I did a lunch alcohol compliance shop today. If I was not carded, I was required to seek out a manager after all other parts of the shop were concluded, and inform the manager. I wasn't carded, went through the rest of my shop, paid, and found the manager. The manager stopped me in the middle of my explanation, called over the waitress, and made her explain herself. I explained that no reason was necessary, it was simple, she either did or didn't card, and in my case, didn't. When they didn't, I was supposed to inform the manager.

The manager told her to split her tables between two other employees, pack up and go home. He said he'd deal with her later. She stormed off. He offered to refund my meal if I left it out of my report. I refused, I left. I went out to my car, started my car, and started pulling up directions to my next shop. I heard a tapping sound on my back window. It's the waitress. She demanded me to get out of my car and talk to her. I rolled down my window, refused, and rolled it back up. She started taking pictures of my car, my license plate, and wouldn't move from the rear of my car, so I couldn't back up and leave.

I then heard a scraping sound on my car. I jump out, and she was scraping my rear passenger door with a rock or something. Whatever it was, she threw it into the bushes and stormed away, back into the restaurant. I called the police and found the manager. He got on the phone and it sounded like he was calling his DM or corporate.

Police came, took a report, and told me it was not worth filing charges. That I should ask the restaurant to pay for the damage. The manager got this weasely look in his eye, and said "Oh no, we are not responsible for any damages to vehicles in our parking lot." The cop rolled his eyes and said "But it was your employee." The manager then said "She was fired only a few minutes before this incident. This lady (me) was there when it happened, actually."

No. I heard him say "I'll deal with you later." It sounded like she was just sent home for the day, not fired. Besides that, she went back into the restaurant after vandalizing my car.

Anyway, I left, called my insurance company, and there's a $250 deductible to file a claim to get that rear door repainted.

I have no idea what to do at this point. Ask the restaurant to pay for the damages, file charges, or just suck it up and pay the deductible myself.

I have most of it on audio. Most of my meal (including where I ordered alcohol and wasn't carded) and the manager interaction (including where he tried to refund my meal if I didn't report noncompliance).

So what do I do? Take it up through corporate?

Oh my God that's awful.... Your behavior however was outstanding the way you stayed cool. I would definitely file charges AND take it up with corporate. It looked to me like she wasn't actually fired either so maybe the manager was just saying that to get out of liability. Unfreakingbelievable....

Oh, and I would definitely be letting the MSC know. They might come to the party with the deductible. I DEFINATELY would not be paying that deductible myself...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2014 06:30PM by jpgilham.

Hope the photo shows up. It's not severe, but it's definitely noticeable and there are a few more gouges on the rear of my vehicle as well.

Edit to explain... my car is black, and it's showing a mirror of the surroundings, but you can definitely see the scratches!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2014 06:32PM by BBird0701.

Are you in a 1 party or a 2 party state vis-à-vis audio recordings? If 1 party, I would include all of the information you have stated here and email them a copy of the audio recording requesting that they send it on to the client with a request that the client contact you directly about the situation and the cost of repairs.

You are already revealed at the establishment. I would call ahead in a few days and ask if [name of manager involved] was working today. I would drop by and ask that he reconsider his refusal to pay for the damage done by his employee and indicate that the recording of the entire visit and follow up was forwarded with the report and when they contact you as requested, you would like to be able to tell them it was a misunderstanding that has been amicably settled.

Now if none of this works--and I strongly suspect it won't--or if you are in a 2 party state, I would wander into AutoZone or similar and chat with the employees there about a product that will polish out the scratches. The photo has them looking fairly superficial so they are likely to respond to available products with a little elbow grease.

Well, just look at it this way. Here's one shop where you don't have to feel guilty about getting the employee fired!

I'm in a one-party state.

Then I would use my recording for all the leverage it could provide me.

I gave the manager my number, and told him that if he was still familiar with the concept of doing the right thing, he should call me or have his DM call me.

I can't help but think that if I was a normal customer who'd reported noncompliance, and had this happen, it'd have been handled much differently.

What did the mystery shopping company have to say about all this?

Nothing yet. I've sent an email, called and left a message. Haven't heard back from anyone yet.

I would most definitely press charges and see what the MSC says and then corporate from there.

I strongly suspect that the MSP, client and manager will all do zip. Of course the now fired (we hope) employee is the one who directly caused the damage and you know it but I suspect that pressing charges there would just result in endless headaches, time wasted and no settlement. The manager might give the employee name and address up to police to get himself off the hook but I feel sure would not provide it to you.

Yep, that's about what I thought too.

That's unbelievable! Definitely keep the forum updated on what resulted of this situation. I'm speechless that the manager too tried to sweep the situation under the rug.

Fortunately, I've never come across a scenario when I wasn't carded AND was performing an assignment where I'd need to reveal myself. Note taken to always be prepared for the situations that could potentially go downhill.

