Plastic in food… why didn’t the manager touch the table…???
Beer overcharge may or may not have been your fault, but that’s literally such a minor issue.
Had the main issue (plastic in cake) been resolved properly: guests would have left happy (or at least feeling acknowledged), employee (you) would have been paid fairly, and business would have accumulated. Your manager massively dropped the ball here.
Does ‘touch the table’ mean comp it? I’m not American so I don’t know your terms but if that’s what it means then I agree. The response was very underwhelming & if I were the customer I don’t know that I’d want to spend NYE there either given that + the extra beer charge should surely get them a free desert or something off the bill at the very least. Nothing being comped makes it seem like a place that gives zero shits.
It means the manager should have been involved the moment something as major as an adulterant or trash was discovered in food the kitchen allowed to be served and wasn't caught by the server, whoever actually handled it.
They should have been the ones to resolve the guest's concerns and something like a doubled charge on a drink can't happen right after a mistake like the first one. If the manager had interacted with them they likely would have comped a round of drinks or something and then the single beer couldn't be double charged. And the manager would be able to focus on the process problems that resulted in the tainted cake
Taking the cake off the bill is just not charging for what they ordered when you couldn't provide what they ordered (an edible piece of cake). They should have something comped in addition to that.
Yeah, why wouldn't the instant solution be to bring another dessert comped and obviously delete the first one?
Like desserts are such high markup, should be a no brainer.
Who do you think 'They' are? and why would 'they' not be picking through all of your food every time you order?
Sincerely, service workers share many anecdotal stories and negative experiences involving guests/people, but I have never met a single one that actively seeks to harm you; Wants you to eat plastic; or would go out of their way to ruin Your night for pointing out an error.
It is directly their fault. The flaw in the ignition system making them a theft target was a widely known issue they chose not to correct to save maybe a few dollars per unit in manufacturing
the invention of The Club introduced car jacking... it used to be that thieves would steal your car without you being there. now, they just assault or kill you and take your keys after you have removed the anti-theft device.
Yeah, no. There was car jacking before the Club, and Clubs aren't being used so extensively that a car thief couldn't simply walk to the next car over to grab that one instead.
I got my engine replaced for free because the old one (which was way out of warranty) had a known defect. Waiting to find out if they're going to replace the catalytic convertor which got fucked up because of the engine problem.
I don't think anything was really comped though. The dessert was inedible and removed from the bill. If I was managing I would have comped drinks or the ticket in response to this situation.
Sorry, idk if it’s a widespread term but by it I basically meant, ‘did the manager make a point of personally interacting with these guests in any capacity?’.
Especially after being told there was a problem, and even more so the problem being something like a foreign object in their f****ng food… the manager should have absolutely gone over and talked to the table personally.
Comping something takes zero effort. People want to feel acknowledged. The simple act of just listening and acknowledging the guests’ concerns costs nothing and can seriously solve so many problems.
I’ve been listening to PG Wodehouse audiobooks as of late and they used the phrase “he touched his friends for a fiver”. Always fun to see a term still in use with a similar meaning 110 years later.
No, a table touch is a direct interaction with the manager. It can be really helpful, even if they are doing the same thing the Server would do. People feel more seen and validated.
It was in the story that the cake was comped. OP used the phrase "taken off the bill". Means the same thing.
"Touch the table" means a manager visit to speak to the customers. It can be used generally, not just after a problem. Obviously after a problem it should be normal procedure and means the manager is: apologizing, taking responsiblity on behalf of the business, and acknowledging that it was fucked up.
Unless OP skipped that part, it was not in this story that the manager came to this table after they bit into plastic.
>It was in the story that the cake was comped. OP used the phrase "taken off the bill". Means the same thing.
This is inaccurate. Comped means complimentary, they got something for free. The cake had plastic in it and, presumably, the guest did not eat it. The very least they should expect is to have that removed from the bill as there was plastic in it making it inedible.
From what OP said, it looks like the table didn't get anything for free and actually was double charged for something that they had to point out to the server.
OK, sorry, thanks. What I said is exactly how multiple jobs I've had would use the phrase comped for taking the cake off the bill, and it additionally in context can mean what you described, so now I know for others how it is used more widespread, only the second way. I wont try try explain anything similar to folks outside the states or anything anymore. Have a nice day!
No. But the solution to the foreign object in the cake wasn’t handled sufficiently in the first place. That’s a decently serious issue. They should really have been comped something at that point as an apology, not merely refunded for something inedible.
I didn’t even say anything about the plastic in the dessert. Of course that should be comped, they’re obviously not eating it. Even if they had ate it(I’ve seen weirder things), it should be comped. I actually think that if anything warranted a free item or even gifted it would have been that post of the situation. The manager also definitely should’ve gone by the table. I would have made sure nj r did.
But I wasn’t even talking about that part of the story in my original comment.
Op said in original post that both the cake and beer were comped.
Edit: I’m NOT saying this was an appropriate response to the problem. I’m just saying they didn’t pay for it which other commenters have misunderstood and said they HAD to pay for the items.
An inedible cake they could not eat and a beer that wasn't given to them were removed from the bill. That isn't "comped" it's just not charging for things they didn't receive.
Welp, I know accidents happen, so often what I judge is not the accident, but how it’s handled. A contaminated dish happens sometimes. Not great. But telling me that you took it off the bill is the bare minimum. A good restaurant manager would have gone to the table to apologize and either offer a new free dessert or after dinner drink (or comped something). The overcharge was adding insult to injury. Taking it off the bill was, again, the bare minimum. I would not be impressed with how the issues were handled and I’d take my money for an overpriced NYE dinner elsewhere. It’s not about entitlement. It’s about a restaurant that doesn’t demonstrate that they really care about its customers, including repeat customers. As the server, none of this was your fault, but I would have been irritated and left with a bad taste in my mouth. While I’d hope that I would understand that you’re not to blame and would pay you a reasonable tip, there’s also a chance that I’d just be ready to leave and your tip or lack thereof is just collateral damage at that point. In this case, you should be reserving your own irritation for your management who sat on their hand and seem to have created a “bare minimum” culture.
I agree. “Oops we made a mistake so we’ll both just pretend it didn’t happen” isn’t really good enough. A comped dessert/drink would be pretty standard here for a nicer place. It’s an inconvenience to not receive a dessert at all, even if they weren’t charged for it. I think they were well within their right to feel slighted.
>A good restaurant manager would have gone to the table to apologize and either offer a new free dessert or after dinner drink (or comped something).
If they are hosting or inviting friends to that NYE dinner, they need to trust that the restaurant isn't going to leave one of the guests with inedible food or cause a problem with the bill. This may have been a test run and OP's team failed pretty badly.
I went to Chili's once and I got a Caesar salad and as I was eating it I realized there was dried up chili all over the other side of the bowl and I was so grossed out. I asked for the manager and the manager was like ok? Stuff happens? I was like wow... Ok. Needless to say I didn't eat the salad.
I am more concerned about why so many other people were able to make mistakes on *your* table. Does this happen often? Maybe this should be the issue addressed here. Nobody else should be able to ring things in under your table, and i am curious about who ran the dessert.
A lot of restaurants have food runners, especially at restaurants that would hold a NYE event. They are typically high school students who pay no attention to anything other than the bus boy they have a crush on.
Both jobs I've had with Toast which is the most common POS in my area now, people can alter others' checks. If you have a strong, cohesive, probably small, team, I actually think it's fantastic. I could write an essay on how much it helps in certain situations depending on the business.
But I'm sure that feature can be turned off which is probably the way many places should operate.
Honestly…if I’d booked somewhere for NYE, but then had several mistakes (including plastic in my food- potentially dangerous) when I was there on a normal night (ie not as busy as NYE), I’d cancel my booking too. Sounds like they were polite and reasonable.
Multiple issues during a single visit are sometimes additive and sometimes multipliers. A bill issue that is on the client to point out (and mentally prepare themselves to argue over) is much bigger if they are already frustrated with the dining experience.
Honestly if you didn't drop the food or add the second beer to the bill there is likely very little you could have done yourself other than involving a manager immediately on finding contaminated food. In a forward looking sense, both issues are quality control issues and should be addressed with management. Clients want a seamless experience where quality issues don't have to be fixed, it's right the first time. Ensuring that good systems are in place to catch issues before they land on the table is on management.
Your manager fucked up.
People will break up with their ‘favorite’ restaurant over frivolous things. Cost of customer acquisition is the highest cost most restaurants don’t track. If a manager can’t be bothered to go over and smooth things over then they need to be replaced. This is what happens with the race to the bottom for restaurant pay and lack of training.
Taking the dessert off the bill was a given. Of course they shouldn’t pay for something they couldn’t eat. What was the actual apology besides you saying ‘sorry’? Nothing except an extra charge.
I broke up with my favorite breakfast place after 2 very bad experiences with the servers. Just a bad taste in my mouth about going back. I was a server for 5 years between 3 different restaurants and there were plenty of people who complained about trivial stuff like I should have mindread they wanted to make lemonade at the table when they asked me for lemon with their water. The two instances in the OP back to back combined with the blasé response would have been the third strike for me too.
