Restaurants and service

There are times when I have wondered if the restaurants actually do any training for their staff or do they just throw them into the job.

We have been at a few restaurants and I have noticed that some of the servers don't seem to really understand what is expected from them. The latest situation was a mix up with an order. We ordered a chicken fajita salad and it came out as a beef fajita salad. The server told us that there was only the beef option on the selection menu where she punches in the order even thou the menu only stated chicken was the option. We checked the menu and it did state chicken and her comment when we wanted to send it back was “now I have to pay for this”. We should never had heard that from the server. She then asked if they could just remove the beef and put chicken on the salad and my husband said yes no problem at all. He then said if that couldn't be done he would have bangers, beans and mashed which was his second choice.

Now this is where the situation goes from bad to worse. The server then comes over and states that it was her mistake that the chicken fajita salad option was on the selection board and she didn't notice it. After saying that she says she was order the bangers, beans and mashed for my husband. We then let her know that she had offered the chicken as a replacement on the salad which is what he wanted in the first place. She said “oh, I just order the bangers, beans and mashed, now do you want to be cancel that?” By this time we were both extremely frustrated and he said he would eat what she ordered for him.

Now the situation could have been handled so differently and I don't think either of us would have been frustrated. The server should never of said “now I have to pay for this” almost saying to us, you just have to eat what I ordered even if it is wrong. The order could have been easily corrected if she had of just replaced the beef for chicken on the salad. Instead it meant that we were both extremely frustrated with the order and that meant that our dinner wasn't enjoyable.

There are so many times that servers will actually either say “I didn't hear you request ....” or “oh, the kitchen made the mistake”. It doesn't matter where the mistake happens us as customers shouldn't hear where the finger is being pointed. If there is an error because of an error in an order it should be corrected without the finger pointing that so often happens. A good server will identify that there was an error and try and get it resolved so that the customer has a good experience.

The more finger pointing that happens between the restaurant staff the move it shows that they is a lack of training on how to handle these situations. If a restaurant wants to succeed in business they have to know that the servers who are the ones that are dealing with the customers are ensuring that each customer has a good experience each time there are in the restaurant.

Training servers and all staff in a restaurant is very important. Making sure that customers feel welcome and satisfied is the key to a business succeeding. Without the customers coming into the store there is no business and bad reviews are also a way to destroy the business. If a customer isn't happy when they leave they will let their friends know about their experience and the restaurant may never know how many customers they really lost.