SimonS Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Sheffield forum is full of reviews on every restaurant and bar in Sheffield. There are rants about poor service, bad food, microwave food, etc. Sometimes it is deserved. But what about BAD CUSTOMERS? Are you the type of person who lowers their expectations when a place is busy or do you think "Great. Time to act like a complete <insert rude word> and sulk and complain about everything!" Do you work in any restaurants or bars and want Sheffield people to know just what a dogs life it is.......??? Working in extremely busy under-staffed places No chance to actually show your cooking skills because everything must be micro-waved to "spec" Trying to get tips from customers who are going to make you pay for every penny of it with their disgusting rude behaviour Kids running riot in the restaurant and bar Customers turning up un-booked at busy times and expecting you to be able to super-humanly serve everybody as though it is the Ritz not Centretainment Managers who sit in the back office and leave all the complaints to you Finishing at 1.30am Looking at the rota to see you have been rota'd on for all the shifts you already said you couldn't work next week Never seeing your friends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess22 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Hiya, know your exact feelings on that one! nightmare isn't it. Some people just don't accept things can go wrong and it's never easy working in a restaurant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomon1 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Sheffield forum is full of reviews on every restaurant and bar in Sheffield. There are rants about poor service, bad food, microwave food, etc. Sometimes it is deserved. But what about BAD CUSTOMERS? Are you the type of person who lowers their expectations when a place is busy or do you think "Great. Time to act like a complete <insert rude word> and sulk and complain about everything!" Do you work in any restaurants or bars and want Sheffield people to know just what a dogs life it is.......??? Working in extremely busy under-staffed places No chance to actually show your cooking skills because everything must be micro-waved to "spec" Trying to get tips from customers who are going to make you pay for every penny of it with their disgusting rude behaviour Kids running riot in the restaurant and bar Customers turning up un-booked at busy times and expecting you to be able to super-humanly serve everybody as though it is the Ritz not Centretainment Managers who sit in the back office and leave all the complaints to you Finishing at 1.30am Looking at the rota to see you have been rota'd on for all the shifts you already said you couldn't work next week Never seeing your friends i know exactly what you mean simon!! i don't work in catering, but service industry too....they're all the same......and by god its a hard juggling act to remain professional to customers when everything's going wrong behind the scenes well done us!! :clap: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthedog Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 I used to work in catering, so I agree with you completely. If somewhere is rammed at an unusual time I have every sympathy with the poor staff and kitchen. Similarly when somewhere is newly opened I always give them a break and make a point of thanking staff and tipping well. I'm always polite to staff and never treat them like servants. But... Serve me badly when there's no clear reason why and risk my wrath! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ousetunes Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Awkward customers are not the sole preserve of the restaurant/pub industry though. Every business suffers from them including my own (bathroom retailer). My favourite request from a customer is: "I would like a good, cheap, bathroom suite." To which the answer can only be: "I can provide you with a good one or if I must, a cheap one!" Then you get a customer who orders the goods on a Saturday (when all our suppliers close at the weekend) and come Monday morning are on the phone asking "Has my bathroom suite come in yet?" never crossing their mind that I cannot place the order till Monday morning! Then you get "Ah, but I've got the plumber here, waiting." Some people simply don't help themselves and sometimes I feel, as the OP probably does, that people are out just for an argument. Like driving on the road, we all need to slow down, calm down and learn to appreciate the situation others find themselves in. All customers do is exacerbate the situation when they should learn to cool off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess22 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Also I hate the fact that even though people book in at a specific time, everybody turns up at 8pm waiting to be served all at once. They don't understand that bookings are staged for a reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonS Posted November 4, 2008 Author Share Posted November 4, 2008 I used to work in catering, so I agree with you completely. If somewhere is rammed at an unusual time I have every sympathy with the poor staff and kitchen. Similarly when somewhere is newly opened I always give them a break and make a point of thanking staff and tipping well. I'm always polite to staff and never treat them like servants. But... Serve me badly when there's no clear reason why and risk my wrath! Well I hope other Sheffield people take note of what you said.... Most staff would not serve you badly on purpose. When everything is going well and it is clear that your effort has helped people have a really good meal or evening then it is a rewarding job. Some customers see a waiter or waitress under pressure and their manners go out of the window. Sometimes it's for no reason other than they want to show off to whomever they are with because they have got the tip factor and the fact you are too busy to cope over you. Or perhaps it's because they have grand ideas that they should have servants..... It's usually the seemingly normal, well mannered, people that don't know how to behave and have no compassion for the people trying their hardest to serve and cook for them. The bad service and food is the fault of these chain companies who manage from their head offices. The waiters get all the complaints, whilst these companies think of how they can cut costs by reducing staff hours and food portions. If people would only write in to the people that deserve it.... I must stop before I forget to breathe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strix Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 that's why on occasion we've been incredibly polite about refusing to pay for unbelievably bad service. When you pay for a meal out, it's not the food your paying for, but the experience. I don't regard finishing my meal with the hoover going way before closing time as an experience worth paying for, but it's obviously something the staff get away with on occasion. Refusing to pay is one way of ensuring it flags up to the owner that customers are VERY unhappy with something going on in their bar/restaurant I'm not unreasonable. I've been served salmon on a bed of lettuce which turned out to have a slimy leaf in it , but having 'complained' I requested that the salmon be transferred to a fresh bed of lettuce rather than the kitchen start all over again - which is what they insisted they would normally do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jemson Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 I`m also polite and complimentary about the food (even if it`s undeserved sometimes) as is my wife. We tip well (10%+) if all is well and less than that if things aren`t too good. Do we pass the customer screening for your place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick2 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Working in extremely busy under-staffed places If you went into a supermarket and there was only one checkout open with a gigantic queue would you accept "we're under-staffed" as an excuse ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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