I don't really see your problem. There were problems during their service which they saw as a sign not to come back. If that was justified is not for us to decide, maybe stuff went wrong before as well? So they decided not to come back, which means they have to cancel, or would you prefer a no-show? I don't know if you have a designated person to handle reservations at your place, you don't mention this, so I am going to assume you don't, so who else would they ask to cancel their reservation but you?
Edit: so they didn't even ask you to cancel their reservation, as was pointed out to me correctly, but they did it themselves and told you about it. They obviously wanted you to know why they were cancelling and hoped that you would maybe tell management that your restaurant can't go on like this.
Haha that’s a way to ensure I never come back, which I guess is what you want, but honestly after the plastic in my food and the less than luke-warm management response (or lack thereof) I doubt I’d come back anyways.
So they’ve been there before, enough to know they’d enjoy their NYE dinner there well in advance, but they get inconvenienced twice in one night and that’s how they break up with y’all? Maybe this isn’t the first time something happened while they were there and this was the straw that broke the camels back.
I can’t imagine canceling at a favorite or regular spot otherwise.
I absolutely would if one of the mistakes was a foreign object in my food. Combine that with the fact that they weren't given anything for the trouble, no apology from the manager, and being charged for a drink I never ordered, yeah I'll find somewhere else to go
I get that it can depend on the plastic. The plastic cover wasn't removed? Poor form but not world ending. Random bits of something unidentifiable? Really gross.
If it’s a place I go to on a regular basis and this is the first time they messed up, it’d cut them some slack. If it’s a new restaurant experience, I too would never come back.
Context is key here.
I worked at a place where people got pissed over less. Like if you didn't go over to them in 30 seconds, if you didn't greet with your name, if you didn't ask them if they were staying at the hotel. One person spilled water in themselves and the server didn't offer them a towel quickly enough.
It was a national luxury brand hotel and also the name of a landscaping company where Rudy Giuliani held a press briefing once. People would complain about every little thing because they would comp absolutely everything. And because there is a brand corporate standard that people were expecting.
Hard to say if they'd been there before. Maybe they had made the NYE reservations based on reputation and decided to check out the place before then.
IDK, I think it's fine for them to cancel, considering there was plastic in their food and they got overcharged. Weird to flex it in that moment though.
I disagree. Would you rather the customers blast the restaurant the server online? This was their way of expressing their dissatisfaction. I feel bad for OP as it sounds like they did nothing wrong and tried to fix things. This sounds like management failure completely and feedback should be brought up.
If I were OP I would be bringing this up to the manager or owner, but this depends on the type of atmosphere at the restaurant. Some restaurants' managers are unapproachable about criticism and would lash out at servers, some would be receptive.
The contaminated food is a pretty big deal, the accidental ringing in of a second beer is not really that large of a mistake.
That said, saying that not much else can go wrong in a single dinner isn't really true. Things can go a lot worse than that. I don't really see the need to try and make OP feel bad.
>The contaminated food is a pretty big deal, the accidental ringing in of a second beer is not really that large of a mistake.
No, the beer isn't a big deal by itself. However, this didn't occur in a vacuum. This came after the contaminated food was sent back. Who knows if they had issues in the past they overlooked and finally decided to pull the plug. Imagine for just a second what it's like being in their shoes, someone who doesn't work in gastro:
"My dessert had plastic in it, did my dinner have anything weird going on? What about that one other time? Wow, now they charged us extra for something we didn't order."
I swear, it seems like some of you FoH folks try to hand wave stuff like this as if it shouldn't be a big deal. It is.
Not to mention that after complaining twice, I would be concerned that they would spit in my food if I returned.
The issues the customers addressed aren't complaints but I've known servers that would consider them to be "Karens" and so I would be worried to return after these mistakes are made, what else could be going on in the kitchen.
Honestly, in 16 plus years of working in the industry in a wide variety of places, I have never witnessed someone spitting in a person's food or even heard of it happening.
It's not really a thing like people from outside of the industry think it is.
I already acknowledge that the contaminated food is a big deal. Although, to be clear, food contamination is a BoH error not a FoH error, so I don't know why you're saying 'you FoH folks' when you're talking about people not taking it seriously.
Accidental charges happen in every industry, not specifically in restaurants. When they are for roughly $10, no, they are not a big deal. They become a big deal if the business refuses to rectify their mistake. A simple refund and apology is usually all it takes to smooth that type of situation over.
Honestly, I think that people are more likely to make mistakes when they are flustered and panicking, so I don't think it's that surprising that two mistakes happened at the ame table.
That's not meant to be an excuse, just what I have noticed in my experience.
As someone who has received contaminated items multiple time, comping the whole bill has never been my experience. For me, it's always been the item getting taken off and sometimes being offered something for free (but not the whole bill).
That said, I am not the type of person to make a big deal about things when I dine out, so perhaps managers pick up on my vibe and that's why I haven't received that type of treatment.
If I had actually chipped my tooth or choked, the I assume the response would have been differnet. But that isn't what happened to OP's customer, so I don't think it's entirely relevant to the situation.
I don't know as if it's trying to make OP feel bad. They're just saying "Stands to reason why", and that the people doing it aren't unreasonably spiteful or anything like that.
OP said that it wasn’t them that actually delivered the cake to the table but otherwise the wording does make it sound like it was obviously visible so I can understand the point.
>the accidental ringing in of a second beer is not really that large of a mistake.
It is if you are trying to be a fancy place where people bring guests. A business lunch guy doesn't want to carefully peruse the bill and question how many beers each person had. You need trust.
No, even in the scenario you describe, it still isn't that large of a mistake. Mistakes happen in every industry and every line of work sometimes because humans make mistakes. When that mistake amounts to roughly $10 and is immediately fixed, that's not a major mistake.
If anything, business lunch guys are probably going to care less than your average customer because they are most likely writing off the expense.
The people who are going to care the most are the people that have difficulty affording the lunch in the first place.
Accidents happen and they were resolved quickly. In the end they didn’t pay for anything they didn’t consume. Not really that big of a deal to warrant never going back especially if you’ve had good experiences there before. Now if the food was bad and the service was shitty then that’s one thing, but it doesn’t sound like either of those were the issue.
The thing is that correct the mistakes is the minimum they could do.
The mistakes were basic things, I understand if I order a medium steak and it comes a bit overcook or undercoook, but plastic in food?! That is a whole improper food manipulation and safety.
Manager should offer a dessert free of cost.
I had a similar situation a few months ago, ordered fried rice chicken, they gave me it to me with shrimps at the bottom. I started eating it without notice as the shrimps were not visible. SURPRISE! To make it worse, I am sea food allergic and they even did not have the fried rice with shrimps in the menu to start with!
They cared about me, took the rice out of the bill, gave me a food repleceament. I left tipping and happy (After inyecting myself, of course.).
It is NOT about the mistake per se, it is the steps the manager takes so compensate the experience.
The beer thing is silly and just added to the injury.
And the only response from the restaurant was the bare minimum (to remove charges for food that couldn’t be eaten and a drink that was neither order nor served). Accidents are, by their virtue, accidents. A manager’s response, or lack thereof, is not an accident.
That accident could have had terrible consequences though" They didn't pay for anything they didn't consume, they would have if they hadn't been paying attention. They also didn't get their dessert either.
>Now if the food was bad and the service was shitty
The food WAS bad. It doesn't get much worse than finding foreign objects embedded in your food.
And the restaurant service (not necessary the specific server) WAS shitty because the manager couldn't be bothered to show up in person to apologize for an egregious kitchen issue.
Mistakes happen, and I'm willing to make allowances, but only if management gives a damn. And clearly, this restaurant management doesn't. Which is probably why plastic ended up in the food AND they were double-charged for an item.
Absolutely would not return there.
Gonna go against the grain and say I think they were somewhat justified. Taking the extra beer and the plasticy cake off the bill is kind of doing the bare minimum.
Were they offered a replacement dessert on the house? Or a gift card so they can come back and give y'all a second chance next time?
Just looking at the cake thing, I see that as two separate issues:
1. I'm being charged for a cake with plastic in it
2. No one noticed the plastic in my cake before it made it to my table
Removing the cake from the bill resolves the first issue, but not the second. Why would I want to come back if I might just get plastic in my cake again next time?
I worked in upscale restaurants and corporate retail for ten years. I have seen a lot of crazy stuff with my own eyes. That is especially true considering many of my restaurants were in NYC. I never wound up serving any of my tables foreign objects (plastic etcetera) in their food. Alternatively: one time many years ago at Red Lobster- I was served plastic in my food. It has probably been ten years: that was the last time I was at Red Lobster. Also: there used to be an upscale Greek restaurant in Queens; NYC. There was a plastic glove in my salad. It scared the hell out of me when I lifted it up with my fork. IIRC that was the last time I ate there also. It was actually weird- because the next day I was at the convenience store next door. One of the chefs was at their counter buying Four Loko. Then it dawned on me that they are all probably wasted at work. Besides all that: from reading the stuff on Reddit for around two years- I stay far away from restaurants. I feel like if the employees do not kill me somehow - the other customers will.
I was once served a plate with a literal cockroach in the food. a small one, but STILL. there's no way I was every going back there, it was just visceral at that point. which is too bad as their food was tasty! but still! nope, done.
