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Was I totally out of line here or what?

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The company I work for has a canteen...an employee restaurant...on the ground floor. I was feeling a little hungry this morning so I decided to get a bacon sandwich. The guy who made it didn't ask me what kind of bread I wanted or whether I wanted margarine or not...they're supposed to...so I had to step in and say "Can I have it on white sliced, please, and I don't want any margarine." So he makes the sandwich and hands it to me and it's ice cold.

As I'm waiting for my friend to finish her order he takes a tray of bacon out fresh from the oven and I thought CHEEKY #######, he made my sandwich with ice cold bacon when he knows there's more coming. So I asked him if he could re-do the sandwich because both the bread and the bacon were very cold, and it's not very appetizing since it's supposed to be a hot sandwich. He snatches the sandwich out of my hands walks to the back room (which we can see part of) and throws the sandwich on the floor. He then walks to the counter, then walks back to the back room and comes back with two slices of bread with grease stains on them. He proceeds to slam the contents of a sandwich together and hands it to me.

I'm a bit intimidated by his temper at this point, so I mumble 'thank you' and obviously he didn't hear me since as I'm walking off (slinking is more like it, I was upset by his aggressive behavior) he shouts "MANNERS DON'T COST ANYTHING, YOU KNOW."

I was really surprised. I didn't think I'd been rude to him at all. He gave me a faulty product and I just wanted what I paid for, and the staff canteen is really overpriced anyway. I phoned the manager of the canteen and he said "Oh yes, he's wrong, I'll have a word with him" but they always say that to placate people. I'm to bring the sandwich downstairs to get a refund; I haven't touched it since I'm sure he made it with the bread that he threw on the floor; and I'll have to see the guy again. I can't ever go back to the canteen because that guy's there and god only knows how he'll take it out on me.

I think it's ridiculous that I should be intimidated, but people nowadays seem to think they're doing you a favor by serving you at all and you should be grateful for whatever they can be bothered to give you. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

I don't think I did anything to merit his reaction. What do you guys think?

24 June 2007: Leaving day/flying to Dallas-Fort Worth

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Filed: IR-1/CR-1 Visa Country: England
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You handled it much better than I would have done. I would have taken a flying leap at the guy :lol: ! I would remind him next time you are in the canteen where exactly his salary comes from.......THE CUSTOMER! Definetly don't avoid the canteen, you were right he was wrong, just keep your eye on him when he is preparing your food.

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You handled it much better than I would have done. I would have taken a flying leap at the guy :lol: ! I would remind him next time you are in the canteen where exactly his salary comes from.......THE CUSTOMER! Definetly don't avoid the canteen, you were right he was wrong, just keep your eye on him when he is preparing your food.

Hehe, for all my bluster on this board I'm actually shy and quiet in real life.

That'll be the last time I ever get a sandwich from there; I only used them because they're convenient. There's a shop near the office that does much tastier sandwiches. They're 50p more, but so so worth it. And they serve you with a SMILE, and they say 'THANK YOU'. :yes::yes: Then again, that shop is staffed by grownups. :lol: Lord bless the small business owner; they know better than to bite the hand that feeds them. Most of the time when I get superior service, it's from a small business.

24 June 2007: Leaving day/flying to Dallas-Fort Worth

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What he did was wrong. I worked for years in grocery retail dealing with customers face to face so I've been on the other end of it. Some people (customers) can be the rudest, most demanding jackarses this side of hell. When you've had enough bad experiences of customers barking at you, you become conditioned by it and then when the next person who shows even the slightest sign of that triggers off in your mind a, "Oh no, here we go again," response. So when I go buy a sandwich, I usually greet the person and often say please and thank you with each request I make. I've been in line before and watched other customers bark and point through the glass counter, "No! I want that! No, not that! That! That's too much! Can you make it a little smaller? I didn't want it like THAT!" I don't know if I were the person behind the counter if I could handle be treated that way daily without getting an attitude.

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Hmmm..If I were you?I make sure that everybody hear me,complete with his manager and co-worker ,I will tell to that guy that Im paying for that sandwich as long as he eat it for me,if he dont I wont give a damn to pay and I will just leave..talking about customer service huh! It happens to me once..I did what i tell u earlier and everytime I go back to that place I make a point that the guy see me ,make an eye contact and he just bow his head and look at me again and smile..

