The Apalling Customer Service Thread

[cstephens]

We went to Olive Garden for lunch about a month ago. We go to this particular location on occasion, and pretty much every time we've gone, it's been crowded. I went up to the podium, and one of the hostesses took my name and gave me a buzzy thing, and she said it would be about 25 minutes. I noticed there were tables open in the bar area, and I knew from experience that sometimes, they will serve the full menu at the bar, so I asked if they were serving at the bar. She said they were only serving appetizers and then said, "Just wait for your table." She was so incredibly condescending that I almost threw the buzzer back at her. But I managed to control myself.

We waited, and I stewed. I didn't know her name, but I made sure to note her appearance so I could identify her. We sat down to lunch, and I continued to stew. Sometimes, a manager will come around to check on diners, and I decided that if a manager came around, I'd say something. No manager came around. As we were getting ready to leave, I was still deciding on whether I should find a manager or send a complaint in through corporate, because the comment was still seriously bothering me.

As we were about half-way to the exit, I saw a manager, and I couldn't leave - I just had to say something. I asked to speak to him and told him what happened. As soon as I repeated the last thing the hostess said to me, this look just came over his face. OK, so I'm justified in how I felt. I told him which hostess it was, and he looked over at her - she had her back to us. My husband told me later that he saw "the look" on his face as he looked at the hostess. The manager apologized for the hostess and then asked me to wait a minute, and he disappeared for a bit. He came back and said he was giving me a $25 gift card for a return visit. I told him that it wasn't really necessary, that I wasn't expecting anything and that wasn't why I told him. He said that he insisted and apologized again, so I accepted the card and thanked him.

I'm thinking the hostess got a talking to later in the day.


We went to Olive Garden for dinner last night at a location I like and used our $25 "we're so sorry" gift card.