Can I help you?
On a recent trip I stopped into the restaurant in my hotel. The menu looked decent, and I was tired and looking for a quiet and abbreviated dinner. Upon my arrival there was less than a third of the tables occupied - great, I think to myself, this will be perfect.
Well, this dream was short lived. After the hostess walked by 3 times asking if anyone has been there to help me. The hostess never asked if she could get me a drink while waiting. So, when my server finally arrived about 10 minutes later, the first on my list was a drink (Coke of course). Big mistake, because my server returned to his hiding spot, and again I was asked if anyone had helped me at least 3 times.
Slightly amused, I turned into the observer and looked around. What I immediately notice was a broad expanse of chaos. Every server was cross-checking with other tables, while briskly passing their own tables. While listening to the conversations I realized that a couple new servers were working - and yes, I was one of the chosen who was part of the experiment.
At last my server returns with my drink from obviously some distant location, to only set it down and start to walk away. I was not about to let this slippery fellow sneak away again, so I got his attention (and a couple of other folks at the table next to mine), and placed my order.
The food was delivered as you might expect by another server. Thrilled to have my food, I requested another drink. As I was finishing my meal, I was approached again by the hostess to see if I need something, I said I was waiting on a drink, to which she replied "great, let me know if you need anything else" and off she scurried away. Finally, my precious Coke arrived.
The finishing act of this evening was my insane thought of ordering a desert to go, and pay my bill with my credit card. This was handled by 2 additional servers that had just stopped by to see if they could help. Well, another 10 additional minutes go by and the manager stops by, "can I help you with anything?". By now I am near tears of laughter and exhaustion... My response, can you just find out where my desert and credit card are?
After it was all said and done, I counted 6 people in all delivered on the most pathetic experiences of my carnivorous life...! However, the side-show was quite amusing.
A couple things to note:
1. "Can I help you" is not a phrase to be used for ideal conversation - it implies and requires action.
2. Stay in your position - something football players always talk about, and for good reason. When everyone starts covering for everyone, the whole system breaks down. The experience is completely compromised.
3. Always provide new hires with training before they start their individual experiments in customer experience triage .
4. Don't make excuses for delivery really a bad experience - just acknowledge it, and offer a remedy to your customer. In this case, I spoke with the manager who replied "yeah, they are still learning". Clearly at my expense!
This is one for the record books - maybe a tie with my Office Max experience.
Well, this dream was short lived. After the hostess walked by 3 times asking if anyone has been there to help me. The hostess never asked if she could get me a drink while waiting. So, when my server finally arrived about 10 minutes later, the first on my list was a drink (Coke of course). Big mistake, because my server returned to his hiding spot, and again I was asked if anyone had helped me at least 3 times.
Slightly amused, I turned into the observer and looked around. What I immediately notice was a broad expanse of chaos. Every server was cross-checking with other tables, while briskly passing their own tables. While listening to the conversations I realized that a couple new servers were working - and yes, I was one of the chosen who was part of the experiment.
At last my server returns with my drink from obviously some distant location, to only set it down and start to walk away. I was not about to let this slippery fellow sneak away again, so I got his attention (and a couple of other folks at the table next to mine), and placed my order.
The food was delivered as you might expect by another server. Thrilled to have my food, I requested another drink. As I was finishing my meal, I was approached again by the hostess to see if I need something, I said I was waiting on a drink, to which she replied "great, let me know if you need anything else" and off she scurried away. Finally, my precious Coke arrived.
The finishing act of this evening was my insane thought of ordering a desert to go, and pay my bill with my credit card. This was handled by 2 additional servers that had just stopped by to see if they could help. Well, another 10 additional minutes go by and the manager stops by, "can I help you with anything?". By now I am near tears of laughter and exhaustion... My response, can you just find out where my desert and credit card are?
After it was all said and done, I counted 6 people in all delivered on the most pathetic experiences of my carnivorous life...! However, the side-show was quite amusing.
A couple things to note:
1. "Can I help you" is not a phrase to be used for ideal conversation - it implies and requires action.
2. Stay in your position - something football players always talk about, and for good reason. When everyone starts covering for everyone, the whole system breaks down. The experience is completely compromised.
3. Always provide new hires with training before they start their individual experiments in customer experience triage .
4. Don't make excuses for delivery really a bad experience - just acknowledge it, and offer a remedy to your customer. In this case, I spoke with the manager who replied "yeah, they are still learning". Clearly at my expense!
This is one for the record books - maybe a tie with my Office Max experience.
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