My wife and I just walked out of a Chinese restaurant. Not something we ever do.
Not because the food was bad, or because of the price.
The experience was perhaps the worst we've ever had.
Because we know and enjoy the cuisine, we order specific made-to-order combinations, in this case a noodle dish with vegetables, and no meat. Surprisingly, the dish came slathered in meat, which we pointed out immediately to the waitress. She took the dish back to the kitchen. So far so good.
Then the restaurant manager came over for, what I thought, was going to be an apology. What else could it be?
But then she started arguing with my wife - "we told you this dish came with meat," she said. To which my wife - a vegetarian - responded, 'if you had actually said that, I would have told you to prepare it without meat." The argument escalated, at which point I simply said, let's leave. We went to another Chinese restaurant close by, where we had a pleasant meal, salvaging the evening.
Why, why, why did this waitress feel compelled to argue? The sale had already been closed. How could the owner possibly allow this type of service? (The manager had clearly been employed there for some time).
THE most important attribute of any customer relationship is client focus: responsiveness; listening, excellent customer service and, possibly the most important, committed to customer satisfaction.
She failed. Miserably.
Is it her fault? I'm inclined to say not. I blame the owner, who was standing at the cash register, and never intervened. What was she thinking? Clearly not about her customers.
And that will kill her business (and yes, we will write a scathing review and tell as many people as we can to avoid the restaurant).
Customer focus matters.
Not because the food was bad, or because of the price.
The experience was perhaps the worst we've ever had.
Because we know and enjoy the cuisine, we order specific made-to-order combinations, in this case a noodle dish with vegetables, and no meat. Surprisingly, the dish came slathered in meat, which we pointed out immediately to the waitress. She took the dish back to the kitchen. So far so good.
Then the restaurant manager came over for, what I thought, was going to be an apology. What else could it be?
But then she started arguing with my wife - "we told you this dish came with meat," she said. To which my wife - a vegetarian - responded, 'if you had actually said that, I would have told you to prepare it without meat." The argument escalated, at which point I simply said, let's leave. We went to another Chinese restaurant close by, where we had a pleasant meal, salvaging the evening.
Why, why, why did this waitress feel compelled to argue? The sale had already been closed. How could the owner possibly allow this type of service? (The manager had clearly been employed there for some time).
THE most important attribute of any customer relationship is client focus: responsiveness; listening, excellent customer service and, possibly the most important, committed to customer satisfaction.
She failed. Miserably.
Is it her fault? I'm inclined to say not. I blame the owner, who was standing at the cash register, and never intervened. What was she thinking? Clearly not about her customers.
And that will kill her business (and yes, we will write a scathing review and tell as many people as we can to avoid the restaurant).
Customer focus matters.
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