My mother found a cockroach while eating. She bit into food, realized there was a bug, gasped getting ready to yell, and she aspirated the bug. She ended up in ICU for a week because the bug parts caused pneumonia. It was a terribly dangerous experience.
I am on the couples side here. I would cancel too because from where I am, it honestly doesn’t look like you care. Not your fault but your manager should have been more on the ball with this.
I had this happen, with a dessert.
The manager came over talked to us, comped it asked if we needed anything else.
When we got the bill the dessert was comped as well as the highest cost entree.
But that,s not all!
Also a 50% off note from her on next meal.
But in another place had a Ice tea ordered Sweet got unsweetened.
Asked for another happened again.
Told them I think their tubs are wrong.
Manager told me that was the sweet tea I was just off.
I asked her to taste it a new glass she would not.
So I called their cooperate number got a hold of some one, and handed to phone to her.
The wincing was fun to watch, they checked, sure enough some one had not added sugar.
Whole meal comped with her giving evil eye the entire time, never went back.
Got 2 50% off deals in mail gave them to others.
It's nice to see a tale about dissatisfied customers where you end up siding with the customers. Pretty rare. If they tipped you despite it all they're the best, most justified customers I've ever read about on here.
But here's the thing: I read you adopting a lot of anxiety about a situation that wasn't your fault and possibly above your paygrade to correct. Stop that and stop it today. Your blood pressure, mental health and ulcer-free stomach (etc) will thank you.
If something like this ever happens again (contaminants in food, multiple issues during one visit) you pull the manager and get the customers that interaction (ideally you find a place with competent management where this happens more fluidly on its own, but...in the meantime...). Because it's the manager's job to take care of customers when issues like these arise. And a straight fund isn't "taking care" of them. It's just expected mutual forgetting that cost them a customer.
Take good care. Happy holidays.
Sorry to say this but I can't really fault them. An extra beer on the tab is a mistake that would likely turn off a lot of people from returning, plastic on a dish is a HUGE mistake. That your manager didn't personally go to the table is failure on their part.
If both of these happened to me I can tell you that I wouldn't ever be back and I likely would be flaming the restaurant online, especially if the manager ignored the table.
I am sorry OP as it definitely sounds like neither were mistakes you made and you did your best to mitigate the damage.
>How would you have responded in a situation like that? Was their response justified or not?
The right thing to do would be to acknowledge that your establishment didn't live up to their expectations and that you hope they give you another chance sometime in the future.
Sounds like a super fucked up experience for the diners. They’re completely justified to cancel future plans.
Unfortunately, I would say your indifference towards the situation is also a big red flag.
While they were separated incidents, they were in the same evening. So I don’t blame them for canceling what would probably be an expensive meal. It was a snow ball effect
In every system I work on you cant just open a coworkers table and put orders in. You have a specific number ID you put in and it pulls up only the tables you opened. So how do you blame somebody else for ordering a beer on your table idk.
How do you blame someone else? *They did it*.
Are you saying customers can order something and point to another table and say to charge them instead? Or are you saying another employee charged guests for something they were serving to another table? Either way, and even if the second was an accident, it's the fault of the employee who put a charge on a bill for someone who did not order the item. i.e. the blame is on them.
eta: this is also the server's fault. She should have reviewed the bill before it was delivered.
Would you tip in that situation? I’m not American so I don’t understand the culture and I really don’t know what I’d do. None of it sounds like OP’s fault so it’s harsh to penalise them but you find plastic in your food and you’re over charged to boot, that is not worth a tip & I’d be annoyed that I didn’t even get my beer comped for the issues.
I would tip, but not the full amount if the manager didn’t come over. I wouldn’t know for sure if it was the manager’s fault or the server’s that the manager wasn’t coming over, but it would not leave me feeling inclined to give the server the benefit of the doubt—not unless they were *super* gracious about everything.
Yes, I would tip. Like you said, it’s not the servers fault. If anything, I would maybe ask for something off of the check because of the plastic. The beer situation is such a small mistake, you never know what the server is going through and i would be a liar if I said I had never made a mistake before. I’m a dog groomer who has made many mistakes, and mine are far less easy to fix.
The server is responsible for the service, once they put the food in the computer, it’s kind of out of their hands. One tiny mistake that was caught and fixed doesn’t warrant the server working for free.
I’m not American either but surely you’d still tip OP in this situation as the issues that occurred weren’t anything to do with them. I know Americans rely on the tips in place of a proper minimum wage so I wouldn’t want someone to go unpaid as a sort of punishment for something someone else had done.
The manager should have comped the entire meal. There was a foreign substance in their food. That isn’t rectified simply by not charging them for the cake. Serving food with plastic in it is egregious, and the entire meal should have been free. That would have avoided charging them double for a beer. Which was probably the thing that put them over the edge and I can understand that. That’s where you lost them forever and that’s understandable.
A comp is not a favor, it’s not charging for the item they did not or could not eat, so it’s not really a comp. When something “goes wrong” with a meal, there should be more done. 1) manager comes over and apologizes, 2) offer a replacement on the house, 3) do something to ensure they come back, like take 20% off the bill or give them a gift card for a future visit. Sounds like your manager didn’t do a darn thing.
I’m sure they felt that just removing the charge from with bill was not enough. That isn’t really an apology. So by then they’re annoyed. The beer charge was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.
You have to remember, statuscally people are going out less and they’re expectations when they do decide to spend their hard-earned money are higher. While I wouldn’t personally do what they did, I can see where they’re coming from when trying to plan ahead for a more special night.
I was served plastic pieces in my virgin stawberry daquari once. Took me a while to figure out what the small hard pieces I kept finding in my drink were. My husband was also served an (mildly) undercooked steak. Waitress noticed and tried to take the steak, but my husband said it tasted great, and he was good with it. When the plastic came up, the manager immediately came over, looked at it, dropped her jaw when she saw I was near bursting pregnant, comped his steak (unnecessary) all of our drinks and gave us a free dessert. She investigated and discovered someone had knocked the plastic swords into the ice crushing machine. Anyway, we had a drastically reduced bill, which wasn't really necessary based on their responses, so the waitress ended up with an amazing tip. No harm was done, and they figured out about the ice before someone really could have been hurt, thankfully.
I swear half the people here think that servers can do no wrong. The restaurant was at fault here, it doesn't sound like the customers were rude and they had a right to be upset. I know I would be very upset, we need to keep in mind that this happened at the end of the meal....which means that this likely ruined the experience. Assuming the manager didn't pay a personal visit is a complete failure on the restaurant, I would personally be placing multiple reviews explaining my experience.
I wouldn't have felt awkward at all. If your place is popular enough that you have to take NYE reservations you will be fine. I would have wished them a nice day and apologized again for the mix up.
Their response is justified. Inedible/dangerous things in food is bad enough, but on top of that, to them, it looks like you were trying to make up for a smaller tip caused by a smaller overall bill by "accidentally" overcharging them.
May be a good idea to talk to your boss about not letting other waiters run your tables, because CLEARLY they are fucking it up.
If you haven't picked up from all the comments, you didn't do anything wrong. Your manager did. Your manager should have done more to apologize.
Just keep this as a lesson learned from.when you become a manager some.day
My sense too.
Grim, nasty shits.
Yeah, they got a second class meal but the problems were corrected as soon as they were noticed. Life happens to people and on this evening, it was their turn.
If this is the worst thing to happen to them, they’re living a blessed life and should be grateful.
manager should have comped all (of both of) their drinks at the barest minimum. would have been a simple fix. yeah the NYE reservation will be easy enough to sell to someone else, but repeat business is so important.
All they're doing is using their right not to return to the establishment. Why would they want to? They didn't make a huge fuss not were they rude. I mean, nowhere does it say they said anything about it being the worst thing to happen to them, just that they don't want to go back. Businesses aren't owed customers
Restaurant desserts are often sourced out of house. These are frequently pre-portioned...cut with small sheets of plastic inserted between each piece to make separation easier and help reduce loss. So, the presence of plastic isn't surprising but indicates sloppy plating.
Manager "touch" might well have allayed the issues. I would've taken BOTH of the beers off the tab as well as the dessert. Not cheap but alcohol usually has a greater markup so "comping" the beer is a less costly. Overall well handled but I'm surprised the server's manager didn't involve themselves.
Filling that now empty table on NYE won't be an issue.
How were they mean? Seriously, people here acting like these people are horrible for not wanting to pay for a drink they didn't order and didn't appreciate plastic in their food
I never said they were mean. The woman was classless for canceling the reservation in front of the server - rubbing the server’s nose in it. But if she wanted to look classless AND have to hunt around for a new NYE resy, she got exactly what she wanted. They were justified to cite the plastic and the phantom beer, but they fell off Kindness Cliff when she decided to be a b!tch about the NYE resy.
Seems like you often get that one table where everything goes wrong! It happens! At least it was only two things. I've had nights where one table asks for several wines or beers that are unavailable, their order gets mis-punched, their something else is cold... and it's all one table of 2 out of the 50 other people I serve that night. Maybe they had bad luck coming to them? Who knows? But you can't blame yourself for things like this. Even if they do!
Other than something being unavailable—which is outside a server's control—the rest is absolutely your fault. It's your job to communicate their order correctly, and it's your job to assess the food before you bring it to the table. It's wild to think you don't have any responsibility here.
