{"id":21639,"date":"2019-06-17T17:08:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T21:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/?p=21639"},"modified":"2019-08-28T03:25:30","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T07:25:30","slug":"three-things-that-drive-me-mad-at-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/three-things-that-drive-me-mad-at-restaurants\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Things that Drive Me Mad At Restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I often tell my audiences, I am blessed and cursed. I am cursed with the fact that I can\u2019t have a Customer Experience<\/a> without analyzing it and defining what they should do differently. But I am also blessed, because my Customer Experience knowledge has fed my family for 20 years!<\/p>\n

So I shouldn\u2019t complain. But my blessing\/curse does get in the way of enjoying simple things, like restaurant meals. There are three things in particular that drive me nuts at a restaurant, because they blatantly show that the restaurant is not customer centric. And they would be so easy to fix.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0The Server Who Can\u2019t Remember<\/h2>\n

I was out for dinner recently with my wife Lorraine. She ordered a pasta dish and I ordered chicken. When the waiter returned to our table holding a steaming plate, he announced: \u201cI have the pasta,\u201d clearly unsure where it belonged.<\/p>\n

Now Lorraine had to shout, \u201cThat\u2019s mine!\u201d as though she was trying to claim a prize on a game show.<\/p>\n

I cannot fathom why service people don\u2019t simply write down who ordered what, especially when there are only two people at the table. It is easy enough to note that the man ordered chicken and the woman pasta. Remembering shows that the server paid attention to a person\u2019s preferences and cared about them. This is one of the ways I quickly judge whether a restaurant is good or not.<\/p>\n

2. The Server Who Interrupts<\/h2>\n

This one has happened to me on more occasions than I can count. I\u2019m at the table and my companion is talking — perhaps sharing a funny anecdote from a recent vacation, or discussing a customer experience strategy for Beyond Philosophy. The waitress comes by. I see her out of the corner of my eye, but my companion is in the middle of a sentence. I don\u2019t want to interrupt him. But the waitress is happy to.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I get you anything else? How about some dessert? Something else to drink?\u201d<\/p>\n

Expecting you to interrupt your conversation the minute a server shows up at your table is just rude. The server should either wait at a polite distance until we signal that we\u2019re ready to talk to her. Or she should visit another table and come back by a little later.<\/p>\n

3. The Restaurant that Pretends to Be Busy<\/h2>\n

How many times have you walked into a nearly empty restaurant, asked for a table, and had the hostess say, \u201cDo you have a reservation?\u201d When you sheepishly admit that you do not, she studies her sheet of paper for a bit, then consults with another staff member. Then, without a word, she picks up a couple of menus and seats you right next to the only other filled table in the place. Whew, you think. It\u2019s lucky we got in before the big dinner rush.<\/p>\n

So you have your meal and as you\u2019re getting up to leave you realize there was no dinner rush. There are now a total of four filled tables in the place, including yours. Why did they pretend they were doing you a favor by fitting you in at the last minute?<\/p>\n

We often talk about the\u00a0role emotions play in customer experience<\/u><\/a>, and this behavior starts things off on a negative foot by causing anxiety. Will we get a table? How long will we have to wait? Why didn\u2019t we make a reservation? In the end, we feel tricked because it seems we were made anxious for no good reason. Imagine how different you\u2019d feel if the hostess instead said, \u201cIt\u2019s a slow night. I\u2019m so glad you came in. Where would you like to sit?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Company Culture<\/h2>\n

All three of these things happen because the restaurant prioritizes its processes over the customers it is serving.<\/p>\n