The worst service you have received

[HogwartsAlum]

This is long... but the service inspired a fic for a roleplay group  

Truth be told, this actually happened. When we went to Eclecticon, they had a restaurant inside the hotel.  After the evening's events one night, we stopped there for a snack..in costume...and got treated VERY rudely by the restaurant staff. It wasn't the first time we had been there that day in our Jedi garb. They treated us fine at lunch and supper, but that night...*sigh* I've never been treated like that. *still shaking her head over her $4   4.0 oz of ice cream served in a Styrofoam cup thunked on the counter by an annoyed waiter.* - Commentary by Togin's player

That's What You Call Service

"Master, this is getting ridiculous," Togin Conpeq muttered under her breath, Only her master and Kaliandra could hear her complaint.

"Patience, Togin," Alida said quietly. Her lips twisted into a slight smile. The rudeness of the establishment's proprietors was, sadly, becoming more and more common throughout the Republic. There had been a time, not long before, when the Jedi would have been welcomed in this place with open arms. Now, however, they received suspicious stares but were otherwise ignored.

This was not acceptable to the three hungry Jedi. However, Alida was content to wait until their presence and the fact that they blocked the restaurant's main entrance could no longer be ignored.

"Master, she's right," Kaliandra grumbled. "We're going to starve before they ever decide to seat us."

The Jerzeens had been amazingly adept at sidestepping the three robed figures. Togin was quite impressed by the fact that they managed to go around the Jedi without ever making eye contact.

After waiting for a while longer, Togin finally sighed audibly. "Let's just get this to go. They can't possibly ignore us if we stand right at the counter, can they?"

Apparently, they could. Even Alida's patience was being tested. They did not have time to seek out another eating establishment, as they were due back at the negotiations.. Perhaps, Alida mused, this was why the Jerzeens were so unfriendly. The trade negotiations between Jerzeen and Yawk had been extremely difficult and not quite as popular as the leaders of each contingent seemed to think.

With a hungry knight and padawan by her side, Alida decided that the situation called for more than quiet patience. Leaning over the counter, she snagged the sleeve of a passing waiter. "You need to take our order," she said, bringing the Force to bear on the hostile being.

"I need to take your order - in just a minute." He shrugged from her grasp. Togin hid a grin behind her hand. Kali didn't bother. Even as annoyed as she was, she couldn't help but laugh at the look of disbelief on Alida's face.

Finally, the surly waiter returned and before too much longer, three grease laden paper sacks were plunked down in front of the Jedi.

"Oh, yum," Kali snickered. She held her bag away from her robe, watching in dismay as grease dripped to fall to the ground. They made their way out to the walkway in front of the restaurant.

"Greasy vegetables?" asked Togin. "They really don't like us, do they?" She also held her sack at arm's length, her nose wrinkling at the smell coming from the bag.

"It's nourishment," Alida said. "I promised you food, I didn't say it would be good food."

"I think you should let me pick the restaurant for dinner tonight," offered Togin. Kaliandra nodded enthusiastically.

"Please let her, Master! You don't have the best luck in finding-"

"Togin Conpeq and Kaliandra Daroa! Are you insinuating that I cannot find a decent restaurant on this planet?"

"No, Master. I'd never insinuate something like that. I'm coming right out and saying it," laughed Togin.

The Jerzeens on the walkway gave the three smiling Jedi a wide berth. Some muttered behind their hands to their companions.

We'll be done here soon, Alida reassured her current and former padawans. Not everyone appreciates what the Jedi do throughout the Republic.

They paused at the entrance of the state building where the negotiations were being held. "True, Master," agreed Togin. "I just wish they wouldn't try to poison us, as well."

And, with that, three lunch sacks sailed through the air and into the garbage disposal unit.

"No big loss," Kali said. "There's always dinner."

Wow!! that was great!!!!

[HogwartsAlum]

This one wasn't at a restaurant, but a computer store. 

I had a computer that needed some work. It had been upgraded but was old and wheezy, and I was trying to keep it alive until I could get a new one.  I took it to this store to have them look at it. I had called first and they had told me they would be happy to take a look.