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What he did was wrong. I worked for years in grocery retail dealing with customers face to face so I've been on the other end of it. Some people (customers) can be the rudest, most demanding jackarses this side of hell. When you've had enough bad experiences of customers barking at you, you become conditioned by it and then when the next person who shows even the slightest sign of that triggers off in your mind a, "Oh no, here we go again," response. So when I go buy a sandwich, I usually greet the person and often say please and thank you with each request I make. I've been in line before and watched other customers bark and point through the glass counter, "No! I want that! No, not that! That! That's too much! Can you make it a little smaller? I didn't want it like THAT!" I don't know if I were the person behind the counter if I could handle be treated that way daily without getting an attitude.

The thing is...the people in the canteen have been here for a relatively long time and I've never seen anyone be anything but friendly but cordial...almost obsequious...to them. I do say 'please' and 'thank you' and I still got treated like this.

I worked in a cafe in high school and in one of those one-hour photo developing labs in college so I've been on the receiving end of plenty of abuse, believe me! :lol: So...I do sympathize, and I do try to be polite. I guess nothing less than a deep bow and a thank-you note would have sufficed for this guy. Perhaps when I left the room I should have walked backwards as well!

Sounds like I'm getting blamed for this... :huh:

24 June 2007: Leaving day/flying to Dallas-Fort Worth

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What he did was wrong. I worked for years in grocery retail dealing with customers face to face so I've been on the other end of it. Some people (customers) can be the rudest, most demanding jackarses this side of hell. When you've had enough bad experiences of customers barking at you, you become conditioned by it and then when the next person who shows even the slightest sign of that triggers off in your mind a, "Oh no, here we go again," response. So when I go buy a sandwich, I usually greet the person and often say please and thank you with each request I make. I've been in line before and watched other customers bark and point through the glass counter, "No! I want that! No, not that! That! That's too much! Can you make it a little smaller? I didn't want it like THAT!" I don't know if I were the person behind the counter if I could handle be treated that way daily without getting an attitude.

The thing is...the people in the canteen have been here for a relatively long time and I've never seen anyone be anything but friendly but cordial...almost obsequious...to them. I do say 'please' and 'thank you' and I still got treated like this.

I worked in a cafe in high school and in one of those one-hour photo developing labs in college so I've been on the receiving end of plenty of abuse, believe me! :lol: So...I do sympathize, and I do try to be polite. I guess nothing less than a deep bow and a thank-you note would have sufficed for this guy. Perhaps when I left the room I should have walked backwards as well!

Sounds like I'm getting blamed for this... :huh:

No, not at all. I was just explaining my take on what it feels like to be behind the counter. Customers have every right to ask what they want and they don't have to be cordial to expect professional service. I've just tried to be mindful of my experience when getting customer service.

I can tell you about my tirade at the movie theater awhile ago. After looking up the local showtimes (10:40), my 2 teenagers and I headed for the theater on a Saturday night. When I got up to the ticket window the sales lady said there isn't a 10:40 showing, only a 10 and 11pm. Now the time was about 10:35, so I said ok, I'll take the 11pm showing. As we're walking towards the entrance my daughter points out that ticket shows 10pm and I thought I don't want any problems once we're in so I'll just go have the sales lady change it to the correct time.

When I got to the window I showed her the tickets, asking her to change it to 11pm (I was thinking that she'd just smile and realize how silly it would be for me to have tickets to a movie that started almost 40 minutes ago). Instead she tells me that I asked for the 10pm tickets in a rather sharp, condescending tone like I was the stupid idiot for asking for them. I was caught off guard but quickly got enraged and then said, "Look, just give me the 11pm tickets." She printed them out and said very loud, "Here you go!"

I just walked away shaking my head in disbelief. I was taught that the customer is always right - meaning though that you treat them as if they are in the right even if it was their error because you're there to solve the problem, not to point fingers. So I've seen it from both sides. :star:

Edited by Steven_and_Jinky
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I saw a documentary once regarding food service. It estimated that 50% of requests for replacement orders are secretly fouled in some way by the preparer or server. Since then, if I'm ever dissatisfied with my food I'll return it but I will never ask for it to be replaced.

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Hehe, for all my bluster on this board I'm actually shy and quiet in real life.

