Are you a complainer?

[An Officer]

I don't care much for whining (or whiners) but if something is bad enough I'll bring it to their attention usually with some kind of a joke. In the case of your blood-soaked hamburger bun I'd probably say something like I'm afraid it's going to walk off my plate, could I get one a bit more stationary?

Usually if you do it with humor they'll accommodate. In the rare case where they're rude at me for saying something I will leave no tip.

I had to bite into my bun to find out it was soaked on the underside. Having soggy with blood bread in your mouth is a truly horrendous experience. I thought I was going to heave, the smell alone was appalling. I called the nearest waiter, who turned out to be the manager. He made no argument but didn't apologise either, only offered to replace the meal. I had lost my appetite completely by then and wasn't able to manage to eat that evening, even when I got home. I got a drink on the house to wash the taste out before leaving.

I have never been back since. Complete loss of trust. Not to mention the hygiene dangers of that kind of service. I was in no mood to make jokes about it at the time, I can tell you. I think my companion was quite embarrassed at my outrage and wanted to pay and leave - but there was no way I was going to pay for the privilege of being poisoned. I was quietly spoken, polite, but immovable. The manager had no intention of refunding me to begin with, but eventually conceded.

I have gotten stuff overly rare, or burnt, 2 hours late, completely forgotten, or whatever... these thing are bearable, and not really worthy the time and trouble it takes to make a fuss. I draw the line at eating bread marinated in stale blood though. That's just neglect and willful breach of hygiene standards.

 

[Captain Ice]

^With your situation, Officer, I'd have also called the local health department and alerted them to it. That problem indicates further problems within the restaurant that need to be addressed before someone gets seriously ill or dies.

For those of you who don't like to make a fuss about poor service or problems with your food at a restaurant, please take note that you do no favor for either yourself or the restaurant by doing so. I was a restaurant manager for 10 years and in the restaurant industry for 16. Mistakes happen and are expected in the restaurant industry. Most restaurant managers consider those who legitimately complain about their meal or service to be as valuable as a gold mine.

Why? Because by complaining, you've given them the opportunity to fix the error and make your meal right.

If you say nothing, pay, leave, and just never return, you're out any future dining experience that you may enjoy. The restaurant is out any income that your patronage may have generated. And, even worse, they are out the knowledge of the original problem. That means that because noone said anything about your problem, the problem was not noticed and fixed and therefore will happen again to someone else.

However, by bringing the problem to the management's attention, you give them the opportunity to correct it for you, and the knowledge needed to not let it happen again.

 

[wew]

I eat out a lot at a steakhouse and came to know the manager after the cooks overcooked my medium well orders three times in three visits. He came over, comped one of the steaks, and over the years has occassionally comped other steaks that have turned out bad.

I'm always polite, never yell, never asked to be comped, and don't pitch fits. I've also taken time to learn the servers' names. I call them by their names, discuss different things with them about school or other matters. And when I come back from my trips overseas I usually bring them trinkets like keychains or magnets, or like as small gifts.

I figure when I'm paying about 20 dollars or more for a meal, I want it done right. I'll give a little bit of allowance, but not much when it comes to my steaks.

 

[SicOne]

^With your situation, Officer, I'd have also called the local health department and alerted them to it. That problem indicates further problems within the restaurant that need to be addressed before someone gets seriously ill or dies.

For those of you who don't like to make a fuss about poor service or problems with your food at a restaurant, please take note that you do no favor for either yourself or the restaurant by doing so. I was a restaurant manager for 10 years and in the restaurant industry for 16. Mistakes happen and are expected in the restaurant industry. Most restaurant managers consider those who legitimately complain about their meal or service to be as valuable as a gold mine.

Why? Because by complaining, you've given them the opportunity to fix the error and make your meal right.

If you say nothing, pay, leave, and just never return, you're out any future dining experience that you may enjoy. The restaurant is out any income that your patronage may have generated. And, even worse, they are out the knowledge of the original problem. That means that because noone said anything about your problem, the problem was not noticed and fixed and therefore will happen again to someone else.

However, by bringing the problem to the management's attention, you give them the opportunity to correct it for you, and the knowledge needed to not let it happen again.

In addition, by complaining you give them the opportunity to win you back with customer service. If you got a crappy meal and complain, and the restaurant can see you received a crappy meal, but then bends over backwards to make it right, well then, you may very well go from disgruntled customer who never eats here again and bad-mouths the restaurant from that day forward, to happy customer shouting praises at the excellent customer service to their friends, and thereby generating more revenue for the restaurant, which in these trying economic times is well worth the restaurant to make the attempt to salvage the situation.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

No, not really. Most of my problems i bottle up.

