Spitball Army

E-mail addressed to Customer Service:

Sunday, [date], at approximately 1:50 pm.

I stopped into the [street name] Street [business name] location in [city name] to have some lunch, armed with the Sunday paper, planning to enjoy a leisurely meal in the restaurant’s dining room. A tall, bald African-American man in a manager’s shirt offered to take my order. I asked for a cheeseburger and, as I was about to add which drink I wanted, he grabbed the microphone next to the register, as if he was about to say something into it. Then he abruptly stopped. I halted telling him my order, and asked if he was going to announce my order. He said that he was, but was just wondering if I had any special requests for my sandwich. With complete good-natured intent, I said, “No, just make it a really great burger! Would you do that?” He stared straight through me, humorlessly, paused, then said, as if he had taken some personal offense at my ‘special request,’ “All of our burgers are made fresh.”

Okay, I thought to myself, just give him the drink order, which I then did. He then spoke the order into the mic, I handed him a 20-dollar bill, and I waited for my change. The change consisted of both paper money and coins, totaling $13.72. As he reached to put the paper in my outstretched hand first, I withdrew my hand and asked him for the coins first, please. He then twice insisted on placing the paper in my hand ahead of the coins. I asked him again for the coins first, and he just put all of my change on the counter, then walked away.

When he finally came back by the counter, as I stood there waiting for my meal, I asked him if he was the manager. He said that he was. I asked him if he had a problem with my request to accept the coin change first, at which point he began berating me for “having a problem.” He then went on a self-righteous tirade to me, a paying customer – and in front of the, at least, six other [business name] employees whose jobs and performance he supposedly manages – stating that I had a problem from the moment I demanded that my burger be fresh (which I did not even say). I suggested that whatever problem he may have brought with him to work, he should just stash in his back pocket and forget about. This was met by him only with a reciprocated retort – “You’re the one with the problem!” I then used a off-color epithet – my error in judgment – and said that he had just assured that I would “never come into this f***ing restaurant ever again,” and demanded a full refund.

Listen, I have spent over 20 years of my life in the [type of business] business, most of it in the adjoining block along [street name] Street, and have faced practically every situation that could be thrown at me, from verbally abusive customers to gregarious patrons who enjoy a good-natured give-and-take with a socially-adept store employee. This manager apparently has never been trained in social interaction, or that “the customer is always right” (and this was surely not one of those situations that would qualify as an exception to that long-held rule). Add to that, the example he provided to the entire staff in attendance, and [business name] has one very loose cannon that may eventually be responsible for losing more than just this one longtime patron’s business. I am appalled at this completely unprofessional and, frankly, hateful treatment that I received at the uncontrolled whim of your employee, and suggest a stern and forceful censure of his behavior.

The instant reply:

I will be out of the office until [four days later]. Please contact [obviously, the real person in charge] at [her e-mail address] with any questions.

[signed, the first name of the person obviously not in charge]

Three weeks later:

Dear [complainant],

Thank you for contacting [business name]. I first would like to apologize for your email not making it my attention before now. That is not acceptable, and for that I would like to apologize. At [our company], we pride our selves on prompt responses to customer service issues both in the restaurants and at our corporate office. It appears that we have failed you at both locations.

I appreciate the detail given in the email below [above], and it will be forwarded to the appropriate people who will look into the matter and take corrective action.

In the mean time, I am going to forward you a couple of courtesy cards so that you can give us another try. Please let me know how your next visit goes.

Thank you once again for letting us know about this situation.

Sincerely,
[the real person in charge, maybe]