I
have to say that in our line of work and spending the amount of time immersed
in social media that we do in the course of a day that we see and hear a lot of
things. Like with most things, some of those
things make you laugh, others make you cry and then there are some things that
once you see, compel you to want to take action -- to do SOMETHING -- to make
things right. Such injustices should not
be allowed to continue. Right?
I
have seen some truly magical things occur on Facebook over the last year or
so. Animals returned to their owners,
missing kids and runaways brought home safely,
criminals caught and huge amounts of awareness and community support to
be shared. Similarly the same is also
true of customer complaint and outrage.
The old adage of she told two friends, and so on and so on still holds
true – only now when two friends are told the echoes march around the world at
rapid pace. It never ceases to amaze me
the truly stupid things that people do and actually expect that nothing will
ever come of it. Customer Service, much
like common sense seems to be a really selective thing in our current population. Another one of those things I just cannot
explain but it drives me batty. In any case, I digress..
A
good friend of mine shared a story, that a friend had shared with her regarding
a recent visit to a local restaurant. As it goes, The party was 2 adults, 2
children, and 2 toddlers. They watched
the rude hostess set a table for 4 with 6 places. When they asked for an additional table due
to space constraints she was very visibly annoyed to have been asked. (The restaurant was not busy, or full – it was
suggested perhaps a 60-70% empty ratio at the time) so there should have been
no reason why this simple request could not have been accommodated with little
effort.
Sometime
later a waitress finally came to take their order. It was explained that both the Mom and one of
the small children had some dietary restrictions due to their celiac disease in
that they could not eat gluten. While in
the past they had been accommodated without any incident today they were told
that what was on the menu was all that they had. The family placed their order for the 4,
while options for the two were considered.
After waiting 20 minutes the waitress comes back and is again asked if
there is anything she might do – perhaps a plain chicken breast, something –
ANYTHING – the kids are hungry. To which
she was told that there was nothing.
Speaking
to the store manage was of no help either.
After watching the waitress essentially insult her to the manager in
plain view of the customer and other patrons the manager attends the table with
what was described as a ridiculous smile to ask what’s going on. The problem is once again explained,
enunciating that previous visits to this particular restaurant have been accommodating
and without any such difficulty.
The
manager tells the family that they don’t serve people with allergies here. Mom explains that they don’t have allergies,
that once again it’s a disease called celiac, and that they cannot eat gluten
products. She wasn’t even allowed to finish
her sentence when she was sternly reminded that “We do not take any chances
whatsoever and won’t serve people with allergies.”
As
the family got up to leave the manager says “Sorry about that”, and the
aforementioned rude hostess yells after them “Have a good Day”.
I
should point out here that a tab for a 6 person meal could easily have netted the restaurant a sizeable
sum, plus tips ~ but for a little consideration to food sensitivities this
family with small hungry children to feed was turned away because nobody wanted
to make a little extra effort. Honestly,
if their policy is truly to be unwavering in accommodating their clientele shouldn’t
there be some kind of signage to indicate this?
Perhaps a big sign that says “No Substitutions” at the very least – but certainly
something that would indicate on the first steps in the door that this is not a
place where there is any wiggle room for change.
This
restaurant “Scores Vaudreuil” is in the Montreal area, but honestly it could
have been anywhere. Without trying
particularly hard I can think of several friends who for a variety of reasons
have dietary restrictions, myself included. While every effort is made to make good choices for ourselves and our
families there will always be those times when you want to go out for a treat,
or life brings you out and about when you’d normally have been home. Surely the kind folks in the SERVICE industry
would be a little more accommodating of the people they serve? Apparently not.
Mom
was happy to later report that another local restaurant “St. Hubert Vaudreuil”
located just off Charles Street happily offers a “Gluten Free Menu” at the same
cost as their regular meals. They have
been educated in contamination and even took the time to warn of possible cross
contaminations. Thumbs Up for St. Hubert
Vaudreuil!
Since
hearing of this story, news of the incident has been circulating around the
social networks as we knew it would.
Another Mom shared an experience of the same restaurant wanting to
charge the woman an additional $4 to take home a portion of her quarter chicken
dinner that she hadn’t been able to finish.
The meal had already been paid for, and thinking she could make a
sandwich with the leftover the next day, she was going to take it home with
her. Apparently this restaurant has a new rule.
If you want a doggie bag, there is an almost $4 charge to bring home
what’s left of a meal you have already paid for! Incredible.
A letter to the head office went unanswered.
So
take note hungry people of Montreal and weary travelers. As the saying goes Be Informed – Know Before
you go! This is not the restaurant you
are looking for!