 

[jamestyler]

I'm generally a polite complainer. The only time I really complain is if I'm severely unhappy with a service - usually with my bank or things like phone lines etc.

BT have racked up over 40 hours of complaints from me over their inability to do anything without fucking up - and I charged them for the phone calls I had to make.

 

[AntonyF]

I'm more an offline complainer. While I can 'flare up' and argue, mostly I go away and write about it. I like to craft my words, think about all the points. Companies always take letters more seriously.

I will hound companies until they comply, as I normally always win in the end.

I believe in good service, and strongly react if I don't get it.

Equally I like to balance this up, and often contact companies and commend good service.

My proudest achievement was getting a bank to pay me an administration free.

Thankfully I've never had anything as bad as a bloody burger bun!

 

[Smiley]

I'll complain if I perceive that the benefits will be greater than the cost of my time.

 

[RoJoHen]

My Dad tends to complain a lot about his steaks. I totally agree with him. He ordered a "medium" at a local restaurant. It came "done." He complained and he and the chef got into a massive argument. The chef's position was that he has to cook the meat to a certain temperature so that there's no danger of people getting sick. My Dad respected his concerns but still found it unacceptable. He and the chef talked a bit more and their chat ended amicably with the chef telling him that the next time he was in to just ask to see the chef when ordered, and he would honor Dad's request for doneness. Pretty cool.

The chef is right that he has to cook the steaks to a certain temperature. However, a "medium" steak has a different temperature than a "well done" steak, and if he actually considered himself a chef, he would know the difference.

Also, there is no health risk from undercooking a steak as all the dangerous bacteria lives in the surface. As long as the surface of the steak is cooked, you'll be fine.

The reason many restaurants cook burgers at a medium-well or well done temperature is because that surface bacteria has been mixed in with the ground beef, so you need to cook it thoroughly to make sure you kill it.

 

[RoJoHen]

^With your situation, Officer, I'd have also called the local health department and alerted them to it. That problem indicates further problems within the restaurant that need to be addressed before someone gets seriously ill or dies.

For those of you who don't like to make a fuss about poor service or problems with your food at a restaurant, please take note that you do no favor for either yourself or the restaurant by doing so. I was a restaurant manager for 10 years and in the restaurant industry for 16. Mistakes happen and are expected in the restaurant industry. Most restaurant managers consider those who legitimately complain about their meal or service to be as valuable as a gold mine.

Why? Because by complaining, you've given them the opportunity to fix the error and make your meal right.

If you say nothing, pay, leave, and just never return, you're out any future dining experience that you may enjoy. The restaurant is out any income that your patronage may have generated. And, even worse, they are out the knowledge of the original problem. That means that because noone said anything about your problem, the problem was not noticed and fixed and therefore will happen again to someone else.

However, by bringing the problem to the management's attention, you give them the opportunity to correct it for you, and the knowledge needed to not let it happen again.

In addition, by complaining you give them the opportunity to win you back with customer service. If you got a crappy meal and complain, and the restaurant can see you received a crappy meal, but then bends over backwards to make it right, well then, you may very well go from disgruntled customer who never eats here again and bad-mouths the restaurant from that day forward, to happy customer shouting praises at the excellent customer service to their friends, and thereby generating more revenue for the restaurant, which in these trying economic times is well worth the restaurant to make the attempt to salvage the situation.

If nothing else, you'll probably end up with some coupons for free stuff the next time around.

 

[An Officer]

Great advice Captain Ice, SicOne, and RoJoHen... You're all absolutely right. I didn't contact a health department because I didn't want to ruin my own day further by dwelling on it making phonecalls and writing letters. Not very civic duty like I suppose, but that's how I felt at the time. Maybe I would do it next time if a similar situation arose (hopefullty never!). Take the entire plate that very day to the health and hygeine people and see what they make of that...

 

[AntonyF]

I'll complain if I perceive that the benefits will be greater than the cost of my time.

Good advice.

Good advice I'm not always best at following. Damn 'principle' stuff.

 

[An Officer]

My proudest achievement was getting a bank to pay me an administration free.

That must be about as near to a miracle as anyone get.

They must have screwed-up big time to concede that!

 

[kustirider2]

I hardly ever complain, I'm way too shy.

My mom on the other hand...
We went to a fast food resturant and the food tasted funny so she phoned the manager and said 'The food tastes funny, I can't quite put my finger on it'
To which the manager replied 'Well, If you don't bring it in, I can't quite put my finger on it either'
My mom went mad down the phone 'Don't patronise me!'
The manager apologised and offered us 2 free meals.