What drives me crazy is that stores do not have people working at the checkout. you have to use a self checkout, while an employee stands by and watches.

Greg - I agree - the more customers share their experiences (and how they feel about them) the better customer service should get. Smart companies make it easy and convenient for customers to offer feedback. And they tend to have more loyal customer and much better stories!

Thanks for the article!

Kevin Stirtz
The Amazing Service Guy

I had a bad experience with Burger King back in 'Oct of 94. On the last bite of a Whopper I found a piece of hard "lettuce." It turned out to be a band-aid. I called the company feedback line printed on the napkins. They apologized, took my info and said that someone would contact me. A while later, I called because I hadn't heard anything. They said they had mailed me a letter and called (but we hadn't heard anything.) Later, I tried the restaurant again and asked them about it. They just gave me a strange look. Later, I wrote the store and the headquarters here in Utah a letter, describing what my experience was and asking for a reply.
Still nothing.
Since then, I and my family haven't purchased anything from Burger King and I share the story when I get a chance (usually to about 30-60 people each year.) Bad customer service can really damage a companies reputation.

I had an alarming experience at a popular restaurant in SLC. We went to The Pie for a graduation celebration. We ordered salads and close to $100 worth of pizza. I put my fork in my salad and hit something crunchy. It was a shattered light bulb. My husband took the salad to the kitchen and wanted to speak to a manager to have him check things out. I was offered a new salad (I refused) and that was it. No apology, no nothing. We never saw any management again that night. I called the next day to speak to the general manager and told him what had happened. He had no idea what I was talking about. He told me that he couldn't do anything about this because how did he know I hadn't put it there myself to get a discount? He said that a lot of college students go in there and want discounts and free food so they pull all kinds of things. I told him I was a thirty year old woman who does NOT pull pranks and I would tell everyone I could about his restaurant. He said thanks and hung up.

I had gone up to Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island with my husband and another couple. We stopped in a pub for a late supper, where I ordered some clam chowder. While waiting for the soup, we talked about the whole "fly in my soup" things that can happen in restaurants. My soup arrived, and the first spoonful brought up a knotted rubberband, like it had been wound around someone's ponytail. I was so grossed out, and showed it to the waitress. She accused me of putting it there (I had rather short hair at the time, not enough for a ponytail). After arguing with her for a few minutes, the manager came over, found out the problem, and the entire 4 meals were on the house. The cook was fired.

There's service, and then there's service.

We ate at a restaurant where a meal included a dead fly. The restaurant bill included the meal that was ruined, AND not replaced! Of course we balked. They finally removed the cost of that meal.

As far as other types of businesses, you can't always blame the staff, as many places reduce their staff, but still pound into the brains of those remaining, how important it is to give excellent service. Hard to do when each person is now doing the work of 3. I would complain to management, but not take it out on the workers, unless it's something like texting to friends while working the checkstand and ignoriing customers. Now that's unacceptable rudeness.

While I enjoy the soup at Zuppa's I will never forget the bad customer service I saw there. One day when my friend and I were waiting in long line, it became apparent that the people in front of us had not received what they had ordered. It turns out the food had gotten mixed up and given to the people in front of them. The manager actually had the nerve to tell the people to take their food and switch it with the other people - who were already seated and eating it! Needless to say these people were like "um... no" and demanded their food be redone. While this didn't happen directly to me it has forever tainted my view of Zuppa's.

My husband and I went to the Oasis for lunch one day and ordered soup and sandwiches. His soup arrived and on the second spoonful he found a twist tie, we called the server over and showed it to him, he apologized and offered my husband a free desert to make up for it. No, my husband said you will take this soup away, bring me my sandwich and only charge me for the sandwich. The guy was stunned, and said to us "but your giving up a free desert". We finished our lunch, paid and left. My husband won't eat there anymore and always calls it that Twist Tie place when anyone suggest eating there.

Recently we went to a Chili's restaurant and had a quite a bit of a wait until we were finally seated. I could tell from a table next to us that our server wasn't having a good night. She brought us our drinks, but it was quite a while until we saw her again. Another table next to us had a different server. They were seated after us (about 10 minutes), yet were able to order and receive their food, before we were able to order. When we finally received our food, the steak wasn't cooked as it was requested, but I didn't want to send it back for fear it would take more time and I was hungry. I mentioned it politely to the server when I asked her opinion of my steak. One end of the steak was well done, yet the other end was med. rare. She sent the manager over. He was very courteous and offered both my wife and me free desserts. He went out of his way to make up for the mistakes of the night. I appreciated that. He turned the situation around for us.