This will not be a fun report to write

Tonight I did a take-out wings shop. When I arrived and approached the counter, the cashier was loudly complaining to a server how understaffed she was and how no one was helping her. She did not greet me. After standing there approximately 20 seconds she said to someone, "Can you check these people out?" She apparently thought I was trying to pay my bill.

I place my order and sit in the lobby waiting. As I'm sitting there a male manager walks into the restaurant with his two young children (around 4 and 7). He takes them both behind the counter to the register where he begins to count the money in the drawer. Meanwhile, various servers take turns holding the 4 year old, who is barefoot. At one point the server places the barefoot 4 year old on the counter. He is barefoot and literally standing on the counter!

I don't like to complain, but I lost my appetite after seeing the barefoot boy standing on a counter that my food eventually would be placed upon. I hope this report doesn't come back to bite me.

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Report what you saw--the good the bad and the ugly. You don't get to say your lost your appetite, just describe the what and where. Make sure there are positives such as the cleanliness or comfort of the waiting area so as to keep the report 'balanced'. Happy writing.

Thanks, Flash. I did not write about losing my appetite. The dining room and restroom were clean, and my food tasted good. I mentioned those in the report.

All in all, though, I did rate it as a "poor." In addition to the rude cashier and the manager with his children, there were at least 6 employees at the hostess podium, standing around talking and not acknowledging customers. When I was a teenager working fast food, we were always told, "Time to lean, time to clean." Those employees should have been doing something productive, and at the very least acknowledging customers who enter and exit.

I am going to put partial responsibility on the manager here. You have 6 associates standing around chatting. Part of good work ethic is common sense (such as you are in the service industry and your customers should be very important to you, by greeting and acknowledging them) and loyalty to your customer. If there is no true leadership and the only leader around does not care about the customers and keeping his workers motivated
and present, then you can't run a place efficiently.

Imagine you were a real customer and you were ignored. Do you think you would come back?

Do not Assume the cashier was rude without explaining objectively why you felt that way. And just because a Man with two children walked behind the counter, he did not have to be a manager, Unless this person announced to the establishment ------->customers as well as employees<------"I am the Manager".

It sounds like the employees did not respect the "managerial" skills------------>"various servers take turns holding the 4 year old, who is barefoot. At one point the server places the barefoot 4 year old on the counter" or "there were at least 6 employees at the hostess podium, standing around talking and not acknowledging customers".

While you rate the service poor, and gives the restroom a clean rating, you may want to have your narrative reflect what the Client will observe on the CCTV. One can not focus on poor but you can explain why you saw the service was poor or rudeness. If you report what you saw, then this report should not come back to bite you. But the next time you visit this store, they may be some changes

wouldn't have been better if the kid had shoes....

Honestly, some guy came in and let his barefooted child walk or sat all over counters. That is a flat out health code violation. Don't care the kid didn't have shoes on,

I was a general manager of a fast food restaurant. I was ripped for drains that weren't spotless, if the employee sink wasn't spotless.and bite me the hood over the grill hadn't been cleaned in the last week. The hood needed cleaning at least once a week because the wrong hood had been installed. My favorite was trying to get rid of flies, ripped. The health dept, hated my solution, but it worked; I always took that rip. It was less gross than the health department's answer

The OP, is correct, reporting the observations as seen Let us say the guy who brought his kid in wasn't a manager. I'm fairly certain that a kid hanging out on top or walking on counters is not acceptable according any decent restaurant rules,

Who cares about our rules/guidelines. A real customer would have used a phone and posted it on social media and probably has.

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning; the devil shudders...And yells OH #%*+! SHE'S AWAKE!

He was definitely a manager. He was wearing a black manager polo, as opposed to the typical football jersey. He also wore a silver name tag with both his first and last name. The employees wear football jerseys with their first name only, and their name tags aren't silver.

ETA: I know I shouldn't, but I feel bad for having to report it. If they try to dispute it, it should be clearly documented by CCTV, which I'm assuming this large chain restaurant has. As an aside, I'm always amazed at how many employees this particular location has. On a Thursday night, with less than half the restaurant filled, I counted at least 10 servers just standing around doing nothing. It's always like that. I can understand having a lot of staff on weekends or game nights...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2016 09:27AM by DareWright.

@DareWright wrote:

If they try to dispute it, it should be clearly documented by CCTV, which I'm assuming this large chain restaurant has.

They definitely have it all on video. I have done many BWWs and the manager at the closest location loves to challenge reports. The editor called me once and told me that the manager claimed the server did repeat my order back to me, because they could see on the video that she was looking at her order pad and talking to me (their video does not record audio). I told the editor that I have audio recording of the visit (legal in my state), and the server did not repeat back my order. Case closed.

I agree with @SunnyDays2 that the Manager takes much of the blame. They are obviously too lenient with the code of conduct at the place. The Manager should set the expectations and lead by example.

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Could I have a receipt please?

Writing a report explaining all the good and bad make's sense but please expect them to pull up the video because I have seen managers going through their surveillance trying to figure out who the shopper was after getting a pure nasty report. Going with what others said about adding lots of good make's sense because they can't go anywhere else. The company will see your one of their honest shoppers that explained both sides of the equation. Nice insight by everyone who wants you to keep that client!

@GuyFawkes wrote:

Writing a report explaining all the good and bad make's sense but please expect them to pull up the video because I have seen managers going through their surveillance trying to figure out who the shopper was after getting a pure nasty report. Going with what others said about adding lots of good make's sense because they can't go anywhere else. The company will see your one of their honest shoppers that explained both sides of the equation. Nice insight by everyone who wants you to keep that client!

Don't they get a copy of the receipt? That should state the table they were seated at. Or the register line you walked through and the exact time you paid for something. Do they really need to go through footage to figure it out or just fact check?

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

Sad to say, this particular Wing Place has been more an unfortunate experience for me than anything else..

I have more negative reports than I do positive ones.

That is unfortunate because they have good food but time after time, the servers are always standing around, fail to greet, take quite a long time for food to come out or very slow at take out. I rarely if ever, see a manager and have had some upsetting experiences at this restaurant chain. I should mention it was one particular location. The other location was pretty decent..

It's funny there are 2 threads about the same "wing place".

I agree with everyone who has posted here. But I'll also acknowledge that employees at this particular joint are usually college age kids or young people with no other skill set. The corporation can have lots of training and requirements of their employees but the bottom line is, the employee has to CARE about the corporation to "buy in". If employees see this as only a temporary step or a dead end job, there's no buy in, and the service will suck permanently.

What I'm saying is nothing new.

It's up to me to make me happy.

I have had great experiences (expect for slow to greet, never acknowledged by a manager except first shop), except at an out of town location. It seemed to be an active sports bar, and it was so dirty in the parking lot and patio. I was shocked because the locals beedubs are usually spotless.

Sorry I used the wrong verbiage. Yes, we are real customers. Unfortunately due to our ICA's with our MSC's we can't react as the every day person. I should have said what if the other customers took pictures and put it on social media, which they do...frequently. The OP should not get ripped or banned because the facts were reported accurately.

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning; the devil shudders...And yells OH #%*+! SHE'S AWAKE!

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This will not be a fun report to write

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