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| - Here's the letter I wrote:
I've done my fair time in restaurants and hospitality and the experience I had this evening truly made me reflect on all my past experiences; good and bad. I thought long and hard about all my guest interactions from serving, bartending, managing, and even from a guest perspective and could not find a time where I encountered such incompetence, not only from the bartender who could not "dress" a glass, but from the manager who tried to defend her lack of knowledge by saying, "It's easier when you have a bottle." I don't fault someone for training; after all we all had to learn a skill sometime, but you should have the staff there to support someone who is training. If the bartender couldn't dress the glass, maybe the lazy manager should have showed her, instead of cutting out letters for the "theme party" tomorrow. Wait, it gets even better... So after the 20 minute attempt at dressing a mug; we gave up and ordered a bottle. Well it didn't come in a bottle, it came in a pint glass that was haphazardly dressed and thrown into a glass(you know, so the head was all salt...MMMM). My wife was nice enough to scrape it off and move on. My server who was pleasant and helpful the whole time asked if I wanted something else to drink, so I ordered a malibu, pineapple, and splash of cranberry. Now I know this drink isn't going to be hard up on the rum, but I expected a hint of coconut as I passed the drink to my wife and asked her if my taste buds were off. I then thought to myself, well it did come in a tall glass, but after the years of bartending I did for Chili's I never tasted a 1.25 oz pour that weak. I of course brought this up with the manager; Shiela, and the reply will live with me forever. "Well you should have let your server know you wanted it in a short glass or a heavier pour." Really? I responded, "That is the best answer you have for me? Your bartender can't do simple things and your response is that?" This is when I clearly poked the angry bear inside of Shiela as she then became very defensive. Citing I do not need to be condescending and speak rudely of the bartender. Have we moved past the point of simple guest satisfaction? I didn't call the bartender a complete F*** up, but wish I would have considering how upset the manager got. My point is that there was many places I could have chose to spend my money this evening with my wife and son, I ended up making a horrible decision, not based upon the food(probably the best plates to come out of the hooters kitchen in a long while), not because of the great service Jovonne gave, but because of the lack of support from the manager who should have been there to support the failing bartender and her horrible attitude.
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