dissatisfied with service

Excellent letter, Julia! Perhaps Chili's would benefit from knowing
exactly which Chili's this was so they can discipline appropriately?

I know *why* you're writing this letter. To let them know you're
dissatisfied with the service. Usually when things like this happen to
me I go to the waitstaff first then the hostess. If the result isn't
to my liking, the next step is to talk to the manager.

I know it's a hassle, but I've come to consider restaurants with
tables and waitpeople as NOT being fast food or convenience places.
They may at times get busy or sidetracked...

Of course it's good to let them know, because you're right, if you're
on the clock, you shouldn't be "chatting it up" with your friends and
ignoring your job duties. The best way to stop this is to complain to
the manager right there and then so the problem can be duely noted and
dealt with.

it was rather late at night or it was 5 minutes before closing time. i
understand people deserve service no matter the time, but it doesn't
make it less of annoying. no one likes to deal with anyone when you
are 5 minutes away from leaving. restaurants should stop taking tables
half an hour before they actually close. that will stop a lot of "bad"
service. the cooks don't really care and most of the servers get
annoyed. i for one never go out to eat late, never. did it once, told
the server that i knew it was closing time but we just got into town
and we would make it quick. he said fine, gave us great service. we
where there for 30 minutes. consideration people, consideration. it
goes both ways. i work for a corporate restaurtant and i can't wait
for the day when they understand that half of the customers they give
freebies too actually don't deserve anything.

i am not syaing there are no real complaints, but sadly people that
think they are entitled to a free meal because they didn't get 29 ice
cubes ruin it for the ones that have valid complaints. in my time
working at this restaurants (4 years) i have had 8 valid complaints.
you can be sure that 6 of this complaints where taken care of. now
they are part of my regular customers. the other 2, even though their
complaints where valid they where just so rude i stopped caring. all
the other compaints i have ever had are just for freebies, and they
get nothing from me. not even a soda.

Waffles??

You should have spoken with a manager, either at the time or shortly
after this happened.

But my opinion is: If I have to ask for the check, and it still
doesn't come after 15-20 minutes, I don't ask a second time. I leave.
That's happened maybe two or three times. And believe me, when I
haven't gotten my check 15-20 minutes after I've asked for it, it was
the least of the service issues. In the past, it didn't occur to me
to speak with a manager. Since becoming a member of this site, it
just seems obvious that management deserves to know if a waiter is
slacking off.

THat he was talking with his friends when he had customers WAITING for
him is inexcusable. I actually think it's worth firing him if this
wasn't his first offense.

I have to agree with some of the previous posters...you should have
tried to rectify the situation while you were still there. Calling a
manager over can do wonders for perking up the service. Many times
managers are more than willing to take something off your bill, give
you free dessert etc. when service is less than first rate. This may
have been the case here too, but you will never know. Now after the
fact, especially without the waiters name, location etc. it sounds as
if you are just after freebies.

Julia,
While you do bring up some good points my question is... how can they
address the issues if they don't know the location, date and time of
the experience?
Just a thought.
Bill R.

Julia,

I think you were very diplomatic in your letter and wrote very well
about the unfortunate experience that you had a Chili's. Sounds like
it was a very disappointing experience. Likewise, I know how things
wind-down in a restaurant at night, and it often appears that the
quality of service is somehow suspended in the midst of it all; wait
staff pining to get out, or hovering around counting the tips for the
night. It's just poor workmanship.

I've seen all too often where staff at a restaurant will give extra
attention to friends and families when they come in, without regard to
others. Maybe they get a bigger tip sometimes because of it, so the
rest of the patron cattle are sacrificed -- [ya'll want fries with
that?] I'm certainly not supporting this at all, and I think it's a
lousy thing to do. Sometimes, however, the best thing to do is call
over the manager and discusses your concerns. A lot of times this
action can diffuse an otherwise bad experience into a more tolerable
one, and the employee may be talked to about it as well. This may help
future occurrences for all.