There were two guys standing behind the service counter, having a conversation about where to take the one guy's wife for dinner.  I stood there for what felt like forever, holding this big heavy CPU, and finally thumped it down on the counter and said Excuse me, could you help me?  I called earlier about my computer, blah blah.  They acted like I had interrupted God speaking to Jesus.  I explained my problem and the one guy looked at it, and goes, "Where did you get THIS dinosaur!" and they yuk-yuked over my computer.  I kind of went, he he, yes I know it's old, but it needs to run for a few more weeks until I can get a new one. 

So he got to work on it and while he was doing that, I wandered aroudn the store looking at some of the systems they had on display.  I wanted to ask a question, but every time I turned toward the other guy he started talking to someone else.  Apparently he did NOT want to wait on a GIRL who had an old computer! 

Finally the guy at the counter finished my computer and I paid and he told me, "I saw you looking at the systems, is there one you are interested in?"  (NOW he's nice - since I might buy something!)  I said, no, your service isn't very good (cocking my head toward the other guy).  He said, yeah, he's kinda blah blah, whatever.  I said, Thank you for fixing my computer but I don't think I'll be back.  I walked out and NEVER RETURNED.  What's more, I told everyone I knew not to go there!

I don't think they are still there.  If they were, I'd be surprised.

[Buffy2424]

I haven't had many bad experienes with restaurants (though now that someone mentioned hair salons...!)  The bad service experience I remember is just a strange story.  It went like this:

My husband and I were visiting a new city and decided to eat at a restaurant I had read about.

It was a lovely enough place.  And at about the same time we were seated, a prompt waitress politey asked us if we knew what we'd like to drink?  We did know that we wanted red wine, so we asked her about that selection and they had tons.  Great, give us that Cab.  Then she asked what we'll be having for dinner?  

We said we'll have to get back to her (ie, we'd like to look at a menu).  She gave us menus, while laughing and acting like we were being silly.  Yeah, yeah, we're just kerrazy like that... She was acting like they act at chain restaurants when we're out with my in-laws, who take forever to order.

Anyway, it couldn't have been much more than 60 seconds later that she came back wondering if us crazy kids had finally decided??  I had to try and smile to tell her that no, actually we'll be a few.  

She then tells me that she doesn't have a few minutes and that "we're going to order now.  So<insert condescending kindergarden teacher voice>you have to order now, okay?  Okay!  Maybe you want the X??"

Wait, what?  Husband and I gape at her blankly.  No thanks?  What is this about?  Most likely we were speechless.  Anyway, she ended up stomping off, so we ended up getting up and just ... leaving, because, duh, what else to do?  

I guess she was just having a bad day--  I don't know what was going on.  Ordinarily I'd say it was a fluke thing, but -- and this will sound a little unbelievable-- but there was something going on in that town.  We felt like people were staring at us in the downtown area and at one point another pedestrian came up to us and rather pointedly asked if she could help us?  

Someone else who'd been a tourist there told me that it was a very rude and racist town, and that he (a black man) would not be going back.  That wouldn't surprise me at all, but incidently my husband and I, like most of the town, are white.  Race isn't why people were being like that.  Weird, huh?

[Rei-chan]

I am a former server, so while I can be understanding about some stuff (like long kitchen wait times, etc) I am VERY particular about the service aspect of things.....

A friend of mine (also a server at this point in time) and I went to a popular steak house in our area that has the same name as the state of Texas' nickname.  We were sat in a bar area booth, and were one of two tables.  The server seemed friendly at first, and we placed our order (Me:  Steak, medium, with side, etc.  Friend:  Steak soup in a bread bowl).  About 20 minutes later, a food runner brought my steak, but my friend's soup was missing.  When we inquired, the runner looked puzzled and said that they had been out of that soup for the last 2 hours. 

The runner said that she would send our server over.  Instead, the server came as far as the bar (around 20 feet away) and YELLED across the room "Are ya'll doin' ok?".  I shook my head, and apparantly, she missed the clue, because she walked over to the other table and started making small talk.  At this point, I was NOT a happy camper.  I went to the host stand and asked for the manager to be sent to our table.

