even if the owner was having a hard time or thought you were going to complain, he should have been polite to you and tried to fix the problem.

Sheryl at How to Make a Life said...

I fully support you in telling everyone about how you were treated. This IS NOT how you treat customers. I'm sorry this happened.

The Flynnigans said...

That's just horrible and disgusting behavior.

Why Girls Are Weird said...

That is just so WEIRD to me. I've had customers treat me like absolute garbage and I still continue to speak to them in a professional manner. If you've grown up in the service industry that should just be ingrained in you. And for him to lose his cool over a situation where a customer wasn't even actually being cruel just boggles my mind.

I would definitely complain to the BBB and I would share your story. Actions have consequences and he needs to know that he represented his business very poorly.

I'm so sorry Kim, that's the worst.

Trish @ The Trish List said...

Dear lord does anyone have manner anymore?! I can't believe as a business owner he would treat his paying customers that way. I don't blame you for feeling that way. Stress sucks, but you need to be able to keep your cool if you want to keep a business. Wow. Just wow! So sorry you had to deal with that kind of ignorance.