You know what else I hate? Crappy customer service. About two weeks ago I went to lunch at Cafe at the Park. You may recall that I had been boycotting Cafe, but that I recently decided to give it another try - if I boycott all the restaurants on Saipan that don't perform to my standards, then I might as well hire a private chef.
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James ordered me a Sesame Chicken Salad from Coffee Care this evening. The chicken was nice. But they should change the name to "Sesame Chicken and Pasta with a Disgraceful Looking Cucumber and Carrot Shards". Nothing about that dish says 'salad'. BUT they threw in two calamata olives, so I dealt with it.~~
I went shopping for my niece's birthday present on Friday after work. After wandering around National Office Supply for an hour, I finally bought her a Crayola Tub of Fun (really good gift for a creative 6-year old). And if I hadn't have found that Tub of Fun, I'd have probably spent another 45 minutes wandering around piecing together some much more expensive and half-as-fun gift. I hung out with my sister and her crew for an hour and a half before picking up James. On our way home we stopped at Lollipops to pick up a gift bag and some tissue paper; and I'm sad to say, that I am thoroughly disapointed with what happened. I walked in and took all but 30 seconds to grab what I needed. But it took another 20 seconds for a clerk to pull away from her coworker and come and assist me - maybe 'assist' isn't the right word. She walked over without so much as a glance in my direction, rang up the items, and stood there. When I asked her how much everthing cost, she turned and spit. out. her. betelnut. Wow. I don't know why I bothered saying "thanks" as she handed me my change. I should have said "sorry", sorry for bothering you at work, sorry for giving money to the store that pays your salary so you and your kids can eat, sorry that I don't have enough money to start my own store and put that one out of business.~~
I don't believe the customer is always right, but I do believe the customer is always important. Booya! Stick that in a text book McGraw-Hill.~~~~~~
Would you believe that with all my years growing up on Saipan, I never visited Lau Lau Beach until today? It's true.
I've also never been to Old Man By the Sea or Forbidden Island.
And only until some months ago, I had also never been to Tank Beach in Kagman. I've been to Marine beach, but only once. It was that night back in high school when I'm pretty sure I had a bit of alcohol poisoning.
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I've forgotten a lot of the movies we've seen recently - because forgetting is what a pregnant woman does best.
But I do remember that we saw The Promise about a month ago. I'm pretty certain that I liked it.
I know for sure that I watched The 300 last night, or maybe it was Friday night. Either way - it was good. But it ain't rated R for nothin', watch it when the kids are asleep - I mean, leave the kids at home.
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You know what's embarassing? Not recognizing your boss's wife as she and her son walk by you and wave. Matoka!
I REALLY appreciate and value good customer service. We ate at TGIF in Guam this weekend and our waitress sucked!!! She never really came to check on us, our food came out cold, we had to hunt her down to get our check. . and they have the nerve to automatically add tip on the bill. Grrr.
ReplyDeleteI used to work for a department store and before that I was a waiter back in Dallas. So I really look for and expect quality customer service. Sad to say that we really need to have a customer service workshop or hospitality training here in Saipan. Yeah, the chewing betel nut while on-the-job is a definite "no no." :)
ReplyDeleteI shopped at Carmen's Baby News with my sister many years ago and the sales lady commented to her that I was fat.
ReplyDeleteA business can afford bad customers but it can't afford bad customer service.
"Who's dis?"
ReplyDeleteI had bad service at TGI Friday's Guam, too. Fuckers.
When it came time to pay the bill, he verbally told me the price and I handed him a fifty. He came back with change, but no receipt.
When I asked for the receipt, low and behold, the tip was included! Like I said, fuckers!
Bev - I feel your pain. Maybe all restaurants should have those little "ring for service" devices like they have at Shirley's in Susupe.
ReplyDeleteSteve - I used to work/teach for the continuing ed department at NMC and I always looked forward to teaching a customer service class; but sadly there was never enough students for the course to run. James and I were eating at this little restaurant in Torrance, CA one morning and I thought we had the most wonderful waitress. Because of her I thought I'd love to be a waitress part time because it would make me feel good to be able to make my customers feel as good and as welcomed as she made me feel.
Mona - The lady at the convenience store next to Coffee Care told me I was fat. Hey, maybe you and I should get together and write a textbook, we'll fill it with quips about customer service and general business advice.
Angelo - Nothing substantive for you because you used the "F" word on my blog.
The absolute worst is when you get bad customer service at a restaurant. I would totally raise "h-e-double hockey sticks" once I get an ounce of horrid service. I've done it before, too. I was like you--boycotting this one Mexican restaurant in town--didn't learn my lesson, and gave them another chance. It was worse than the last time we were there. We got our food an hour later, AND not only that--they gave us the wrong orders! I was soooo upset, and at the same time trying to keep my cool because I would have been throwing plates at them LOL. Luckily, we got everything for free! All we paid for was our drinks...
ReplyDeleteGahh...I'm still stuck on the spitting betelnut thing. DISGUSTING!
Donna - Gosh, you know, we're just nice people trying to be nice and give these establishments the benefit of another try - thinking maybe they were just off that day...well, I'm glad you didn't have to pay.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Deece. I always give people the benefit of the doubt. I guess sometimes it can work against me.
ReplyDelete