Christmas Theme

If I were to sum up the last couple of weeks of the holidays into a single theme...it would be different depending on when you asked. But at some points during the holidays...I would have responded that it seemed the theme was..."Poor Customer Service." Not a very cheery theme. And I'm sure I'm blowing it out of proportion. But it really seemed to get to me this last week(s).

Now...I'm generally pretty laid back. And I don't consider myself an angry person. And I generally get more bothered by others getting bent out of shape at "little things" than by the little things. But lately...I don't know. As a precursor there were some general situations that had just put me on edge as of late. Car issues, traveling issues, insurance issues, weather issues. You know...life. So when two restaurants exhibited poor customer service...it tipped me over the edge.

We were coming home with Ann's family and decided to stop at a place we all enjoy. It was a little early (3:30 to be exact), but the door said they were open from like 11:00-9:00 with a kitchen break at 4:00. Which was fine. We thought, "okay...we'll order, they'll make it, and we'll eat while they break." Apparently that was no good. Our waitress said she was going to have to "kick us out" at 4:15, seemingly without regard to our position in the meal. And we were informed with not necessarily the best attitude. One distinctly lacking any sign of remorse for going to have to do so. Now I understand everyone needs breaks. And I understand a kitchen break. But if the restaurant closes down...that's not a kitchen break. That's the restaurant closing. We ended up leaving and coming back later after the "kitchen break." Our waitress from before wasn't there and I so wanted to ask about their 4:00 kitchen break policy, and ask if clearing the restaurant was actually standard practice, because we speculated that it wasn't and she really just wanted to be done with her shift at 4:15. But I was trying to let it go. Apparently, I haven't. I wasn't angry at the break...just at the way it was articulated by the door and more by the waitress like, "I care little for your business or inconvenience...I just want to get out of here."

Later (New Years Eve to be exact) Ann and I decided to go get some sushi at a nice sushi place in Baltimore called Ra Sushi. We had been there before. They had some nice happy hour deals with some quality sushi. So we call them up and ask about New Year's Eve specials. They tell us about their late night live music and such. And then we ask about Happy Hour. She tells us that they did have it from 3 - 7. Now I was not on the phone, but I am confident that either she explicitly stated it was for that night, or through the line of questioning, it should have been implied. I'm sure you can guess where this is going. The happy hour inspires us to make the trek in the almost freezing rain, and with friends. We take our seat and we are informed that there is no Happy Hour due to the holiday. Now...it's not like we can't afford the standard prices. But when we make the trip because they told us they had Happy Hour...it's a bit disappointing and irritating when they say that they don't. We expressed our surprise since the hostess said that they did. The waitress kind of shrugged like "sorry...we don't." Which again...is fine. They have the right not to have Happy Hour. It was just having had expected it, and been told about it, and having it ultimately be our deciding factor...you can imagine that it rubbed us the wrong way. And her main concern (which was somewhat lacking) seemed to be less for our frustration and more for herself thinking she "may have a problem on her hands".

We decide to stay since we are already there. I start think about what to say to the manager. It didn't seem like a huge deal when you said it out loud, but it obviously put a damper on our evening, just from us being frustrated by it. I wasn't looking for a hand out...just thought they should know that their staff had some mixed signals out there. Well, about 15 minutes go by, and I guess the waitress told her manager for us, because he came over and said, "I'm sorry, but there is not happy hour tonight." And then he stared at us fidgeting with this keys or something waiting for a response. We stared blankly back. We had not argued. We had accepted that there was not one. And I'm glad that the manager knew that we had be misinformed. But I did NOT need him to come over just to remind me that there was no happy hour. After realizing that was all he was going to say we just reiterated our surprise because of what the hostess had told us the day before. He gave us the same sheepish, "Sorry...we're not having it" response. No remorse at how that might frustrate us, but more remorse for having to be over there where we might start yelling at him. His temperament was not one of a seasoned manager, but of a kid thinking he was about to be in trouble. We just kind of shrugged and said "okay" and he walked off. I would have had a better evening had he never come over at all. Again...not looking for a hand out. Just some sort of indication that you understand why we might be frustrated and acknowledgment that it was your staff's fault.

"That's it? Those defined your holiday theme as 'Poor Customer Service'? Suck it up dude!" Yes...I know...I have told myself that as well. But for some reason, coupled with some hard to articulate experiences before the holidays, and Ann's brother describing some of the terrible service they received from their airline when flights got canceled, and on their actual flight out. And the fact that we might have squirrels in our attic again, bringing back thoughts of some more apathetic customer service from the people he had come out when we had them before. There was just a lot of negative thoughts floating around my head. I don't consider myself confrontational, but I really just wanted to confront! So...that's my vent for the day. The holiday's were actually quite nice. Just a few bad moments that accumulated in my head and poured out on the page. Thanks for listening.

--Edit--
I feel obligated to inform you of a positive restaurant experience. We went to Severn Inn Christmas Eve. For all you Annapolitans, I recommend finding when they do their buffet and trying it out. It's not cheap, but it was pretty gosh darn good. All you can eat oysters, crab claws, crab dip, shrimp cocktail, roasted tenderloin, lobster tails (did have trouble keeping those out), topped with a chocolate fountain dessert spread. (Note I only mentioned my favorites. It was not an exhaustive list) Very nice!