Official Credit Book 2007
Tonight my wife and I went out to our favorite Italian place. We walked. Yeah, even in MN we walked. Burr… cold. We love this place. Dinner was great.
We were sitting around after eating, talking, observing the people around, you know, normal stuff. One gentleman was waiting, standing and waiting, for quite sometime, say 10-15 minutes for his food. Then the manager came over and apologized for the wait and said that he would give him a credit for the meal. He pulled out a three ring with the words “Official Credit Book 2007″ on the front. Jotted some stuff in it and apologized. Mind you, it’s not 2007 anymore but that is not what bothers me.
How can this place, it is not a mom and pop place, in its right mind think that this is OK? How can they think this is the best way to do this? This does not help the customer. You, the restaurant, wronged the customer and admitted it and then you set up a situation where the customer needs to remember that you wronged them and then remind you that you wronged them to get more of thing that you wronged them with but at a future meal. Come on!
To my mind, what should have been done is the manager should have apologized with green in his hand equal to the transaction! Handed it over and then gave them a free entrée, drink and salad AND Desert in the future. That would be appropriate. I submit to you that the restaurant would have been better off not giving anything rather than this convoluted policy following so accurately performed by its manager.
What policies do you have and/or have to follow that are providing miss-guided results?