When the manager came, and I informed her of the problem, she responded with "X is one of our best servers.  I don't believe that happened the way you say it did."  At this point, you can safely assume I hit DEFCON 1.  I took out a pen, grabbed a napkin, and wrote down the manager's name, the server's name, and asked for the corporate number, which the manager gave over.  After getting the check (also from the manager), I noticed that the soup was missing from the bill (this makes me think that either the server never rang it in, or the manager deleted it from the check so that I couldn't show it as proof).

That was the only time I ever stiffed someone, and my complaint to corporate never panned out either.  It's been 7 years, and I flat refuse to go to ANY of their restaurants EVER again.   

[kingsrings]

Oh, I hate it when managers just immediately jump to the defense of their employees! While that may be admirable and just sometimes, it is not when the employee indeed committed an error. Five years ago, I ran into trouble getting my mail delivered. It just stopped suddenly with no explanation, then after about two weeks I would receive all of it in a rubber-banded bundle. This went on for a while. When I spoke to the mailman about what was happening, he got all defensive and evasive with me. To make a long story short, it turned out he was sending all of my mai back with a 'return to sender, addressee no longer at address' label, even though I hadn't moved and never filled out any forms saying such. So I went to the main post office and spoke to the manager. He just kept saying that mailman was one of their top employees and had many letters of praise, and that he just couldn't believe that he would ever pull such a stunt, and he just blew me off. I ended up having to go to the post master, who basically said the same thing about mailman, but didn't blow me off and looked into the matter and resolved it.

[heathert]

My Co workers and i were being treated to lunch by our boss and he decided to take us to go to lunch at a restaurant (starts with A ends in Bee)

I have never had good service or good food there.  Anymore if I'm asked to go and it's a group thing (otherwise, I would decline) I just get a beverage.

Heather

[Harriet Jones]

There's one restaurant where we really like the food, but the waitstaff was always less than stellar:  one waiter grabbed my plate when I was still eating from it (still had my fork in my hand), another waitress completely disappeared (as well as the rest of the waitstaff) after giving us our check which also had some things on it that we never ordered. 

We had reservations at a fancy restaurant and they still kept us waiting for 3 hours.  In retrospect, we shouldn't have waited, but we were young and it was a special occasion ...

There's also the local chain place where the staff always seems new and something goes wrong every time. 

[artk2002]

*sigh*  Not awful, as some of these stories go, but bad enough, and at the wrong time, too...

A few years ago, two parts of my life colluded to keep me very busy.  For work I had three international trips in six weeks and the amateur choir that my SO and I sang with gave six concerts spread over eight weekends  -- of course, these overlapped to an extent, so that I was flying back on a Friday and singing the following Saturday or Sunday.  Fun, but exhausting and my patience for dealing with upsets wasn't too good.
 
Most of the concerts were nearby, but one was in San Diego, which is about 2.5 hours from where we live.  Because the concerts are challenging and the director demanding, most of the choir were going to spend the Saturday night after the concert in a small motel, rather than try to drive back to LA immediately.  One of the choir administrators reserved a block of rooms and we each called, individually to confirm and pay for our rooms -- I called the motel and got our reservation, which included a non-smoking room (can you guess where this is going?)

I flew in from Sydney on Friday evening and my SO drove us down to San Diego in the morning.  We stopped at the motel and registered, getting the key, but didn't go into the room because we needed to be at the concert venue for rehearsal.  After a gruelling rehearsal and concert (and tear-down, since we do our own stage work), we headed for the motel, opened the room and -- it reeked of cigarette smoke.  We're talking continuous occupation by smokers for years, and none of the carpeting, curtains or furniture being replaced in that time.  We couldn't even walk into the room without our eyes watering.

So, keeping my ire firmly in check, I headed for the front office.  The man there first tells me that they don't have any other rooms, which is bad enough, but then proceeds to tell me that I must have asked for a smoking room because it was right there on the card.  I explained that that wasn't possible, since neither of us can tolerate cigarette smoke and that I had confirmed a NON-smoking room.  He insisted, rudely, that I must have asked for the smoking one.  No apology, and no offer to try to find a room at another facility in the chain, or even any other place.  Just "that's all we've got."  So I told him, with some heat, that we didn't want the room and I tossed the key on the desk and walked out.  We decided that it wasn't worth trying to call around, so my SO drove us back to LA that night.  Needless to say, we're not going back to that dump again, and I was very nervous staying at another branch of that chain this last summer (fortunately, the service there was fine.)

