Today, I had a downright perplexing situation at a local food chain. My son and I go in to share a "pick 2" off the menu. I get a strawberry poppyseed chicken salad (my favorite of the summer) and my son gets mac-n-cheese with bacon. The total was $18. That's a lot for one meal at a fast casual restaurant, in my opinion. We get the plate of food and my son's cup of mac-n-cheese is half full. Now, I'm generally not a big complainer, but when I see something that just doesn't feel right I will say something. Walking back to the food station with my plate in hand, I express my concern. To be clear, I wasn't rude, but I was direct. The manager pretty much brushed me off and said foods were portioned out. Now I realize most businesses, including myself, have used many cost-reducing tactics to stay profitable. She was incredibly dismissive, and I walked away saying I had been coming here for years and something wasn't right. As I took my plate back to the table, there was no way this was going to work for my son. I was going to have to buy something else for him to eat soon enough. In that split second, I had a choice to make as a customer. Let it rest and eat the food, or say no thank you. In my gut, I instantly knew what I would do. I grabbed the plate, my wallet and walked back up to ask for a full refund. The manager didn't blink and had an associate give me the refund, while she turned on her heels and walked back into the kitchen never saying a word.
What amazed me was how she could have reacted to my "complaint" with empathy, still explaining how the food was portioned out and apologizing. Instead, she completely disregarded me as a customer. I felt unheard, unwelcome and underappreciated. One additional scoop of macaroni would have solved the whole thing. Even worse, my full plate of food sat on the counter to be tossed into the garbage. She, the manager of a national food chain restaurant in Bellevue, WA, was so wrapped up in a scoop of macaroni and cheese, she lost a customer.
Immediately following, my son and I walked right into the neighboring Red Robin, ordered two full meals, with bottomless fries and drinks for $50 and great customer service. Paying more than double, it was never really about the money or the food. It was about the service.
This isn't the first time I've had bad customer service. In recent years, it is almost more surprising and a novelty to experience great customer service than not. This is not right.
Customer service has always been high on my priority list as a business owner. I have bent over backwards and lost money to ensure I didn't lose a customer. I started working at a fast-food burger joint at the age of 15 and many retail jobs after that. One of the best places I learned about true customer service was actually at a shoe store I worked at. The manager of the store was pretty diligent about making the customer happy. She even taught me how to properly count change back (a serious pet peeve of mine!) and keep an organized till. Over the years, I've learned a lot about de-escalating situations. As a business owner, I'm the only one to deal with these situations. Expedia also taught me a lot about customer service. I had many hotel partners yelling at me over the phone. Or, I had to get stern with a hotel partner or two who wasn't following the contract. However, I always tried to maintain a professional tone and stick to the facts.
In my decade of business ownership, I've really only had a handful of unhappy customers. It was usually a misunderstanding of expectations. One time, I totally messed up on an order. The arrangement was smaller than it was supposed to be. The recipient of the flowers sent a picture to the sender, who didn't like the size and complained. In this case, I totally messed up! I could have made excuses. I didn't. I apologized and explained what happened. To try and smooth things over, I offered a small refund or credit on a future purchase. I thought I'd lost her forever. To my surprise, she thanked me for the prompt action and honesty and said she'd be back in the near future to order more flowers.
Every situation is different, I know. I'm not perfect, either.
One time, I got into a tiff with a wholesale customer. We were working on a very large order together in a high stress situation. We had a disagreement about $40. Would he eat the cost or me? I said something I shouldn't have. While we worked it out in the end (I absorbed the $40), I regret saying what I said. Our businesses kind of went in different directions, but now we no longer partner together. I regret jeopardizing the business relationship in the first place. It just wasn't worth it.
The bottom line is, it's usually less about the mistake and more about the recovery. I can think of so many times in my past when I've been to a restaurant and the order was messed up in some way. A server or manager who sees the big picture will smooth it over by taking a drink or meal off the bill and say sorry for the mix-up. That's all that's needed is a simple apology and acknowledgement.
In the end, isn't that what we all want, to be heard?