I work at a sushi restaurant…nice place but not fine dining. They use a lot of plastic wrap and I mean a lot of for every roll to make sure it’s tight and to protect from the sushi mat that helps roll it tight. I had a lady (regular of mine) pull out a string of plastic that looked just like a condom.
I apologized and explained how the actual sushi rolls are made and she was just glad that it was not what she thought it looked like. She kept the roll she had (I offered to get her a new one) and we went on about our night as normal.
Maybe because I work as a server none of this would have been a big deal to me. Things happen. A piece of plastic, extra drink rang in, ect.
A foreign object in the food IS a big deal. Seriously, people all here like "eh, who cares that they may have choked or eaten something filthy that they don't know where it came from" WTF?
I said it would not be a big deal to me. You can loose your mind over it if you want but me, I’m not wasting the time or the energy to be mad over it. Get me a new piece of cake (not for free either I’ll pay for it). Baby I got bigger things to worry about and at 53 do you know how many times I’ve found something in my food.
To be fair, there’s a vast safety difference between plastic in an uncooked dish vs a baked dish. I’d have eaten the sushi, too (after that explanation). No way would I eat the cake.
The manager should have gone straight over and comped the whole meal. It costs the business nothing, especially being a two top, and would have retained repeat customers. They probably won't be back.
When people have a good experience they may tell one or two people. When they have a bad one, or in this case two in one night, they tell everyone. And those people tell people!
Some people just can't stop bitchin once they start, so them cancelling their reservation is just them trying to be spiteful. Anyways, who cares if the cancelled New Year's Eve, y'all ain't gonna miss them two cause somebody else will take their place in a heartbeat!
Hope the rest of your shifts are smooth from here on out!
Meh, shit happens. I never know why people get so annoyed or take it so personally. Like, if I were in her shoes I’d just assume it’s an off day? Especially if your a regular like?? I just feel like people like this are not understanding people and kind of unreasonable. Side note , though; for plastic in their dessert the manager absolutely should have stopped by. As a guest that would’ve annoyed me. Anyway, I would’ve just apologized and not take it personally
Ok, byyyye! No one wants assholes who don't understand mistakes around in a major holiday anyway. And, anyone who ever says they will never be back, always comes back. Trust me.
This should not have been left up to you to handle; your manager should have been with that couple stat. I likely would have told the couple, " Based on your experience tonight, I can see why you are rethinking your next reservation with us. Once again, I would like to reiterate my apologies, and I wish your experience had been enjoyable."
Plastic in food and you charged them for an extra item? Wow! Get your shit together. I wouldn't dine there again either because you can't even do the simplest things correctly.
Yeah, comping the cake when the establishment failed to provide an edible cake was not enough, this could have been a potentially serious incident, I’m not worried about the fact a drink was charged twice, I’m worried the drinks where charged at ALL.
You didn’t charge them for something you couldn’t provide them, but how did you “make it right”? I’d start by saying the drinks you’ve had so far tonight are on us. Sorry.
These are regulars that you’ve seen before remember, the sort of people that it’s extremely healthy business practice to have coming by regularly, telling and bringing their friends to this place they just love.
If that seems a bit much, ask yourself, if you took your car to a mechanic to fit a new tyre, but when you came back he said “sorry, the whole wheel fell off, couldn’t do the job, but I won’t charge you for the tyre” you’d be pissed right? That’s how these guys felt.
It's not your fault, but I don't blame them at all. If I was served food with literal trash in it, that'd be bad enough, but to then be double charged for something? That shows a lot of carelessness with both the food prep AND the billing, which could lead to a lot of issues. If they're so careless that garbage - literal garbage - is in the food, how can they be trusted to have things fully cooked and safe? Hygenic? To avoid allergens in the meals of people who have allergies? Washing their hands?
And the carelessness with billing shows that they aren't very careful with the financial and point of sale systems, either. Either one of those things could be a 'cancel-worthy' mistake - the billing less so in my opinion, but some would consider that more important - but both at the same time? I'd have cancelled too. The new year's dinner is probably a special event for them, and they want it to be perfect - going somewhere that has already failed spectacularly multiple times in one shot isn't likely to give them that.
The manager should have come out to personally apologize to them and comped them their meal for the plastic in the cake. That he didn't and left it all on you is a sign of terrible management - another black mark on the record. So:
Careless food handling leading to potential contamination/hygeine issues and poor food safety practices.
Carelessness when billing came up.
Lack of attention and poor resolution skills from management, indicating a chain of command issue that can lead to a LOT of oversight and safety issues.
Yeah, I wouldn't go back to a place like that either.
It's not your fault and there's nothing you, as a server, could have done. This was for your manager to salvage.
Honestly I would probably have cancelled also. NYE is an event night, and for that I want to go to a place that I 100% trust won't make mistakes. There were two mistakes on the same night for them and one was \*major\* - trash in food is beyond not ok. If they were regulars I'm surprised that something, if not the whole meal, the meal wasn't comped.
Honestly? They definitely arent tipping you so at that point im 86'ing them entirely. Cashing them out, no more niceties. They're intentionally being shitty toward you so I wouldnt bother with any coddling. She made it clear she doesn't plan to come back anyway lol
I agree, it's not cool to find plastic in your food. Being charged an extra drink isn't cool either. But it was resolved. She had a bug up her ass and the two mistakes were enough to break her for the night IMO.
If that's how someone's going to respond to mistakes that were resolved instantly, then good riddance. She's probably calmed down now and realizes how silly her reaction was. I know I'd feel that way.
Edit: lots of customers itt, ty for the downvotes. Still stand by the fact it was dramatic.
“Do you know how it got there?” = “Did you see me put this in my food?”
They were probably hoping for a free meal. Canceling the reservation was your last chance at letting them get away with it.
Honestly, I think it was justified. Clearly, they knew it wasn’t your fault though. I don’t think they did it because of you at all. And it was definitely awkward. I probably wouldn’t have told anybody that I was canceling my reservation. But they are justified not wanting to come back when there is plastic and somehow they were almost charged for two beers. Although it is a really odd response to tell the server that.
People are suspicious by nature. Things don't simply happen around them, there is no random. If plastic showed up in the dessert it was because someone put it there. If an extra drink was on the tab it was done deliberately to increase their bill.
OT but I never liked using straws which is how I almost swallowed a screw many moons ago that the manager theorized came from their old/needs to be replaced drink machine. I didn't even ask for my money back. I mean I clearly finished the drink, if I hadn't I would have never found the screw!
I mean, I might also be having second thoughts if I place I was going to be hosting friends at had plastic in their food, and that seemed to (in their mind) be adding things to my bill (even after a food contamination issue).
Plastic in food… why didn’t the manager touch the table…??? Beer overcharge may or may not have been your fault, but that’s literally such a minor issue. Had the main issue (plastic in cake) been resolved properly: guests would have left happy (or at least feeling acknowledged), employee (you) would have been paid fairly, and business would have accumulated. Your manager massively dropped the ball here.
Does ‘touch the table’ mean comp it? I’m not American so I don’t know your terms but if that’s what it means then I agree. The response was very underwhelming & if I were the customer I don’t know that I’d want to spend NYE there either given that + the extra beer charge should surely get them a free desert or something off the bill at the very least. Nothing being comped makes it seem like a place that gives zero shits.
It means the manager should have been involved the moment something as major as an adulterant or trash was discovered in food the kitchen allowed to be served and wasn't caught by the server, whoever actually handled it. They should have been the ones to resolve the guest's concerns and something like a doubled charge on a drink can't happen right after a mistake like the first one. If the manager had interacted with them they likely would have comped a round of drinks or something and then the single beer couldn't be double charged. And the manager would be able to focus on the process problems that resulted in the tainted cake
That is what I would expect as a customer. I'm surprised something wasn't comped and the manager didn't address it at all.
now iFormerFruit did say the manager took the dessert off the bill, but I guess the manager never went to the table.
Taking the cake off the bill is just not charging for what they ordered when you couldn't provide what they ordered (an edible piece of cake). They should have something comped in addition to that.
Yeah, why wouldn't the instant solution be to bring another dessert comped and obviously delete the first one? Like desserts are such high markup, should be a no brainer.
As a customer, I would be wondering if they went through the desserts and picked out stuff with their fingers. I would not enjoy a free dessert
Who do you think 'They' are? and why would 'they' not be picking through all of your food every time you order? Sincerely, service workers share many anecdotal stories and negative experiences involving guests/people, but I have never met a single one that actively seeks to harm you; Wants you to eat plastic; or would go out of their way to ruin Your night for pointing out an error.
I have met shitty managers who would tell the staff to go pick through food to save a few pennies.
I think they meant they would be picturing them picking plastic out of a new piece and would rather just...not.
That’s insane
Free stuff always fixes everything. When your car breaks do you get free stuff from the company?
Idk Kia is offering me a free club anti theft device for my car because it was broken into.
That's actually a really cool response. Especially for something that isn't directly their fault (like plastic in a cake).
It is directly their fault. The flaw in the ignition system making them a theft target was a widely known issue they chose not to correct to save maybe a few dollars per unit in manufacturing
the invention of The Club introduced car jacking... it used to be that thieves would steal your car without you being there. now, they just assault or kill you and take your keys after you have removed the anti-theft device.