I heard later, from our travel coordinator, that the clerk told her that I had "thrown the key at him."  She started to lecture me about "representing the choir" until I told her the story.  I also explained that if I had actually thrown the key at him, it would have been sticking out of his forehead and not lying on the counter.

[bibliorocker]

Sorry, this has ended up being really long, but I hope you enjoy

My worst service happened on my high school Senior Trip. Our class had managed to raise quite a bit of money over the years, so we planned a 3 day trip to New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi. (I went to school in Central Texas). One student’s mom was a travel agent, so she made all the arrangements: leave late one evening on a chartered bus, travel all night, and arrive at NO in the morning. First day: Do some touristy things, check into a bed and breakfast type place (a converted orphanage, St. V’s) and have dinner on a steamboat on the river.

We have a blast on the bus and during the first morning. When it comes time to check in, we arrive at a very cute little inn. It’s very classy, and here we are a group of 40, mostly teenagers, grungy and tired from sleeping on a bus. Since the lobby was very small, and there are, of course, only three chairs, most of us are sitting on the floor. Everyone’s chatting because it has been an awesome day so far. One guy did do something very stupid (jumped in the pool with his clothes on, and he was talked to about that), but overall, we were very well behaved. Teachers go to talk to front desk…and found out we have no reservations. What!!! That’s impossible, reservations were confirmed, and we had made a deposit…

We teenagers are worried, but it will be taken care of right? Right?

Well, manager has a solution. Another motel for us to stay at. They’ll even throw in breakfast for us since we were inconvenienced. So everyone loads back up in the bus, and off we go. We finally pull up in front of what looks like a motel, but it’s kind of shabby. Okay. Someone from the original inn and some of our teachers go in. We wait for about 10 minutes before the teachers come out. They get on the bus and say ‘there is NO WAY we are staying here’.

Mattresses on the floor with no linens. Bugs. Spilled, wet paint on the floor which the manager stepped in and then proceeded to track through the building. People were already in the motel; transients who were squatting and had to be escorted out. Awful, awful, awful. Teachers say we are not staying here and managers response is *shrug* there’s nothing else I can do. Oh, and you don’t get your deposit back.

After manager leaves, one of our teachers climbs the fence with a camera so she can take photos inside the building. Also, we find out that one of the workers at the original inn told some of the teachers that our reservation wasn’t lost; manager was able to sell our rooms to other people for higher prices. And to afford another motel, we need to dip into our graduation fund.

Frantic phone calls ensue: we need a place NOW! Oh, did I mention it was the weekend of the Jazz Festival?    There was no place with a vacancy. Someone calls a member of the school board at home, who says do what needs to be done; they’ll make sure we get a proper graduation. Finally, we find vacancies in a motel in Slidell, which is a good 25+ mile drive. Since we were having a nice dinner on a steamboat, everyone had packed nice clothes to wear; however, without a room, we couldn’t unload all of our luggage from under the bus. We had to freshen up in a mall bathroom and make due with the jeans and t-shirts we had been wearing for 18 hours. The rest of the trip was fantastic.

We get home and travel agent mom contacts inn wanting deposit back. She is told no, that we were rude, were awful to the other guests, caused problems, etc. Adults are livid.

I wish I had a copy of the letter that travel agent mom wrote up and sent to them and the BBB. She conceded that, yes, ONE student cause problems, but that was no reason to throw us all out, lie, take our deposit, and then try to stick us in a filthy, trashy place (which we had photos of). She ripped them a new one, but she did it so politely! 

We did get our deposit back, and we had a fabulous graduation. I just googled them to see if they were still in business, and they are. Reviews range from ‘charming’ to ‘RUN AWAAAAAAAY!!!!!!’

[Twik]

There once was a little cafe that opened up near where I worked.

My manager and I went there for lunch one day. We arrived at 1:05. Now, this place had about 12 tables, and only 4 of them were occupied. There was someone on the cash, and two waitresses.

At 1:15, after we'd asked twice, we were seated.

At 1:20, we were provided a menu, again upon request.

At 1:35, we asked if they would mind taking our order. This apparently annoyed one of the waitresses, since it was cutting into her time gossipping with the other two workers. We explained we did kind of want to be back at work in a reasonable time.