Just a suggestion though: Writing a complaint letter should never be
to barter for a coupon, free meal, carwash, oil change, etc., etc.
Sometimes it's best to see how they handle things. So..they throw you
a couple of free din-dins with a pre-scripted letter, and all is well.
They know they've shut you up because you've asked them for it
specifically. Sometimes it's best to be able to talk to someone, and
let THEM make the offer. You may get more than you expected. Then
again, sometimes you get nothing more than an apology and a letter --
but that's all right too. Just take it in stride.

Peace,

~Seanzilla

I have as little patience with people who want freebies as anyone
else, but the end of this letter really comes off to me like an
attempt to answer a question about what Chili's could do to make it up
to them. The bit about deliberately writing the feedback suggests to
me that since Julia is doing Chili's a service (if they don't know
about the bad service that one or two of their servers provided they
cannot correct the problem and unless this was a huge aberration for
these people more diners will have bad experiences) they might want to
give her a token. I get why other people whom I respect don't see it
this way, but I don't agree with them.

Pretending for the moment that the last sentence isn't in there, I
think this is a good letter. Yes, I wish they had talked to a manager
at the time; I also wish they'd been more percise about the length of
delays -- on the other hand, if they weren't thinking about
complaining at the time they probably didn't have the stopwatches
out.

I really like the precision in the descriptions other than that. "I
was just about to say what I wanted and he said 'okay' and ran off."
"I ... asked her for some extra napkins.... [S]he never actually
brought the napkins ...." "We ... asked for the check.... I found
the waiter talking to people at another table.... My mother ... asks
him why he was just talking.... He replied that those were his
friends." I feel as if I understand the complaint and can make up my
own mind about what it's worth; and I expect that the people who
receive the letter will feel the same way. (Yeah, people who just say
"She was very rude" and "She didn't seem to take my complaint
seriously" and so on annoy me way beyond reason.)

I also like the understanding that this isn't really a big deal (I get
that people who think the freebie thing wasn't tacked on as an
afterthought (which I do) are going to disagree that the letter shows
that this isn't really a big deal). There's no threat to start eating
at Applebee's instead. There's no suggestion that this horrible
experience is among the worst things that has ever happened to a human
being. There's no indication that the family has become estranged in
the aftermath of this terrible debacle.

Julia, I don't really think you *deserve* a coupon, but it would be
nice if you got one; and I hope that Chilis deals with your
information in the spirit in which (I believe) it was offered.

"Of course, since I *am* deliberately writing this feedback, a coupon
or something would be awesome."

Hey, I am deliberately writing this comment. What do I get?

"Of course, since I *am* deliberately writing this feedback, a coupon
or something would be awesome."

Just when I think I've seen the tackiest freebie grab ever, someone
else steps up and hits it out of the park.

You should have asked to speak with a manager when you were there, you
probably would have gotten something "comped". Instead you wait a
while and then write a letter asking for freebies. That says to me
that the service was not really as bad as you say. If it was, you
would have spoken to the manager then and there and he could have
verified your complaint.

BTW, you need to tell Chili's where the restaurant is and what date
and time your were there. How else can they investigate?

I agree with Ticky. Although I felt you should have asked for a
manager, I was with you until the last line, the freebie grab.

That 'knocked it out of the park' for me.

Dang, but I hate it when an otherwise reasonable complaint is ruined
by a freebie grab.

Why didn't you ask someone at the bar to get a manager for you if you
were so irritated?

Additionally, you said you went in "early February". It is now late
February. Why did you wait so long to write this letter?

Good luck with your freebie grab. You had a reasonable complaint
until asking for your "awesome" coupon.

Sorry, you should have addressed the issue at the time. Scrounging
for freebies at this late date serves only to make you look greedy.

If you had a problem you should've talked to the manager. Better yet,
the best way to voice your opinion about your service is through the
tip. If this waiter is as poor as you say he is, he won't last long.


Plus, you sure beat around the bush. Why didn't you just ask for free
stuff right from the get go and save us all some time. I'll help.

"Dear Chili's

I had a bad waiter.

Can I have a coupon or something now?

Deliberatley yours,
Julia"

There ya go. Just cut and paste that bad boy next time you want to
get some nachos.

Did you speak to the manager while you were there?