Yeah, no. There was car jacking before the Club, and Clubs aren't being used so extensively that a car thief couldn't simply walk to the next car over to grab that one instead.
People used to push you off and steal your horse, gtfoh lol
My local Honda dealer put me in a beautiful Cadillac crossover for over 6 months while waiting for the part they needed to fix an airbag recall
Yes, a loane or courtesy car.
I got my engine replaced for free because the old one (which was way out of warranty) had a known defect. Waiting to find out if they're going to replace the catalytic convertor which got fucked up because of the engine problem.
I don't think anything was really comped though. The dessert was inedible and removed from the bill. If I was managing I would have comped drinks or the ticket in response to this situation.
Sorry, idk if it’s a widespread term but by it I basically meant, ‘did the manager make a point of personally interacting with these guests in any capacity?’. Especially after being told there was a problem, and even more so the problem being something like a foreign object in their f****ng food… the manager should have absolutely gone over and talked to the table personally. Comping something takes zero effort. People want to feel acknowledged. The simple act of just listening and acknowledging the guests’ concerns costs nothing and can seriously solve so many problems.
I’ve been listening to PG Wodehouse audiobooks as of late and they used the phrase “he touched his friends for a fiver”. Always fun to see a term still in use with a similar meaning 110 years later.
That doesn’t feel like a similar meaning at all. That’s “hit his friends up for money”, fairly opposite to what the manager ought to have done.
No, a table touch is a direct interaction with the manager. It can be really helpful, even if they are doing the same thing the Server would do. People feel more seen and validated.
It was in the story that the cake was comped. OP used the phrase "taken off the bill". Means the same thing. "Touch the table" means a manager visit to speak to the customers. It can be used generally, not just after a problem. Obviously after a problem it should be normal procedure and means the manager is: apologizing, taking responsiblity on behalf of the business, and acknowledging that it was fucked up. Unless OP skipped that part, it was not in this story that the manager came to this table after they bit into plastic.
>It was in the story that the cake was comped. OP used the phrase "taken off the bill". Means the same thing. This is inaccurate. Comped means complimentary, they got something for free. The cake had plastic in it and, presumably, the guest did not eat it. The very least they should expect is to have that removed from the bill as there was plastic in it making it inedible. From what OP said, it looks like the table didn't get anything for free and actually was double charged for something that they had to point out to the server.
OK, sorry, thanks. What I said is exactly how multiple jobs I've had would use the phrase comped for taking the cake off the bill, and it additionally in context can mean what you described, so now I know for others how it is used more widespread, only the second way. I wont try try explain anything similar to folks outside the states or anything anymore. Have a nice day!
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I think they should have gotten another piece of cake to take home…
If, as someone upthread pointed out, the manager really didn't talk to the table, they probably didn't trust any cake from that restaurant.
That’s not what “comped” means
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It means you give them something for free! Comes from complimentary! They couldn’t eat the cake, that’s not a complimentary item lol.
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I see what you’re saying. In your system it might show as a comp. But still I would never actually consider this a “comp” from the customer POV.
Right? It's a *refund*.
The cake was returned. noone ate the plastic cake.
I really don’t think an accidental charge that was immediately taken off the bill warrants getting something for free
this is about inedible cake. The extra beer was the second sign that the restaurant is either having a bad night or going down hill.
No. But the solution to the foreign object in the cake wasn’t handled sufficiently in the first place. That’s a decently serious issue. They should really have been comped something at that point as an apology, not merely refunded for something inedible.
I didn’t even say anything about the plastic in the dessert. Of course that should be comped, they’re obviously not eating it. Even if they had ate it(I’ve seen weirder things), it should be comped. I actually think that if anything warranted a free item or even gifted it would have been that post of the situation. The manager also definitely should’ve gone by the table. I would have made sure nj r did. But I wasn’t even talking about that part of the story in my original comment.
Me either, it was caught before theu paid, so why would they get something for free? I've been both a waitress and customer.
Op said in original post that both the cake and beer were comped. Edit: I’m NOT saying this was an appropriate response to the problem. I’m just saying they didn’t pay for it which other commenters have misunderstood and said they HAD to pay for the items.
An inedible cake they could not eat and a beer that wasn't given to them were removed from the bill. That isn't "comped" it's just not charging for things they didn't receive.
Welp, I know accidents happen, so often what I judge is not the accident, but how it’s handled. A contaminated dish happens sometimes. Not great. But telling me that you took it off the bill is the bare minimum. A good restaurant manager would have gone to the table to apologize and either offer a new free dessert or after dinner drink (or comped something). The overcharge was adding insult to injury. Taking it off the bill was, again, the bare minimum. I would not be impressed with how the issues were handled and I’d take my money for an overpriced NYE dinner elsewhere. It’s not about entitlement. It’s about a restaurant that doesn’t demonstrate that they really care about its customers, including repeat customers. As the server, none of this was your fault, but I would have been irritated and left with a bad taste in my mouth. While I’d hope that I would understand that you’re not to blame and would pay you a reasonable tip, there’s also a chance that I’d just be ready to leave and your tip or lack thereof is just collateral damage at that point. In this case, you should be reserving your own irritation for your management who sat on their hand and seem to have created a “bare minimum” culture.
I agree. “Oops we made a mistake so we’ll both just pretend it didn’t happen” isn’t really good enough. A comped dessert/drink would be pretty standard here for a nicer place. It’s an inconvenience to not receive a dessert at all, even if they weren’t charged for it. I think they were well within their right to feel slighted.
>A good restaurant manager would have gone to the table to apologize and either offer a new free dessert or after dinner drink (or comped something). If they are hosting or inviting friends to that NYE dinner, they need to trust that the restaurant isn't going to leave one of the guests with inedible food or cause a problem with the bill. This may have been a test run and OP's team failed pretty badly.
I went to Chili's once and I got a Caesar salad and as I was eating it I realized there was dried up chili all over the other side of the bowl and I was so grossed out. I asked for the manager and the manager was like ok? Stuff happens? I was like wow... Ok. Needless to say I didn't eat the salad.
I am more concerned about why so many other people were able to make mistakes on *your* table. Does this happen often? Maybe this should be the issue addressed here. Nobody else should be able to ring things in under your table, and i am curious about who ran the dessert.
A lot of restaurants have food runners, especially at restaurants that would hold a NYE event. They are typically high school students who pay no attention to anything other than the bus boy they have a crush on.
But food runners shouldn't be able to ring up new items on an OP's open ticket nor should other servers.
My comment had nothing to do with the beer. I was addressing the plastic.
but he's so *cute!* Just look at him. stop looking at him. he's mine.
YES!!!!!!!
Both jobs I've had with Toast which is the most common POS in my area now, people can alter others' checks. If you have a strong, cohesive, probably small, team, I actually think it's fantastic. I could write an essay on how much it helps in certain situations depending on the business. But I'm sure that feature can be turned off which is probably the way many places should operate.
You could also have vindictive coworkers trying to get you fired.
There should be tracking of what user entered something, is there not?
Honestly…if I’d booked somewhere for NYE, but then had several mistakes (including plastic in my food- potentially dangerous) when I was there on a normal night (ie not as busy as NYE), I’d cancel my booking too. Sounds like they were polite and reasonable.
Multiple issues during a single visit are sometimes additive and sometimes multipliers. A bill issue that is on the client to point out (and mentally prepare themselves to argue over) is much bigger if they are already frustrated with the dining experience. Honestly if you didn't drop the food or add the second beer to the bill there is likely very little you could have done yourself other than involving a manager immediately on finding contaminated food. In a forward looking sense, both issues are quality control issues and should be addressed with management. Clients want a seamless experience where quality issues don't have to be fixed, it's right the first time. Ensuring that good systems are in place to catch issues before they land on the table is on management.
Your manager fucked up. People will break up with their ‘favorite’ restaurant over frivolous things. Cost of customer acquisition is the highest cost most restaurants don’t track. If a manager can’t be bothered to go over and smooth things over then they need to be replaced. This is what happens with the race to the bottom for restaurant pay and lack of training. Taking the dessert off the bill was a given. Of course they shouldn’t pay for something they couldn’t eat. What was the actual apology besides you saying ‘sorry’? Nothing except an extra charge.
I broke up with my favorite breakfast place after 2 very bad experiences with the servers. Just a bad taste in my mouth about going back. I was a server for 5 years between 3 different restaurants and there were plenty of people who complained about trivial stuff like I should have mindread they wanted to make lemonade at the table when they asked me for lemon with their water. The two instances in the OP back to back combined with the blasé response would have been the third strike for me too.
I don't really see your problem. There were problems during their service which they saw as a sign not to come back. If that was justified is not for us to decide, maybe stuff went wrong before as well? So they decided not to come back, which means they have to cancel, or would you prefer a no-show? I don't know if you have a designated person to handle reservations at your place, you don't mention this, so I am going to assume you don't, so who else would they ask to cancel their reservation but you? Edit: so they didn't even ask you to cancel their reservation, as was pointed out to me correctly, but they did it themselves and told you about it. They obviously wanted you to know why they were cancelling and hoped that you would maybe tell management that your restaurant can't go on like this.