"If you're in a hurry," she advised us with a smirk, "you don't come here."

So we left and had lunch at Wendy's. The cafe went out of business sometime later. My manager and I think it must have been a front for some illegal operation, because they clearly weren't big on serving food.

[Twik]

She then tells me that she doesn't have a few minutes and that "we're going to order now.  So<insert condescending kindergarden teacher voice>you have to order now, okay?  Okay!  Maybe you want the X??"

Wait, what?  Husband and I gape at her blankly.  No thanks?  What is this about?  Most likely we were speechless.  Anyway, she ended up stomping off, so we ended up getting up and just ... leaving, because, duh, what else to do?  

Oh my goodness, that has me laughing! I've had some strange wait staff in my time, but at least they never ORDERED me to order!

[Harriet Jones]

She then tells me that she doesn't have a few minutes and that "we're going to order now.  So<insert condescending kindergarden teacher voice>you have to order now, okay?  Okay!  Maybe you want the X??"

Wait, what?  Husband and I gape at her blankly.  No thanks?  What is this about?  Most likely we were speechless.  Anyway, she ended up stomping off, so we ended up getting up and just ... leaving, because, duh, what else to do? 

Oh my goodness, that has me laughing! I've had some strange wait staff in my time, but at least they never ORDERED me to order!

That reminds me of one time I went to a pasta place for lunch with a coworker ... the coworker ordered, then the waitress turns to me and says in a really condescending voice, "and you're having the spaghetti?" I guess maybe she thought I was *really* young, but I was in my early 20's at the time.

[willow08]

(Cross post from the Customer is Always Right?)

I have only lodged two "bad customer service" complaints in my lifetime, both at the same large chain electronics store. (I know, why do I keep going back there? Because my Dad ADORES this store - there's a great store location in his area-  and keeps buying my family gift cards there for Christmas.) We saved up for months to put the card toward a laptop computer. I go in knowing exactly which advertised model I want. I have my 2 yo with me.

A CSM is about 10 feet away, chatting with guys his age, who appear to be his friends. 10 minutes later, I approach him and politely ask if I could have some help once he's finished with the other "customers." He rolls his eyes and follows me to the display case where I tell him "I would like to buy THAT computer." He asks me what I plan to use the computer for. I tell him. He says I would be a lot better off buying XYZ model over here, which is $400 more. I have already studied the computer models and know that the model I want will do what I need without costing me an extra $400.

I decline his advice and ask him to get the model I want out of the case. He doesn't do this, but starts talking about accessories. I don't want accessories. He tries to explain that I will need this spyware software and that to prevent viruses, etc. I don't want to purchase extra software, because the computer comes with a package that fits my needs. All of his "advice" is given with a "you're just a silly girl who doesn't understand computers" tone and I feel like I'm being bullied into buying more stuff I don't need.

He finally gets the computer out of the case and checks me out. I've swiped the gift card, I've swiped mycredit card to fund the remaining balance. He starts to explain the return/service policy and my daughter (eyes the size of saucers having spent the last 20 minutes in Over-Stimulation City) starts to babble. Not scream or cry, but babble to herself.  He says, "Do you think you could keep her quiet while I'm talking?"

I swear, if I had not already swiped my credit card, I would have walked out right then.

Instead, I finished the transaction, went home and used my new computer to write a lengthy letter to the corporate headquarters on polite customer service. I don't think my complaint was a matter or being right or wrong, but being treated with rudeness and contempt by a person who was supposed to be helping me make a rather substantial purchase at their store. I didn't expect anything free and specifically stated that I didn't expect compensation in my letter. I think that tends to make management take the complaint more seriously.

[willow08]

In terms of restaurant service, the most memorable was on a trip to Fla. with my DH, his brother and BIL's wife. We stopped at a locally owned placed called the Waffle Shoppe. Dh and I had eaten there several times and had no problems.

