@Misanthrope wrote:
Coyle added to their boilerplate about a year or two ago that if a manager doesn't visit our table we now have to ask to speak to them.
I think that rule has also passed since most of my recent assignments have been to simply document any management presence, with no required interaction.
My suggestion was to take shoppers out of rotation if something notable transpired. I found worms in a sushi roll on a shop for ACL a few years ago and they just put a note in my file that I wasn't allowed back for 5 years...since the manager came over and comped the meal. Not that I really wanted to go back after the worms.
I had the server spill a glass of red wine on my white shirt at a steakhouse shop more recently. I self-selcted out of repeating that shop since the manager not only comped the meal, but offered to cover my drycleaning bill if I brought back a receipt! That was for CI and they made no notes about my rotation, but I haven't been able to get a shop assignment with them since (I did not take the manager up on the drycleaning, bill, BTW. There are plenty of drycleaning shops in LA too)
Those situations few and far-between for me, though. Most of the time I feel like I could come back a month later and not be recognized. I do use different phone numbers and email address for repeat shops, and almost always take different guests. I think NYC probably has enough restaurants you don't need repeats, but it's more limited in L.A., and smaller cities may only have a few restaurants, if any.