RebeccaBee

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?

I mean, it's not like we are out to maliciously attack the poster, we
just offer our opinions. Sometimes posters decide to interpret that
as an "insult" sometimes not. However, 99% of comments are NOT meant
as insults. It's really up to perspective.

I mean if someone hasn't chatted online a lot this may be a different
experience, but I've done it a LOT at many different places you just
can't let this stuff bother you, it's not worth it. (However I think
the same thing applies irl).

If you have the same opinion, great. If you don't, then just accept
it and move on. A difference of opinion is not an insult.

Newbies don't always know what they're getting into here, Icon.
Sometimes they write that first letter, really, really angry, and
share it thinking everyone in the world will agree with them. And
then all the comments come in telling them how unprofessional they
are, and how fake it sounds, and how stupid the whole complaint
was....it's a shock to the system. Not to say the comments are
necessarily wrong, just that for a newbie, it's a shock. :o)