There’s a fun little restaurant I’ve visited on multiple occasions near my office in Union Square, and the experience has always been good. That is, until yesterday.
I was meeting a friend for lunch and arrived about 10 minutes early to get a table and make sure we could sit down promptly at 2. Upon arriving the hostess (also the manager) acknowledged me and asked how many was in my party. I responded by simply saying, “Two please.”
There were multiple tables available so after standing at the cold entrance for 10 minutes (friend hadn’t arrived yet) I walked to the other end of the bar where the manager was and politely said, “Excuse me, do you have a table for two yet?” He responded with, “You can’t sit until your entire party is here.” I quickly responded (remotely annoyed) and said, “Are you kidding me?” He didn’t even acknowledge me… even after repeating the statement. And I won’t mention his mumblings as he walked by me.
At this point I was irritated and sat down at the bar and did a few things:
- Checked in on Foursquare and mentioned how rude the manager was
- Wondered what Steve Curtin would have said about the customer service
- Thought about writing this blog post
One employee saw how rude the manager was and tried to come over and make small talk, but the damage was done.
Businesses simply can’t deliver this type of customer service in the digital age. Back in the day if someone had a bad experience they may not have had an outlet to share said experience, but right then and there I could have left a Foursquare tip, provided a review on Yelp, told folks on Twitter, etc.
Not only is this a poor form of customer service, the business is costing themselves potential sales. Had I sat down in advance of my friend arriving, there’s a high likelihood that I would have ordered a soda and possibly an appetizer. Did either of those two things happen when my friend arrived? Nope.
Bad customer service doesn’t just create a negative experience for the consumer; it also puts the business in line for nearly immediate negative feedback in the digital world.