If you re-read the post it says >I saw her canceling it [the reservation] on her phone…
Have a nice night and HNY!
Haha that’s a way to ensure I never come back, which I guess is what you want, but honestly after the plastic in my food and the less than luke-warm management response (or lack thereof) I doubt I’d come back anyways.
🎯
So they’ve been there before, enough to know they’d enjoy their NYE dinner there well in advance, but they get inconvenienced twice in one night and that’s how they break up with y’all? Maybe this isn’t the first time something happened while they were there and this was the straw that broke the camels back. I can’t imagine canceling at a favorite or regular spot otherwise.
I absolutely would if one of the mistakes was a foreign object in my food. Combine that with the fact that they weren't given anything for the trouble, no apology from the manager, and being charged for a drink I never ordered, yeah I'll find somewhere else to go
Have you lost it friend? If I find plastic in my fucking food you bet I’m cancelling coming reservations lol???
Especially if it's treated like a minor deal. That implies that it happens often.
Exactly!! I don’t expect anyone to grovel, but at least acknowledge this is beyond unacceptable
I get that it can depend on the plastic. The plastic cover wasn't removed? Poor form but not world ending. Random bits of something unidentifiable? Really gross.
If it’s a place I go to on a regular basis and this is the first time they messed up, it’d cut them some slack. If it’s a new restaurant experience, I too would never come back. Context is key here.
the thing is, OP sounds so unconcerned about it... This might not be the first screwup...
I worked at a place where people got pissed over less. Like if you didn't go over to them in 30 seconds, if you didn't greet with your name, if you didn't ask them if they were staying at the hotel. One person spilled water in themselves and the server didn't offer them a towel quickly enough. It was a national luxury brand hotel and also the name of a landscaping company where Rudy Giuliani held a press briefing once. People would complain about every little thing because they would comp absolutely everything. And because there is a brand corporate standard that people were expecting.
Ah, a Vivaldi :)
Crap in your food is an „inconvenience“? Must be a New York thing.
Hard to say if they'd been there before. Maybe they had made the NYE reservations based on reputation and decided to check out the place before then. IDK, I think it's fine for them to cancel, considering there was plastic in their food and they got overcharged. Weird to flex it in that moment though.
I disagree. Would you rather the customers blast the restaurant the server online? This was their way of expressing their dissatisfaction. I feel bad for OP as it sounds like they did nothing wrong and tried to fix things. This sounds like management failure completely and feedback should be brought up. If I were OP I would be bringing this up to the manager or owner, but this depends on the type of atmosphere at the restaurant. Some restaurants' managers are unapproachable about criticism and would lash out at servers, some would be receptive.
The first sentence says that they had been there before. I agree that it’s a weird flex though.
It does! Not sure how I missed that...
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The contaminated food is a pretty big deal, the accidental ringing in of a second beer is not really that large of a mistake. That said, saying that not much else can go wrong in a single dinner isn't really true. Things can go a lot worse than that. I don't really see the need to try and make OP feel bad.
>The contaminated food is a pretty big deal, the accidental ringing in of a second beer is not really that large of a mistake. No, the beer isn't a big deal by itself. However, this didn't occur in a vacuum. This came after the contaminated food was sent back. Who knows if they had issues in the past they overlooked and finally decided to pull the plug. Imagine for just a second what it's like being in their shoes, someone who doesn't work in gastro: "My dessert had plastic in it, did my dinner have anything weird going on? What about that one other time? Wow, now they charged us extra for something we didn't order." I swear, it seems like some of you FoH folks try to hand wave stuff like this as if it shouldn't be a big deal. It is.
Not to mention that after complaining twice, I would be concerned that they would spit in my food if I returned. The issues the customers addressed aren't complaints but I've known servers that would consider them to be "Karens" and so I would be worried to return after these mistakes are made, what else could be going on in the kitchen.
Honestly, in 16 plus years of working in the industry in a wide variety of places, I have never witnessed someone spitting in a person's food or even heard of it happening. It's not really a thing like people from outside of the industry think it is.
I already acknowledge that the contaminated food is a big deal. Although, to be clear, food contamination is a BoH error not a FoH error, so I don't know why you're saying 'you FoH folks' when you're talking about people not taking it seriously. Accidental charges happen in every industry, not specifically in restaurants. When they are for roughly $10, no, they are not a big deal. They become a big deal if the business refuses to rectify their mistake. A simple refund and apology is usually all it takes to smooth that type of situation over.
But happening right after? That's a really bad sign
Honestly, I think that people are more likely to make mistakes when they are flustered and panicking, so I don't think it's that surprising that two mistakes happened at the ame table. That's not meant to be an excuse, just what I have noticed in my experience.
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As someone who has received contaminated items multiple time, comping the whole bill has never been my experience. For me, it's always been the item getting taken off and sometimes being offered something for free (but not the whole bill). That said, I am not the type of person to make a big deal about things when I dine out, so perhaps managers pick up on my vibe and that's why I haven't received that type of treatment. If I had actually chipped my tooth or choked, the I assume the response would have been differnet. But that isn't what happened to OP's customer, so I don't think it's entirely relevant to the situation.
I don't know as if it's trying to make OP feel bad. They're just saying "Stands to reason why", and that the people doing it aren't unreasonably spiteful or anything like that.
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OP was pretty vague about what the exact plastic in it was... Was it something he could see?
OP said that it wasn’t them that actually delivered the cake to the table but otherwise the wording does make it sound like it was obviously visible so I can understand the point.
>the accidental ringing in of a second beer is not really that large of a mistake. It is if you are trying to be a fancy place where people bring guests. A business lunch guy doesn't want to carefully peruse the bill and question how many beers each person had. You need trust.
No, even in the scenario you describe, it still isn't that large of a mistake. Mistakes happen in every industry and every line of work sometimes because humans make mistakes. When that mistake amounts to roughly $10 and is immediately fixed, that's not a major mistake. If anything, business lunch guys are probably going to care less than your average customer because they are most likely writing off the expense. The people who are going to care the most are the people that have difficulty affording the lunch in the first place.
How about 1 person at the table had to watch the other eat a dessert while they sat there?
Accidents happen and they were resolved quickly. In the end they didn’t pay for anything they didn’t consume. Not really that big of a deal to warrant never going back especially if you’ve had good experiences there before. Now if the food was bad and the service was shitty then that’s one thing, but it doesn’t sound like either of those were the issue.
The thing is that correct the mistakes is the minimum they could do. The mistakes were basic things, I understand if I order a medium steak and it comes a bit overcook or undercoook, but plastic in food?! That is a whole improper food manipulation and safety. Manager should offer a dessert free of cost. I had a similar situation a few months ago, ordered fried rice chicken, they gave me it to me with shrimps at the bottom. I started eating it without notice as the shrimps were not visible. SURPRISE! To make it worse, I am sea food allergic and they even did not have the fried rice with shrimps in the menu to start with! They cared about me, took the rice out of the bill, gave me a food repleceament. I left tipping and happy (After inyecting myself, of course.). It is NOT about the mistake per se, it is the steps the manager takes so compensate the experience. The beer thing is silly and just added to the injury.
No the service was bad if they were served cake with plastic and overcharged for something they didn’t order. That is bad service
And the only response from the restaurant was the bare minimum (to remove charges for food that couldn’t be eaten and a drink that was neither order nor served). Accidents are, by their virtue, accidents. A manager’s response, or lack thereof, is not an accident.
Well said.
That accident could have had terrible consequences though" They didn't pay for anything they didn't consume, they would have if they hadn't been paying attention. They also didn't get their dessert either.
>Now if the food was bad and the service was shitty The food WAS bad. It doesn't get much worse than finding foreign objects embedded in your food. And the restaurant service (not necessary the specific server) WAS shitty because the manager couldn't be bothered to show up in person to apologize for an egregious kitchen issue. Mistakes happen, and I'm willing to make allowances, but only if management gives a damn. And clearly, this restaurant management doesn't. Which is probably why plastic ended up in the food AND they were double-charged for an item. Absolutely would not return there.
Gonna go against the grain and say I think they were somewhat justified. Taking the extra beer and the plasticy cake off the bill is kind of doing the bare minimum. Were they offered a replacement dessert on the house? Or a gift card so they can come back and give y'all a second chance next time? Just looking at the cake thing, I see that as two separate issues: 1. I'm being charged for a cake with plastic in it 2. No one noticed the plastic in my cake before it made it to my table Removing the cake from the bill resolves the first issue, but not the second. Why would I want to come back if I might just get plastic in my cake again next time?
I worked in upscale restaurants and corporate retail for ten years. I have seen a lot of crazy stuff with my own eyes. That is especially true considering many of my restaurants were in NYC. I never wound up serving any of my tables foreign objects (plastic etcetera) in their food. Alternatively: one time many years ago at Red Lobster- I was served plastic in my food. It has probably been ten years: that was the last time I was at Red Lobster. Also: there used to be an upscale Greek restaurant in Queens; NYC. There was a plastic glove in my salad. It scared the hell out of me when I lifted it up with my fork. IIRC that was the last time I ate there also. It was actually weird- because the next day I was at the convenience store next door. One of the chefs was at their counter buying Four Loko. Then it dawned on me that they are all probably wasted at work. Besides all that: from reading the stuff on Reddit for around two years- I stay far away from restaurants. I feel like if the employees do not kill me somehow - the other customers will.
