I can't help it, I *love* that the guy is that pissed he couldn't use his
phone as a substitute coupon.

Years of working for a well-known hotel chain that requires printed
certificates for reward stays and getting the subsequent calls of "uh, the
desk clerk says I have to have a paper certificate and I showed her my
phone but she won't listen" have bled me dry of "give a damn".

I giggled the whole time I read that. I hope that guy ranted and raved all
day until his whole family had a terminal case of eye rolling.

I know, I'm mean/crazy but I had to let it out somewhere.

It's been a busy summer. I met a new guy here in FL, and have moved to my
own place, bought a car...all the good stuff. Now that things have settled
down, I have some leisure time.

So now, ladies and gents:

RebeccaBee's tips for hotel reservation success:

1.) When calling the 800 number listed on the billboard, sign at the
welcome center or matchbook, realize it's possible you may get a call
center. Listen to the greeting when the person answering comes on the
line. If a specific property or city is mentioned, you probably have the
hotel. If it's just the brand, assume you have national reservations. If
you must speak to the hotel, ask for the hotel's direct number. *Hint-
many individual hotels do not have 800 numbers*

2.) Try to be prepared. Take a moment before you dial to grab a pen/pencil
and paper. Realize you will probably need a credit card to hold a
reservation. Take a moment to think about the dates you will be traveling
during and your destinations. Grab the mailer your conference coordinator
sent you and be sure you're calling the right number and asking for the
right rate.

3.) Evaluate whether now is a good time to call. If you're in a smoky,
loud, dark bar consider stepping outside or going to your car to call. If
you're cooking dinner with the children running through the kitchen
screaming and the dogs are barking, consider going to another room. If you
are driving down the highway with your window down and the radio up,
consider pulling over and turning the radio down.

4.) Be patient. Questions will be asked, and some of the answers will be
necessary in order to quote a rate. Answers will be freely given, but are
best if held until after the basics are determined. Many of the frequently
asked questions are answered just in the course of the call. There is a
flow to these calls that will all make sense if only you are patient.

5.) Before hanging up, make sure the process is complete. Hanging up too
early could result in you arriving at the hotel to find your reservation
didn't go through.

6.) Always read your confirmation email. This is your golden opportunity
to check for errors before it is too late to fix them.

7.) Always make sure you know the cancellation policy before you give out
your credit card number. Do not assume you will be able to overturn a
nonrefundable and noncancellable reservation. Yes, sometimes that includes
coming in one day later, changing the room type and changing the property.

Have fun out there, good luck making those crazy spring and summer travel
plans. Now's a good time to start that, btw. That's peak season for most
properties, and if you wait until a few days before you could be
disappointed or worse yet, outta luck.

A comment that eydie made on a letter, asking if it was 20 customer minutes
or 20 real planet earth minutes got me thinking about two separate
incidences of my own.

1.) At Wal-Mart, when I was looking for a product but couldn't find it, I
went up to the customer service desk to find out what was up (ie, was this
something they didn't carry anymore or were they out of it or what?). I
didn't have a ton of time to wait, but didn't want to leave without giving
the manager a chance to get there in the first place. So, I set my
cellphone's timer for 5 minutes. If the manager didn't get there in that
time, I'd ask what the hold up was or leave. Sure enough, she was there
after about 4 minutes, and honestly I was a little antsy before then.

2.) At a drive-thru, having sat through silence and then gotten the "just a
minute" after saying "hello?" into the speaker, I was getting annoyed. I
waited for what felt like an eternity before saying "hello?" again. When
the girl said "One minute!" I whipped out the cell phone again. I set it
for another 5 minutes and when it beeped before I heard another word, I
again said "Hello?" into the speaker. Sure enough, I got an
exasperated-sounding "One minute, PLEASE!" We went elsewhere.

So, I know it seems like an odd thing, but I've decided to use the cell
phone timer when I feel like I might get ignored. It helped me stick
around for Wal-Mart even though I was antsy; and it told me I wasn't just
being impatient at the drive-thru.

What is it that makes people afraid that someone will spit in, put boogers
in, or otherwise mess with their food? I'm sure it's happened a few times
in the history of food service, but how often do you suppose it actually
happens?

Personal experience: In my time in food service (which includes 2 fast
food chains, 1 donut shop, 1 real restaurant and a grocery store deli and
adds up to about 4 years total) I only saw food purposely messed with once.
Did it happen to a customer who noticed something was wrong with their food
and then calmly pointed it out to the staff? No, it happened to a person
who came in week after week, complained constantly and would say nasty
things to whomever took care of her. When she discovered the mistake
(which would not have been made had she said something in the first place)
she was downright nasty.

Does her nastiness excuse the messed up food? No. The only reason it's
mentioned at all is to make this point: If you act like a reasonable
person, and simply tell your server what's not right with your food, 99% of
the time he or she will just get it fixed.

As to bad attitudes among waitstaff: Yeah, it happens. No, it's no fun
when it does. However, one eyeroll does not make a bad attitude. One
interaction where someone is a little abrupt during the dinner or lunch
rush doesn't make a bad attitude. Sometimes I see the complaints that this
ruined dinner for someone and all it was was a single sigh. What on earth,
people?

I'll admit it. I'm not always the most patient customer. I'll wait when I
can see a need, but sometimes there just doesn't seem to be any reason for
me to wait as long as I do without getting what I came for.

A fast food joint is (usually) pretty straightforward: If you're inside,
you can see how long the line is and where you are in it. If you're in the
drive-thru, you can see (sort of) how many cars are in front of you.

Sit down places are different. You can't always see that some of the
people working aren't actually waitstaff, or that the table full of workers
is on break or not yet on shift or just finished their shifts. You also
can't see that the dishwasher just walked off the job or one of the cooks
chose not to come in today.

I'm always the type to look for answers then. I'll flag someone down, or if
need be walk up to someone who is clearly "on" and just ask what's going
on. Amazingly, I've gotten some fairly candid responses-
"Two of the waitresses are sick today"
"Your waitress is rolling silverware--let me go get her"
And, on one occasion:
"You don't want to eat here tonight. The new cook is messing up everything
and the manager left early"

So, I guess I'm just wondering why anyone would leave without talking to
anyone. Any ideas?

So, a day or so ago I found myself spouting off with a sort of sarcastic
"Gold Standard Drive Thru" behavior suggestion. I was, of course, being
mostly facetious, but it occurs to me that a non-angry version may be
helpful. And it needn't be limited to drive thru service.

So,here's what I was wondering:

What if there were a sort of "consumer school" area of PFB? Participant
submitted tips for how to patronize different types of businesses and get
the best results or at least avoid some disasters would be a welcome thing
to some. Also, tips on how to complain effectively when things go wrong
might be good too, and might help avoid some of those letters where someone
has a valid complaint but they are asking for way too much.

Any ideas? Anyone? Bueller?

Summer is here (with a vengeance, I might add) and I am having the usual
summer cravings. I want guacamole and salsa like nobody's business. I
want watermelon. Even worse, I want those stupid pushups (the ones with
the orange sherbet in them) I used to get from the icecream guy when I was
a kid.

What's everyone else in the mood for (besides mashies)?

Is it personal when someone calls your complaint petty?

Are comments such as "You're pathetic, get a life" personal?

Or is it personal when someone make several comments on your letter, and
then continues to harp on you by making a reply to a comment you made on
someone else's letter?

Where is the line? IS there a line here?

If someone says something to me I think is silly, I'm going to dismiss it
as silly. Why get worked up over a comment you think is stupid in the
first place?