I don't know that I would file charges as the police said it wasn't worth it. I would, however, use the recording for all it was worth. The waitress sounds like a little hotheaded brat.

Most definitely file charges with the District Attorney and forget the nonsense from the cop telling you to do otherwise.

Vandalism valued at $250.00 may very well be a felony in your state, as it is in New York.

And elevate this whole thing to the client's corporate HQ. Forget about the msc doing a damn thing for you.

Keep us updated please...

This is definitely an unusal circumstance that warrants coroporate intervention. Try to talking with mystery shopping company first at a manager level first to see if they will do anything. If all else fails, maybe small claims court against the psycho employee would be an option.

I suspect that if the information goes through to Corporate--especially about the manager trying to get you NOT to report--the manager will be out of a job as well. The whole point of these audits are to determine non-compliance with the law privately where it is a lot less expensive to correct than to have non-compliance found by the law. Trying to cover up a slip makes me wonder if this manager is figuring he needs to cover up his own failure to supervise. That could readily mean he is already on thin ice.

That manager needs to be out of a job.

How awful for you BBird! Ditto to the above. What about an order of protection? This woman threatened you. And if she is nutty enough to key your car in your presence, there is no telling how far she might go. Having taken pictures of you, your car, license plate, etc., she could potentially attempt to track you down. I would file immediately. Be sure the MSC knows the manager did NOT immediately fire her and that he offered to comp your meal and asked you to leave it out of your report. I am betting Corporate comes through with money to fix your car. This is the kind of thing that would go viral on the internet .....what company wants to even think about that?

@ Flash you are right. That manager should be out of a job too. He obviously can't handle his employees.

Who is the mystery shopping company? I don't think the client has been named.

I was thinking it'd probably be best to hold off on posting the client or MSC until I hear back with some sort of answer.

Not likely - at least not through the license plates anyway.

My sister has been a cop for many years, she said it is forbidden to run a license number for any reason other than official police business and no cop would risk doing it as a favor (despite what they show in the movies ). There is no other way to track a license.

>>>Having taken pictures of you, your car, license plate, etc., she could potentially attempt to track you down<<<

What a nightmare! I would definitely see that charges are filed. What a great lesson from the policeman. I guess it's okay to vandalize other people's property as long as it's under a certain limit. How about small claims court to pay for the damages? I'm not sure if the restaurant is liable because she was off the clock. However, they might decide to make things right to avoid bad publicity.

What does your ICA agreement say about damages? Some of them say that neither the MS company or their client is responsible for damages. That always bothers me when I agree to one of those. People get food poisoning and die from eating in restaurants. I don't like signing away my rights.

Boutique Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not likely - at least not through the license
> plates anyway.
>
> My sister has been a cop for many years, she said
> it is forbidden to run a license number for any
> reason other than official police business and no
> cop would risk doing it as a favor (despite what
> they show in the movies ). There is no other way
> to track a license.
>
> >>>Having taken pictures of you, your car, license
> plate, etc., she could potentially attempt to
> track you down<<<

Won't Bbird0701's name and address be on the police report?

I would definitely file charges whether it's "worth it" or not, otherwise she just gets away with that kind of behavior.

I hope someone fixes the car for you! How awful.

How sad for you. I agree with the other poster, try to mitigate your circumstances first by getting the name of employee from the report or manager. If unsuccessful, then file an order of protection (some states do this for minimal fee) and take it to small claims court for your deductible and court costs. Research the rules regarding recordings in your state for admissibility as evidence.

Be sure to get estimates and photos of damage, and gather the police report before you file.

Otherwise, just get the OOP and buff out scratches yourself. Very unlikely, that you can get pain and suffering even though it is painful. Obviously, if you buff it out then no claim for deductible can be filed, but you can still go to court to get protection order.

I doubt that the MSC or Client or Manager will do anything to compensate because you are an Independent Contractor and most businesses or sole proprietors carry various forms of insurance as a matter of the cost of doing business.

Insist that charges be filed. This @#$%& needs to learn a lesson.

Don't fix the damage yet. Get an estimate from a body shop. Immediately go to small claims court and sue her for the full amount of the body shop estimate. (If you don't collect, then go to Autozone to see if some rubbing compound will help. Depends if the scratches are through to the metal or only in the wax or clear coat as to whether this will likely work or not.)

Take the estimate to the restaurant and tell them they will also be named in the lawsuit because they should have waited until you were off the premises before telling the waitress she was in trouble. What the hell did they think she was going to do? Say "oopsie" and leave with a smile on her face?

If they fired her, in most places they were required to pay out her wages before she left. If they did not pay her, they had not yet fired her.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2014 11:29PM by dspeakes.

There's also the possibility you caught the manager with a case of nepotism. Was the waitress a daughter...a niece...or yikes his wife. That would certainly explain the "I'll deal with you later" comment. As another poster has said, the manager may be in deep sneakers too!