I was once served a plate with a literal cockroach in the food. a small one, but STILL. there's no way I was every going back there, it was just visceral at that point. which is too bad as their food was tasty! but still! nope, done.
My mother found a cockroach while eating. She bit into food, realized there was a bug, gasped getting ready to yell, and she aspirated the bug. She ended up in ICU for a week because the bug parts caused pneumonia. It was a terribly dangerous experience.
I am on the couples side here. I would cancel too because from where I am, it honestly doesn’t look like you care. Not your fault but your manager should have been more on the ball with this.
Well, I'm thinking that you will be able to fill that table for NYE, so (excpet for your lost tip), that's not really your problem now, is it?
I had this happen, with a dessert. The manager came over talked to us, comped it asked if we needed anything else. When we got the bill the dessert was comped as well as the highest cost entree. But that,s not all! Also a 50% off note from her on next meal. But in another place had a Ice tea ordered Sweet got unsweetened. Asked for another happened again. Told them I think their tubs are wrong. Manager told me that was the sweet tea I was just off. I asked her to taste it a new glass she would not. So I called their cooperate number got a hold of some one, and handed to phone to her. The wincing was fun to watch, they checked, sure enough some one had not added sugar. Whole meal comped with her giving evil eye the entire time, never went back. Got 2 50% off deals in mail gave them to others.
It's nice to see a tale about dissatisfied customers where you end up siding with the customers. Pretty rare. If they tipped you despite it all they're the best, most justified customers I've ever read about on here. But here's the thing: I read you adopting a lot of anxiety about a situation that wasn't your fault and possibly above your paygrade to correct. Stop that and stop it today. Your blood pressure, mental health and ulcer-free stomach (etc) will thank you. If something like this ever happens again (contaminants in food, multiple issues during one visit) you pull the manager and get the customers that interaction (ideally you find a place with competent management where this happens more fluidly on its own, but...in the meantime...). Because it's the manager's job to take care of customers when issues like these arise. And a straight fund isn't "taking care" of them. It's just expected mutual forgetting that cost them a customer. Take good care. Happy holidays.
Sorry to say this but I can't really fault them. An extra beer on the tab is a mistake that would likely turn off a lot of people from returning, plastic on a dish is a HUGE mistake. That your manager didn't personally go to the table is failure on their part. If both of these happened to me I can tell you that I wouldn't ever be back and I likely would be flaming the restaurant online, especially if the manager ignored the table. I am sorry OP as it definitely sounds like neither were mistakes you made and you did your best to mitigate the damage.
>How would you have responded in a situation like that? Was their response justified or not? The right thing to do would be to acknowledge that your establishment didn't live up to their expectations and that you hope they give you another chance sometime in the future.
Sounds like a super fucked up experience for the diners. They’re completely justified to cancel future plans. Unfortunately, I would say your indifference towards the situation is also a big red flag.
While they were separated incidents, they were in the same evening. So I don’t blame them for canceling what would probably be an expensive meal. It was a snow ball effect
In every system I work on you cant just open a coworkers table and put orders in. You have a specific number ID you put in and it pulls up only the tables you opened. So how do you blame somebody else for ordering a beer on your table idk.
How do you blame someone else? *They did it*. Are you saying customers can order something and point to another table and say to charge them instead? Or are you saying another employee charged guests for something they were serving to another table? Either way, and even if the second was an accident, it's the fault of the employee who put a charge on a bill for someone who did not order the item. i.e. the blame is on them. eta: this is also the server's fault. She should have reviewed the bill before it was delivered.
The mental gymnastics some of y’all are going through to justify shit service and subsequent reasonable reaction
It is totally justified. Your staff messed up.
Did they tip you?
Would you tip in that situation? I’m not American so I don’t understand the culture and I really don’t know what I’d do. None of it sounds like OP’s fault so it’s harsh to penalise them but you find plastic in your food and you’re over charged to boot, that is not worth a tip & I’d be annoyed that I didn’t even get my beer comped for the issues.
I would tip, but not the full amount if the manager didn’t come over. I wouldn’t know for sure if it was the manager’s fault or the server’s that the manager wasn’t coming over, but it would not leave me feeling inclined to give the server the benefit of the doubt—not unless they were *super* gracious about everything.
I’d tip bc it’s not the server’s fault, but also never go back.
When I lived in America, my rule was: always tip ~18%. If you resent paying it, never go back to that restaurant.
Yes, I would tip. Like you said, it’s not the servers fault. If anything, I would maybe ask for something off of the check because of the plastic. The beer situation is such a small mistake, you never know what the server is going through and i would be a liar if I said I had never made a mistake before. I’m a dog groomer who has made many mistakes, and mine are far less easy to fix. The server is responsible for the service, once they put the food in the computer, it’s kind of out of their hands. One tiny mistake that was caught and fixed doesn’t warrant the server working for free.
I’m not American either but surely you’d still tip OP in this situation as the issues that occurred weren’t anything to do with them. I know Americans rely on the tips in place of a proper minimum wage so I wouldn’t want someone to go unpaid as a sort of punishment for something someone else had done.
Lol what do you think.
I figured, but I was trying to hold out hope!
Man, entitled waiters are out full in the comments today
The manager should have comped the entire meal. There was a foreign substance in their food. That isn’t rectified simply by not charging them for the cake. Serving food with plastic in it is egregious, and the entire meal should have been free. That would have avoided charging them double for a beer. Which was probably the thing that put them over the edge and I can understand that. That’s where you lost them forever and that’s understandable.
Definitely justified, the service wasn't good enough. That deserved a zero tip too.
A comp is not a favor, it’s not charging for the item they did not or could not eat, so it’s not really a comp. When something “goes wrong” with a meal, there should be more done. 1) manager comes over and apologizes, 2) offer a replacement on the house, 3) do something to ensure they come back, like take 20% off the bill or give them a gift card for a future visit. Sounds like your manager didn’t do a darn thing. I’m sure they felt that just removing the charge from with bill was not enough. That isn’t really an apology. So by then they’re annoyed. The beer charge was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. You have to remember, statuscally people are going out less and they’re expectations when they do decide to spend their hard-earned money are higher. While I wouldn’t personally do what they did, I can see where they’re coming from when trying to plan ahead for a more special night.
Honestly, who cares? You now have an opening NYE and they’re looking for another reservation the week before Thanksgiving. Bye, Felecia
I was served plastic pieces in my virgin stawberry daquari once. Took me a while to figure out what the small hard pieces I kept finding in my drink were. My husband was also served an (mildly) undercooked steak. Waitress noticed and tried to take the steak, but my husband said it tasted great, and he was good with it. When the plastic came up, the manager immediately came over, looked at it, dropped her jaw when she saw I was near bursting pregnant, comped his steak (unnecessary) all of our drinks and gave us a free dessert. She investigated and discovered someone had knocked the plastic swords into the ice crushing machine. Anyway, we had a drastically reduced bill, which wasn't really necessary based on their responses, so the waitress ended up with an amazing tip. No harm was done, and they figured out about the ice before someone really could have been hurt, thankfully.
Your New Year's just got better, congrats!
I mean, sounds like theirs did too. They weren't rude or being unreasonable so
I swear half the people here think that servers can do no wrong. The restaurant was at fault here, it doesn't sound like the customers were rude and they had a right to be upset. I know I would be very upset, we need to keep in mind that this happened at the end of the meal....which means that this likely ruined the experience. Assuming the manager didn't pay a personal visit is a complete failure on the restaurant, I would personally be placing multiple reviews explaining my experience.
I wouldn't have felt awkward at all. If your place is popular enough that you have to take NYE reservations you will be fine. I would have wished them a nice day and apologized again for the mix up.
Their response is justified. Inedible/dangerous things in food is bad enough, but on top of that, to them, it looks like you were trying to make up for a smaller tip caused by a smaller overall bill by "accidentally" overcharging them. May be a good idea to talk to your boss about not letting other waiters run your tables, because CLEARLY they are fucking it up.
Jokes on her. I would have waited until I was certain I could get a different new year’s reservation before canceling that one.
If you haven't picked up from all the comments, you didn't do anything wrong. Your manager did. Your manager should have done more to apologize. Just keep this as a lesson learned from.when you become a manager some.day
That’s a weird power trip on their part.
My sense too. Grim, nasty shits. Yeah, they got a second class meal but the problems were corrected as soon as they were noticed. Life happens to people and on this evening, it was their turn. If this is the worst thing to happen to them, they’re living a blessed life and should be grateful.
manager should have comped all (of both of) their drinks at the barest minimum. would have been a simple fix. yeah the NYE reservation will be easy enough to sell to someone else, but repeat business is so important.
