Outrageous Restaurant Disruptions

I've been a Customer Service trainer for decades, so perhaps I'm overly picky about behaviors that drive customers crazy. Here are two outrageous disruptions that ruined our meal in fav restaurants.

There is a restaurant my husband and I love to go to. Usually it’s an important part of our “date night” which occurs about once a month on our way to go grocery shopping at the Commissary. (I’m kidding — we have other dates in the month that don’t involve groceries.)

Recently we arrived at our special place, ordered, settled in at a table by the window and waited for our food to arrive. A pleasant lady brought our tray over and since we were hungry, we dove right in!

Then, about halfway through our meal the same lady started up a floor cleaning machine. She moved up and down the aisles near us, creating a whirring noise that thankfully, we could talk over. It was loud and it was disruptive, but I figured, well they have to clean the floors sometime. Why not during the middle of the day when there are customers sitting there eating their lunch?

But then, we heard….

Screech! Screech! as she pushed the metal chairs across the ceramic tile floor. One by one she slid them, each time making a noise that assaulted our ears and made conversation impossible.

Soon after she approached a high table. From one side of the table she pushed each stool under the table across the floor. One. By. One.

Screech! Screech! Screech!

After cleaning that spot beneath the table, she went around to the other side and pushed the six stools in the opposite direction.

Oh my gosh! I couldn’t believe it!

Now, I ask you, why must restaurants use chairs with metal legs and not put a silicone glide tab on the bottom to minimize the noise? Why do they think it’s okay to make such a racket when customers are trying to enjoy their meal?

Another Customer Service Affront

Which leads me to another restaurant we used to go to. It was our favorite place on Sunday to go after Mass with my Mom and Dad. Friendly, good food, fast service. We made it a habit to go there and most of the servers knew us by heart. It felt good to know we were remembered and we were supporting a locally owned restaurant.

But one Sunday as we were eating our meal and enjoying our conversation, one of the servers started clearing the table over in back of us. She didn’t just place the dirty dishes in the bin, she practically threw them in there. The sound was deafening.

So my husband leaned over and asked her nicely, “Could you do that a little quieter please?” She ignored him and continued to crash the dishes.

Then one of the owners joined the server in clearing the table. So my husband leaned over to her and asked, “Could you please ask her to clear the dishes without so much noise?”

The owner got huffy and with an obvious display of irritation said, “We’ve got a big group coming in and we have to get this table cleared off.”

No apology. No effort to ask her server to quiet down a bit. Nothing.

So my husband looked at me and said, “We won’t be coming back here again.”

Now, let’s do the math. Almost every other Sunday we’ve come to this place with my parents and spent about $120.00 (including tip) on brunch. Multiply that by, let’s say, 20 weeks out of the year and we have $2400.00.

Customer Expectations

Maybe $2400 is income they won’t ever miss. But I bet we were not the only ones to experience the same kind of disruption. Maybe others won’t speak up. But maybe they’ll decide to go somewhere else, like we did. Estimates are that for every one who complains, 24 others will take their business elsewhere.

The Research Institute of America for the White House Office of Consumer Affairs found that only 4% of customers will ever complain. But if the complaint is addressed quickly, 95% of customers will continue to do business with the establishment. It’s to their benefit to fix the problem, not treat the customer like they don’t matter.

So I ask you, shouldn’t restaurants create a good environment for their customers?

Shouldn’t their place of business be free of extreme noise, overly cold air-conditioning, dirty bathrooms or wet seats the server just wiped down without drying?

Or am I just being picky? Or cranky?

I suppose I could send a letter to each of these restaurants and let them know about the disruptions we experienced while dining with them.

But would it do any good?

What do you think? Is it worth it to speak up?

(And don’t get me started on Pella Windows.)