So I'm on an out of town business trip to the States with 2 of my coworkers. When we go on these trips we get our meals, etc paid for so we have to keep our receipts.
We spend the day working in a building doing our thing (an inspection) and when it gets to lunch time we ask one of the people who works there where a good place to go for lunch in this town might be. He says "A bunch of us go for lunch on Fridays so why don't you follow us." We agree.
So we get to the restaurant and even though we don't even know the group of people we followed they invite us to sit at the table next to them. We agree and pull two tables together to make room. Some short introductions are made at this time.
Next the waiter who comes out with menus immediately informs us that the restaurant has a new policy where groups of 6 or more HAVE to go on ONE bill. He doesn't say it politely at all. He tells us this somewhat aggressively as if he's expecting an argument. Since our group is on expense accounts we can't do this. We each need individual receipts. So we tell this group of five strangers who we literally JUST introduced ourselves to that maybe we should pull our tables apart a bit. They fully agree. I'm sure they don't want to be splitting up their bill with us either.
So we pull the tables apart about a foot or so and continue to talk to each other across the gap. These guys tell us all about how great the food is at this restaurant and that they come here all the time. Anyhow, the waitress comes out to take our orders and it's evident that she's putting it all on the same bill. One of the guys from the other table explains that we don't really know each other and didn't come to the restaurant together at all. We just met and we want separate bills. The waitress starts getting pissy about it and says "This is our policy and I'm not buying your story". A small argument ensues and she goes in to talk to her boss. One of the guys from the other table goes in with her because he apparently knows the owner of the restaurant.
Well the owner wasn't there so I guess the chef was in charge at that point and he flat out refuses to put us on separate bills. The argument escalates and it basically gets to the point that our two groups either have to sit on opposite sides of the restaurant if we want to eat there. She won't even let us move to the next table over because she thinks we'll just keep talking to each other anyway!
So the people in the other group threaten the waitress that they will simply leave if that's the case. She holds her ground and the other guys are extremely angry at this point get up and walk out! One of the guys says to her. "We eat here every fcuking Friday for the last 3 years and this is how you treat us. You really fcuked up here we are NEVER coming back!" She says something super b!tchy and lets them walk.
We end up staying and the waitress eventually returns to take our order. She does her job with a very somber expression and apologizes profusely. We try to explain we are from out of country but she is just so hell bent on telling us about the stupid policy and won't let us get a word in. Finally we get it across to her that we are NEVER coming back either because we don't even live here! The other group of guys were hardcore regulars and seemingly loved this restaurant before this conflict. Now they are lost for good too. She finally gets it thru her thick skull what has actually happened. You could almost see the light go off in her head. This girl had the look and personality of a very stubborn person and I found it really quite satisfying to see her realize her mistake.
Afterwards we tried to figure out what kind of benefit a policy like that would give the restaurant. The kitchen would still receive the same orders. If our tables sat separately there would've been 8 separate bills anyway. The only thing we could think of is that the waitresses were missing charges when large groups came in. So instead of better training or hiring smarter staff this restaurant went from missing a couple bills to actually driving customers away. :crackup:
I can't believe such a stupid policy just cost that restaurant a bunch of money.
We spend the day working in a building doing our thing (an inspection) and when it gets to lunch time we ask one of the people who works there where a good place to go for lunch in this town might be. He says "A bunch of us go for lunch on Fridays so why don't you follow us." We agree.
So we get to the restaurant and even though we don't even know the group of people we followed they invite us to sit at the table next to them. We agree and pull two tables together to make room. Some short introductions are made at this time.
Next the waiter who comes out with menus immediately informs us that the restaurant has a new policy where groups of 6 or more HAVE to go on ONE bill. He doesn't say it politely at all. He tells us this somewhat aggressively as if he's expecting an argument. Since our group is on expense accounts we can't do this. We each need individual receipts. So we tell this group of five strangers who we literally JUST introduced ourselves to that maybe we should pull our tables apart a bit. They fully agree. I'm sure they don't want to be splitting up their bill with us either.
So we pull the tables apart about a foot or so and continue to talk to each other across the gap. These guys tell us all about how great the food is at this restaurant and that they come here all the time. Anyhow, the waitress comes out to take our orders and it's evident that she's putting it all on the same bill. One of the guys from the other table explains that we don't really know each other and didn't come to the restaurant together at all. We just met and we want separate bills. The waitress starts getting pissy about it and says "This is our policy and I'm not buying your story". A small argument ensues and she goes in to talk to her boss. One of the guys from the other table goes in with her because he apparently knows the owner of the restaurant.
Well the owner wasn't there so I guess the chef was in charge at that point and he flat out refuses to put us on separate bills. The argument escalates and it basically gets to the point that our two groups either have to sit on opposite sides of the restaurant if we want to eat there. She won't even let us move to the next table over because she thinks we'll just keep talking to each other anyway!
So the people in the other group threaten the waitress that they will simply leave if that's the case. She holds her ground and the other guys are extremely angry at this point get up and walk out! One of the guys says to her. "We eat here every fcuking Friday for the last 3 years and this is how you treat us. You really fcuked up here we are NEVER coming back!" She says something super b!tchy and lets them walk.
We end up staying and the waitress eventually returns to take our order. She does her job with a very somber expression and apologizes profusely. We try to explain we are from out of country but she is just so hell bent on telling us about the stupid policy and won't let us get a word in. Finally we get it across to her that we are NEVER coming back either because we don't even live here! The other group of guys were hardcore regulars and seemingly loved this restaurant before this conflict. Now they are lost for good too. She finally gets it thru her thick skull what has actually happened. You could almost see the light go off in her head. This girl had the look and personality of a very stubborn person and I found it really quite satisfying to see her realize her mistake.
Afterwards we tried to figure out what kind of benefit a policy like that would give the restaurant. The kitchen would still receive the same orders. If our tables sat separately there would've been 8 separate bills anyway. The only thing we could think of is that the waitresses were missing charges when large groups came in. So instead of better training or hiring smarter staff this restaurant went from missing a couple bills to actually driving customers away. :crackup:
I can't believe such a stupid policy just cost that restaurant a bunch of money.
