Archive for customer service
August 15, 2006 at 9:41 am
· Filed under advice, blog, customer service, resource
excerpt:
“Being a regular earns you a lot of benefits for only a few conscious behaviors, mostly just good manners. Visit frequently, follow these tips, and within a short amount of time, you’re in.
Wikipedia describes a regular as…
A person who appears often at a certain location and may know others who are also there often, whether out of want or occupation. For example, a regular can be one who goes to a certain coffee shop everyday, so often that the employees know him or her…”
source: “How to Become a Regular” by Greg Cerveny (urban monarch, Jul.31,2006)
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July 1, 2006 at 1:47 pm
· Filed under article, customer service, etiquette, waitstaff
excerpt:
“I’ve spent most of this column writing about restaurant staff and how they can make a positive experience for every customer. But we diners can make a difference, too. At the Harraseeket Lobster Company in South Freeport, this was certainly the case. In search of a Maine lobster roll on a rainy, dreary evening, I happened upon this famous lobster-in-the-rough joint.
The place was packed. One large group had pushed several smaller tables together. They were finished eating, but were enjoying their night out. The patriarch of the family, noticing the number of people waiting, pronounced, “Time to go. These folks need to sit down and enjoy their lobster.” How many of us have ever done that in a crowded San Diego coastal restaurant?
My experiences on this trip make me want to go back. They also make me hope that this is the way our visitors to San Diego feel about us. Let’s hope our restaurants treat our summer visitors better this year, and while we are at it, let’s try to be better customers, too.”
source: “Dining on the road an eye-opener about service” by Pam Wischkaemper (North County Times, Jun.28,2006)
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June 30, 2006 at 1:22 am
· Filed under article, customer feedback, customer service, managers, pricing, seating, waitstaff
excerpt:
“Calls continue to come in re garding customer concerns and complaints over common dining challenges. Challenge is polite lan guage for a whole parcel of often appal ling and outra geous situa tions.
Because there’s usually some measure of “he said, she said,” some of these calls and e-mails are edited. The concerns still stand – and so, I hope, do my observations.
Loud, noisy restaurants
Why do restaurant owners equate dining, both fine and moderate, with frenzied? We frequently feel as though we are sitting inside a steel drum that is being played on our heads…”
source: “The bad aftertaste of dining out” by Joe Crea (The Plain Dealer, Jun.28,2006)
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June 13, 2006 at 12:40 pm
· Filed under advice, blog, customer feedback, customer service, managers
excerpt:
"About 80 percent of the complaints I get about restaurants from readers have to deal with how they're treated. Here's one example sent to me earlier this week:
If I have a bad or subpar experience at a restaurant, what is the best way to handle it?"
source: "When complaints fall on deaf ears" by Michael Bauer (Between Meals, Jun.10,2006)
Update 6/14/06: A follow up post by Michael Bauer on the subject:
excerpt:
"Saturday's post about a reader whose letter went unanswered, sparked several responses from people in the business. The theme is: They want your complaints, they really do.
As a restaurant critic, I feel like I'm straddling a line, with the restaurants on one side and the consumer on the other…"
source: "Complain at your own risk" by Michael Bauer (Between Meals, Jun.13,2006)
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May 27, 2006 at 11:32 pm
· Filed under customer service, free, perspectives, software, waitstaff
excerpt:
"Welcome to your new job. You are a waitress and your job is to serve clients. Do it in 3 steps: 1. Take the order 2. Bring the order 3. Clean the table…"
link: "The Waitress" created by D-Mah
For other waiter/waitress games, click here.
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April 26, 2006 at 7:27 pm
· Filed under article, customer service, etiquette, reservations, tipping
Here are some tips for being an empowered diner for your prom dinner:
excerpt:
"- Make your reservation as far in advance as possible. May and June are popular months, not only for prom groups, but also for high school and college graduations. Popular time slots — 7 to 8 p.m. — go fast. Call early and if you have your heart set on a specific place, be prepared to take an early dinner reservation time.
- Show up on time — or even slightly early — and that means the entire group. Guests who straggle in 20 to 30 minutes late ruin the pace of the dinner for their companions and delay the next group's reservation.
- Reconfirm your reservation with the…"
click for more: "Before you go: Tips for prom dinner" by Candy Sagon (Washington Post, Apr.26,2006)
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