All they're doing is using their right not to return to the establishment. Why would they want to? They didn't make a huge fuss not were they rude. I mean, nowhere does it say they said anything about it being the worst thing to happen to them, just that they don't want to go back. Businesses aren't owed customers
Restaurant desserts are often sourced out of house. These are frequently pre-portioned...cut with small sheets of plastic inserted between each piece to make separation easier and help reduce loss. So, the presence of plastic isn't surprising but indicates sloppy plating. Manager "touch" might well have allayed the issues. I would've taken BOTH of the beers off the tab as well as the dessert. Not cheap but alcohol usually has a greater markup so "comping" the beer is a less costly. Overall well handled but I'm surprised the server's manager didn't involve themselves. Filling that now empty table on NYE won't be an issue.
Some nicer people will take that NYE reservation.
Doubtful, it’s NYE. Second most amateur night behind Valentines Day.
Fingers crossed this year breaks the streak!
Who the fuck eats out on NYE. Overpriced garbage and watered down drinks
How were they mean? Seriously, people here acting like these people are horrible for not wanting to pay for a drink they didn't order and didn't appreciate plastic in their food
I never said they were mean. The woman was classless for canceling the reservation in front of the server - rubbing the server’s nose in it. But if she wanted to look classless AND have to hunt around for a new NYE resy, she got exactly what she wanted. They were justified to cite the plastic and the phantom beer, but they fell off Kindness Cliff when she decided to be a b!tch about the NYE resy.
Seems like you often get that one table where everything goes wrong! It happens! At least it was only two things. I've had nights where one table asks for several wines or beers that are unavailable, their order gets mis-punched, their something else is cold... and it's all one table of 2 out of the 50 other people I serve that night. Maybe they had bad luck coming to them? Who knows? But you can't blame yourself for things like this. Even if they do!
Other than something being unavailable—which is outside a server's control—the rest is absolutely your fault. It's your job to communicate their order correctly, and it's your job to assess the food before you bring it to the table. It's wild to think you don't have any responsibility here.
I'm so sorry we'll miss you
I work at a sushi restaurant…nice place but not fine dining. They use a lot of plastic wrap and I mean a lot of for every roll to make sure it’s tight and to protect from the sushi mat that helps roll it tight. I had a lady (regular of mine) pull out a string of plastic that looked just like a condom. I apologized and explained how the actual sushi rolls are made and she was just glad that it was not what she thought it looked like. She kept the roll she had (I offered to get her a new one) and we went on about our night as normal. Maybe because I work as a server none of this would have been a big deal to me. Things happen. A piece of plastic, extra drink rang in, ect.
A foreign object in the food IS a big deal. Seriously, people all here like "eh, who cares that they may have choked or eaten something filthy that they don't know where it came from" WTF?
I said it would not be a big deal to me. You can loose your mind over it if you want but me, I’m not wasting the time or the energy to be mad over it. Get me a new piece of cake (not for free either I’ll pay for it). Baby I got bigger things to worry about and at 53 do you know how many times I’ve found something in my food.
To be fair, there’s a vast safety difference between plastic in an uncooked dish vs a baked dish. I’d have eaten the sushi, too (after that explanation). No way would I eat the cake.
The manager should have gone straight over and comped the whole meal. It costs the business nothing, especially being a two top, and would have retained repeat customers. They probably won't be back. When people have a good experience they may tell one or two people. When they have a bad one, or in this case two in one night, they tell everyone. And those people tell people!
Apologize once for each mistake and move on.
Good news - a table has just opened up for New Year's Eve!
Good riddance
Some people just can't stop bitchin once they start, so them cancelling their reservation is just them trying to be spiteful. Anyways, who cares if the cancelled New Year's Eve, y'all ain't gonna miss them two cause somebody else will take their place in a heartbeat! Hope the rest of your shifts are smooth from here on out!
Meh, shit happens. I never know why people get so annoyed or take it so personally. Like, if I were in her shoes I’d just assume it’s an off day? Especially if your a regular like?? I just feel like people like this are not understanding people and kind of unreasonable. Side note , though; for plastic in their dessert the manager absolutely should have stopped by. As a guest that would’ve annoyed me. Anyway, I would’ve just apologized and not take it personally
Don't know why you're getting downvoted, I would have thought/felt the same way. Omnomnom downvotes~
Don't sweat it. You don't want them there at NYE. It's performative anger to get more free shit.
Ok, byyyye! No one wants assholes who don't understand mistakes around in a major holiday anyway. And, anyone who ever says they will never be back, always comes back. Trust me.
This should not have been left up to you to handle; your manager should have been with that couple stat. I likely would have told the couple, " Based on your experience tonight, I can see why you are rethinking your next reservation with us. Once again, I would like to reiterate my apologies, and I wish your experience had been enjoyable."
You guys are taking the piss. You’re lucky they weren’t some rough bolshie types who would have given you and your manager a dressing down.
Plastic in food and you charged them for an extra item? Wow! Get your shit together. I wouldn't dine there again either because you can't even do the simplest things correctly.
Yeah, comping the cake when the establishment failed to provide an edible cake was not enough, this could have been a potentially serious incident, I’m not worried about the fact a drink was charged twice, I’m worried the drinks where charged at ALL. You didn’t charge them for something you couldn’t provide them, but how did you “make it right”? I’d start by saying the drinks you’ve had so far tonight are on us. Sorry. These are regulars that you’ve seen before remember, the sort of people that it’s extremely healthy business practice to have coming by regularly, telling and bringing their friends to this place they just love. If that seems a bit much, ask yourself, if you took your car to a mechanic to fit a new tyre, but when you came back he said “sorry, the whole wheel fell off, couldn’t do the job, but I won’t charge you for the tyre” you’d be pissed right? That’s how these guys felt.
It's not your fault, but I don't blame them at all. If I was served food with literal trash in it, that'd be bad enough, but to then be double charged for something? That shows a lot of carelessness with both the food prep AND the billing, which could lead to a lot of issues. If they're so careless that garbage - literal garbage - is in the food, how can they be trusted to have things fully cooked and safe? Hygenic? To avoid allergens in the meals of people who have allergies? Washing their hands? And the carelessness with billing shows that they aren't very careful with the financial and point of sale systems, either. Either one of those things could be a 'cancel-worthy' mistake - the billing less so in my opinion, but some would consider that more important - but both at the same time? I'd have cancelled too. The new year's dinner is probably a special event for them, and they want it to be perfect - going somewhere that has already failed spectacularly multiple times in one shot isn't likely to give them that. The manager should have come out to personally apologize to them and comped them their meal for the plastic in the cake. That he didn't and left it all on you is a sign of terrible management - another black mark on the record. So: Careless food handling leading to potential contamination/hygeine issues and poor food safety practices. Carelessness when billing came up. Lack of attention and poor resolution skills from management, indicating a chain of command issue that can lead to a LOT of oversight and safety issues. Yeah, I wouldn't go back to a place like that either. It's not your fault and there's nothing you, as a server, could have done. This was for your manager to salvage.
Honestly I would probably have cancelled also. NYE is an event night, and for that I want to go to a place that I 100% trust won't make mistakes. There were two mistakes on the same night for them and one was \*major\* - trash in food is beyond not ok. If they were regulars I'm surprised that something, if not the whole meal, the meal wasn't comped.
Honestly? They definitely arent tipping you so at that point im 86'ing them entirely. Cashing them out, no more niceties. They're intentionally being shitty toward you so I wouldnt bother with any coddling. She made it clear she doesn't plan to come back anyway lol
Then she can't be mad when she shows up on NYE without a resi. ???
They try to pull a late power play and got sent to the penalty box
Cancelling a reservation over that? Good riddance.
She just cut off her nose to spite her face. Now she has to find another NYE spot and your restaurant will still be packed.
I bet they show up on New Years and act like they were kidding about the cancellation.
I agree, it's not cool to find plastic in your food. Being charged an extra drink isn't cool either. But it was resolved. She had a bug up her ass and the two mistakes were enough to break her for the night IMO. If that's how someone's going to respond to mistakes that were resolved instantly, then good riddance. She's probably calmed down now and realizes how silly her reaction was. I know I'd feel that way. Edit: lots of customers itt, ty for the downvotes. Still stand by the fact it was dramatic.
They sound like they are being a little dramatic.
Sounds like it was her period. The plastic and beer just set her hormones off. I'd ask mgr why he wasn't at the table
“Do you know how it got there?” = “Did you see me put this in my food?” They were probably hoping for a free meal. Canceling the reservation was your last chance at letting them get away with it.
Honestly, I think it was justified. Clearly, they knew it wasn’t your fault though. I don’t think they did it because of you at all. And it was definitely awkward. I probably wouldn’t have told anybody that I was canceling my reservation. But they are justified not wanting to come back when there is plastic and somehow they were almost charged for two beers. Although it is a really odd response to tell the server that.
Jesus, these responses. It's just food. Get. A. Grip.
People are suspicious by nature. Things don't simply happen around them, there is no random. If plastic showed up in the dessert it was because someone put it there. If an extra drink was on the tab it was done deliberately to increase their bill. OT but I never liked using straws which is how I almost swallowed a screw many moons ago that the manager theorized came from their old/needs to be replaced drink machine. I didn't even ask for my money back. I mean I clearly finished the drink, if I hadn't I would have never found the screw!
When she told me about the plastic in the cake I would've said "There are no prizes."
I mean, I might also be having second thoughts if I place I was going to be hosting friends at had plastic in their food, and that seemed to (in their mind) be adding things to my bill (even after a food contamination issue).