There were several comments about the food truck incident today suggesting I contact the manager and let them know what happened. There were several comments yesterday to contact the county roads department or whomever put the “Impassable During High Water” sign out on our road. I’m not angry or upset about the comments; probably a year ago I would have made the same comments. So please . . don’t think this is directed at you if you left a comment suggesting I contact the manager. Honestly, if I were the manager or owner, I would want to know but, I would also apologize, offer some kind of enticement for you to give my business another chance, and I’d definitely speak to the employee. I’m not getting that things are being handled that way lately.
Maybe I’m just old and grumpy but, it seems that talking to management or owners truly falls on deaf ears. I understand they’re having a hard time getting workers. Covid has been tough on businesses. Workers in many places are getting more unemployment than they would get working so (1) they don’t show up for work and/or (2) they just don’t care about their jobs. Too many managers seem to be happy they have an employee showing up for work, and basically give us the feeling we’re being overly picky for expecting decent service, food to be warm when it arrives at the table, drinks refilled every now and then.
I mentioned last week that we had gone somewhere to eat and there were several waitresses standing in the corner chatting. We sat there and waited and waited to have our order taken. People came in after us, got seated and had their food before we ever had our order taken because their waitresse was actually working. I asked to speak to a manager and was told “We had three people not show up for work today. We’re doing the best we can.” NO! There are three waitresses standing over there chatting and not doing their job. I didn’t say that but that’s a restaurant (chain) we used to like and will not go back to that one again.
The food truck incident today – Vince asked the three guys working if any of them were managers. Nope! I spent a good bit of time on the internet trying to find out who owns the food truck. Couldn’t find anything anywhere. No contact management info on the Facebook page. I could have left a comment on there, with my full name .. nope! When it’s that hard to find out who owns a business . . chances are they don’t want to be contacted.
As far as the water sign . . unless it’s life or death, I refuse to deal with any government agency. Whether the sign is meant to be there, in the wrong place . . whatever . . if it floods, it’s going to flood whether there’s a sign there or not so wasting my time trying to find out if it’s there in error or why it was put there . . not worth it. Today Vince and I drove the other direction to see where the sign was coming from that direction. If it’s impassable headed east, it should be impassable headed west. Nope . . no sign coming from that direction. I think it’s there in error but whether it is or not, right by our house, you’re just starting down a hill into a valley. Water will never get to our house (famous last words, right?) It will never get so high on our road that we can’t get out but I’m pretty sure if water is that high on any roads, we won’t be leaving the house.
The funny thing is that we were outside one day, probably two weeks ago, and a guy with a can of spray paint came out and made a circle on the road easement in front of the house across from us. Vince and I wondered what he was doing. That’s where they put the sign so he was out marking where it needed to be.
In my opinion these days, something happens like the food truck incident, the breakfast at the restaurant incident and I’m disappointed . . not mad but maybe frustrated. Then I contact management and expect them to at least act like they’re apologizing and they don’t and then I’m frustrated all over again. It isn’t worth messing with it. We get bad service . . we don’t go back.
Like I said in a comment, there are so many good places to eat around here (too many!) that have excellent service, we just mark off the ones with bad service and it’s no loss to us. Reward the good, caring businesses and avoid those that make us feel they don’t care.
Right or wrong . . that’s how I feel about it.
Teri says
?
Sally Knotwell says
I certainly understand your feelings. I rarelyl go back to a place that disappoints me in service, or merchandise/food. Yes, it might have just been a bad day for the business/employee but there are too many other places that I can go to that seem to be able to overcome bad days so it doesn’t become MY bad day. Brava, Judy!
Teri says
I did a thumbs up, but it didn’t show up…LOL
Judy Laquidara says
It doesn’t seem to work since the last update.
Donna says
I totally understand your feelings on this! We’ve had similar experiences lately and have decided not frequenting these places are our best action. Keeps us from being doubly frustrated.
Rebecca says
I used to feel bad when we would leave a place vowing not to return, if it was something fixable, but maybe I would have run into the same thing. The thing is, once one person has decided against a place, they’ll tell friends, who will tell friends…
It’s better than leaving a scathing review online, though! I think that’s what a lot of people do these days.
Judy Laquidara says
I never want to hurt anyone’s business and I’m fairly sure whether we ever go back to a business or not – it isn’t going to make any difference to that particular establishment.
Elle says
I just love how other’s know best how to run your life. Your time and energy are yours!
Happy Tuesday Judy 🙂
Judy Laquidara says
My blog has always been about sharing opinions and suggestions and my posts often are seeking thoughts and advice. I haven’t felt like people were trying to run my life, for sure not on the food truck post. I’ve always felt, and I think the comments are from people who feel the same way – that business owners may not even know what’s going on in their businesses unless customers tell them and up until recently, I felt we were doing good by letting owners/managers know. Lately, either because they are as frustrated as we are, or because they just don’t have many options with fewer and fewer folks willing to work, we’ve felt no one wanted to hear about bad service or bad food. All I was trying to say is that (1) we’re frustrated with bad service and then (2) frustrated with beating our heads against a wall when trying to explain about the bad service. No need to add the second layer of frustration by talking to management. Maybe in some areas of the country, it’s different. Maybe some haven’t experienced what we’ve experienced but I don’t think anyone in the comments was being unkind or pushy.
Robin B says
You are so right, Judy. The lack of competent workers/business owners is lacking and I also blame the current unemployment payments for those who refuse to work. I also agree that the way to make a statement is to avoid these places…you aren’t the only customers treated this way and word of mouth or others not going for the same reason will hurt them worse than any comment. We go to some places that bend over backwards to keep their customers and have been to some who don’t seem to care. You can guess which ones we don’t go to anymore.
Deb says
While I get that we’re in a pandemic, unemployment pays more than some of the jobs, younger folks sometimes don’t seem to have ANY manners, and that employers are having a TOUGH time getting people — there is NO excuse for not expecting good service from your employees and BEING THERE to make sure it happens. Yes there are a lot of business owners out there, but YOU should be there on the job on a regular basis to keep an eye on things, and being genuinely appreciative of your customers. So I agree with you 1000% — we don’t return to places that don’t care if we’re there (and show it with poor service) and we frequent the places that do, AND we compliment those who provide the good service and tip well in those circumstances. Good for you that you make your feelings known by frequenting only the GOOD places! We all need to do that .
Ruth says
****perhaps the next time you call a food truck and place an order you could give the name as JUDYVINCE. I doubt that anyone else would have that “name.”
Judy Laquidara says
I could easily give our last name and about guarantee there wouldn’t be another with that name here but the point was that the employee demanded we pay for the third dinner since he KNEW it was me who called back and assured me the voice was mine. He was rude and arrogant, didn’t apologize once the second Judy walked up and he knew he had made a mistake in accusing us of playing joke on them. The food truck people could have asked for a phone number or a last name. The name wasn’t the issue, in my opinion . . it was the attitude of the employee.
moneikquilts says
I saw one of those no crossing during high water in Brookings, SD. I was staying at a hotel on the other side and laughed about the stupidity of the sign. That night it rained, maybe an inch or 2 and I had to drive through a gas station parking lot to get to the hotel because the waters was so high in that area. Apparently the sewer system couldn’t keep up with the rain and it obviously happened often.
Judy Laquidara says
I’ve seen plenty of places where the signs were very needed but I just don’t see it on our street. There’s no sewer or storm drain system out here but we’ just had torrential rains and I looked out and there was no standing water on the street as far as I could see from the window.