Maybe you should start sticking up for yourself a bit in real life and then you won't feel so 'blusterl-y'!

Sounds like I'm getting blamed for this... :huh:

No that was just Steven having one of his psychological annotes. :lol:

If the dude were really that big of an #######, I would have asked him what his problem was. On the spot.

Edited by rebeccajo
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I saw a documentary once regarding food service. It estimated that 50% of requests for replacement orders are secretly fouled in some way by the preparer or server. Since then, if I'm ever dissatisfied with my food I'll return it but I will never ask for it to be replaced.

It's true, which is why I didn't eat the sandwich. Normally you see them make it during every stage of the process. I didn't, so I refused to touch it.

I don't usually ask for replacements either; if the order's wrong, I usually just eat it...but I can't eat an ice cold bacon sandwich, that's just nasty. :huh:

Hehe, for all my bluster on this board I'm actually shy and quiet in real life.

Maybe you should start sticking up for yourself a bit in real life and then you won't feel so 'blusterl-y'!

Maybe, but it's just not what I do. I run from confrontation and fume about it later, then take it out on other people (sometimes). Complaining to the canteen's manager was quite proactive for me.

Heh, can you tell I was bullied in school? A LOT? Does it show? :unsure:

24 June 2007: Leaving day/flying to Dallas-Fort Worth

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I don't think there's much you could have done differently, perhaps with the exception of making a large scene - and that certainly isn't everone's style!

My husband is the same way - he's so nonconfrontational it's not even funny. As you may have noticed, I cause the scenes for both of us ;)

Well done on being proactive enough to call the canteen manager - from one bullied child to another, it does get easier to get angry with people, instead of just about them.

:star:

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That reminds me of something that happend to me many years ago. It was right after I was married. It was our first vacation together. We were in Aspen CO and stopped for lunch. We were on a very tight budget, had 3 kids with us and hoped to find someplace reasonable to eat. We wandered into a reasurant on the boardwalk and sat down. When they brought the menues over I realized we were way out of our league. I told the kids to take it easy on me when they ordered and decided it was better to just stay where we were. The food was cold, took forever to get to us and one of the orders was wrong. When I was presented with the bill it took up the whole days budget for food. Rather than make a fuss I paid the bill but only left a 10% tip. The wife and kids wandered out to some shops while I paid the bill (I just left the money on the tray they give you) and walked out for a smoke. I was standing outside the resturant relaxing when the waitress came out. She shoved the tray with my tip on it in my face and said "this tip is an insult!" Then she just stormed back into the resturant. There I was holding the money tray stunned. I walked back in with a very foul look on my face. The manager came up to me and aske what was wrong. I said "the waitress didn't like the tip I left". He took the tray from me, handed me back my tip and said he would take care of it. I walked back outside waiting for the family and I could hear the manager all the way inside! He was dressing her down in front of the whole resturant!! He finally fired her on the spot. WOW!

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That reminds me of something that happend to me many years ago. It was right after I was married. It was our first vacation together. We were in Aspen CO and stopped for lunch. We were on a very tight budget, had 3 kids with us and hoped to find someplace reasonable to eat. We wandered into a reasurant on the boardwalk and sat down. When they brought the menues over I realized we were way out of our league. I told the kids to take it easy on me when they ordered and decided it was better to just stay where we were. The food was cold, took forever to get to us and one of the orders was wrong. When I was presented with the bill it took up the whole days budget for food. Rather than make a fuss I paid the bill but only left a 10% tip. The wife and kids wandered out to some shops while I paid the bill (I just left the money on the tray they give you) and walked out for a smoke. I was standing outside the resturant relaxing when the waitress came out. She shoved the tray with my tip on it in my face and said "this tip is an insult!" Then she just stormed back into the resturant. There I was holding the money tray stunned. I walked back in with a very foul look on my face. The manager came up to me and aske what was wrong. I said "the waitress didn't like the tip I left". He took the tray from me, handed me back my tip and said he would take care of it. I walked back outside waiting for the family and I could hear the manager all the way inside! He was dressing her down in front of the whole resturant!! He finally fired her on the spot. WOW!

Sounds like she deserved it. I've seen so many 'we deserve at least 20%' whine sessions from waiters/waitresses that I could just scream. You EARN the tip. :thumbs:

24 June 2007: Leaving day/flying to Dallas-Fort Worth

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