Apparently they were having problems that morning. Our table was filthy. Our waitress had hair down to the back of her knees and kept pausing to flip it down toward the floor and put it up in a ponytail - less than three feet from our table. Many a stray hair landed on our table. We had to ask for drinks because she didn't take the order. When I asked for lemon for my water, she came back with a bowl of lemon slices that had butter smeared all over them. Which to me, indicates that they'd already been on someone else's plate. She took our order. A little while later, she sees a family she recognizes and reaches out to the hold the baby (which was wearing only a diaper.) She sees that baby's diaper is stinky and offers to change it while the family eats. She does it right in the middle of the dining room.

We watch as she walks right into the kitchen (we could see her and she didn't stop to wash her hands) picks up our plates with her hands (no tray) and puts them on our table. We were so grossed out we just got up, paid and left.

Now, to get my BIL started on a rant, all you have to say is "Waffle Shoppe."

[Tabris]

And here is the story of how a hotel chain beginning with M and ending in OTT which rhymes with Chariot paid me $98 to eat a donut.

I'm there for a writers' convention, alone with my 4month old son. I meet with a bunch of other writers before the first day of the conference, and we go to the hotel restaurant to eat.  Proceed to enjoy:
- a special menu just for convention-goers
- of which nothing is available
- but that's okay because they didn't come take the order for 55 minutes

Remember, I have a 4 month old. One woman was diabetic, so she took me to her room where we ate sandwiches she had packed in case she needed them. We hung out talking for a while, went ove rher manuscript, and then went looking for the others.

At this point, 4 members still have not been served their meal because 25 minutes after they had ordered the pot-pie, everyone else's food was brought and theirs had not been. Why? "We don't have any." Clearly it would have been too difficult for the waitress to have taken five steps from the kitchen to our table to tell them that. We all decline dessert on the grounds that, well, the convention was only for the weekend and we needed to leave on Sunday afternoon.

The next morning: understocked breakfast buffet, mystery disappearing waitresses who only showed up when I went and served my own coffee from the waitress-only station (ah, that's how to make them appear!) and one woman who went into the kitchen to get some milk for her coffee because there was none around and no one to ask for it.

All the other meals were to be served at the convention center, thank heaven, until the convention was over. The night the convention ended, some friends and I decided to order room service.  I call.

Me: "Hi, I'd like the room service delivery special, please--one cheese pizza and one pepsi--along with a second pepsi and a glass of white wine."
Room Service: "That will be ready in thirty minutes."
Me: "No problem. Uh...don't you want my room number?"
Room Service: "Oh, you wanted us to deliver that?"
Me, looking at the words "Room Service Delivery Special" on the ad. "Isn't that what Room Service does?"
Room Service: "Uh...yeah, I guess. That will be thirty minutes."

THirty-five minutes later, the pizza arrives. I ask about the drinks. Oh, you wanted drinks? Yes, look, they're on the check. Guy goes away and returns with a huge bottle of Pepsi rather than two cans. I don't care at this point. The wine appears to be fine.

Next morning, I'm supposed to leave at 6:00 so I can drive eight hours home with the four month old. The Room Service geniuses have a card you can fill out to hang on your doorknob overnight so you can get breakfast delivered to you by a certian time. I fill out the card and hang it on my doorknob at 10PM and go to bed. They'll collect them at 2AM and deliver breakfast at 5:45.

I wake up, look outside...and the thing is still hanging on my door knob.

I call the front desk. "Does that mean I don't get breakfast?"

Front desk: You had to put it out by 2AM.
Me: 10PM is before 2AM.
Front Desk: Are you at the end of the hallway?
Me: No.
{Like that should matter--if they don't collect them from the ends of the hallway, they shouldn't put the little cards in the  rooms, right?}

I say, "I'll be right down."

I throw my packed bag on a trolley, shove the 4 month old into a baby sling, put on my back pack, and head down to the front desk. There is a cloud over my head and my eyes are in full PO'd New Yorker mode. Front Desk gal gets one look at me and says, "Was everything to your liking?"

I slap the door hanger form on the desk and say, "THIS was supposed to be BREAKFAST."

And then I laid out how many times I had attempted to eat their food and how many times the hotel had attempted to thwart me. And she very quietly said, "I'll comp you one night."

I said, "I'll settle for directions to a Dunkin Donuts." Which she gave me.

She comped me the night anyhow. And since the donut and coffee was $3, and the one night of the hotel was $101 at the convention rate, the hotel effectively paid me $98 to eat a donut somewhere else.