WTH Happened to Good Ol' Customer Service?!

How's it hanging, Old Skoolers?!

I need you all to join me on a search to find GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE! Where did it disappear to? It seems as though GOOD OL' CUSTOMER SERVICE has been absent for about 6 years now!

Forgive me for venting, and being a Gwouch Gwouch McGweedy (this is what we lovingly call my toddler when he wakes up in a bad mood, or when he wakes up really hungry), but I have to get this off my chest. Long gone are the days of "please, and thank you, yes/no ma'am, the customer is always right, your way right away, service with a smile, oh, sorry let me take that off your bill since I so obviously messed it up"....y'all get where I'm going with this.

Due to my Christian upbringing, and the fact that I have worked in several service positions myself, I never set out to argue, or make enemies with the waitresses, call center employees, or other service people (cuz my mama taught me better than that). They just always seem to "want it" with me!


Lets start with today's offenders and work our way down. Alrighty, a lil background for you...I have been working for a certain homebuilder for almost a year now, and they send me to work at different model homes in the Houston area. Today, I am in an area that I am not familiar with, very close to Galveston, TX (yes y'all, I drove 45 minutes to get here). Anyway, I logged onto citysearch.com to look for local eateries. I found a place call 888 Chines Restaurant that had great prices, excellent reviews, and to top it all off, it was right down the street.

After reading about 888 Chinese Restaurant, I called to ask if they could fax a copy of their menu to my office. As soon as woman picked up the phone, and before I could get a word in edgewise, she told me to hold. No problem. I wound up holding for 4 minutes, and it became obvious to me that she forgot all about me because she had just sat the phone down, (not pressed a hold button) and I could hear her laughing and talking with her coworkers. I chose not to hang up because I felt that if they couldn't take my order, then they wouldn't be taking anybody else's! I know that's kind of stubborn, but.....

Anyway, she finally picked the phone up, and I could tell that she was shocked I was still there. I didn't let on that I was tired of waiting, I just politely asked her to fax a menu. She informed me that there was a website where I could view the menu and proceeded to give me the web address. I asked her if the prices were included on the web site's menu, knowing that some places just put the food, not the prices, and she assured me the prices would be on the website. Thankfully, I went to the website, and there was a menu including prices. I went to the Lunch Specials portion of the menu and found a couple of dishes that appealed to me, all under 10 dollars. In fact, the dishes I was considering were both listed as 5.75! Great, right?

I called the place back to place my order, but I had a few questions. I wanted to know the veggies that were included in the Chicken and Vegetables dish. The dish seemed like a great one, but so did the Hunan Chicken. I told her I was leaning toward the Hunan Chicken, but I didn't want the baby corn-gross. We were actually having a good convo, and she was very helpful. She told me that the Hunan Chicken didn't come with baby corn, so Hunan Chicken was my dish for sure. She rang me up, and told me my total would be $7.02. Now, I'm far from a math whiz, but I DO know that $5.75 plus tax DO NOT EQUAL NO $7.02! Sorry, now back to my phone voice-ahem. I asked her if she was ringing me up for the Lunch Special, and she said, "Oh, hold on." Again, she sat the phone down, and asked someone in the background if the "new prices were on the website." I heard someone tell her that there was a new website and that's where the price increases could be found. She got back on the phone and told me that the price she had quoted me was the new price. I told her (I know this is complicated to read) that she had directed me to the old website when I had called minutes before requesting a menu. She said, "Yeah, I'm sorry, they just raised the prices, and they are on the new website, we don't use the old web address I gave you anymore."

By this time, I was a little agitated, but I told her I would still be in to pick up my meal. You know how once you are set on something, you gotta have it, right?! While driving to the restaurant, I was trying to figure out if I would speak with the manager or not. I definitely didn't want anyone getting in any trouble, or losing their job, but on the other hand, maybe just speaking to the manager would help me to feel better.

When I got to the register, the General Manager was standing there, so I decided to let him know what happened. I was very discreet, and polite (my mom always warns me that a disagreement with the wrong person at a restaurant can lead to contaminated food). To make a long story short, the manager didn't care. He picked up a menu and gave it to me and pointed out the new web address, and said "its not up yet, but the new prices will be there, on the website."
People, please help me! None of this would have happened if the woman who answered the phone would have just FAXED THE DARN MENU!! By this time, I was pretty pissed, but I thanked him, and came back to work. I was hungry so that I could have torn into my food Cookie Monster style, but WTF did I see when I took the top off my food? BABY CORN!!! Good thing none of you were within 50 miles of this place, otherwise you would have heard the high-pitched screams and hollers of a woman scorned and frustrated by the dogface, foul, grotesque, horrid customer service monster!!!!! NEXT TIME I'LL JUST GO TO PANDA EXPRESS!
This place isn't the only one on my terrible service list, its just the newest addition. Below, I have listed the places that in MY opinion have the worst, most rotten customer service. Remember, this is MY opinion, due to situations that I have encountered. Here goes...

1. Sprint/Nextel..Please, I hope they see this and let us out of our pathetic contract
2. Pappadeaux, from snails in my crawfish, to a goofy waitress dropping someone else's crawfish already-eaten shells on me, to waiting for one hour to get a waitress, they don't ever deserve to see my money again!
3. Sonic, its so bad here, that my husband and friends asked me to stop going because they ALWAYS get my order wrong. I only order one thing from this place: a Lemon Berry Slush with extra berries, and they NEVER EVER get it right. A special shout out to CC, and Oni for introducing me to the drink in the first place.
4. A certain Caribbean restaurant that will remain nameless only because since the incident, in which the waitress took my friend's credit card and cussed us out, and the police had to be called just so we could get it back has closed and re-opened with new management. Just know that when the police officer arrived, he was appalled at the restaurant manager, and threatened to arrest the waitress(she was jumping around cussing and yelling). All because me, and some other customers complained that the Garlic Crab (the same dish that I had been eating for 4 years) tasted old, and had a foul odor. After we complained, the manager flippantly suggested that upon our next visit, we should try another dish!! With all that said, thank God they have new management and a new waitstaff!
5. Cajun Corner, the waitstaff is friendly EXCEPT for one woman who is always there. I think her family owns the place. I have witnessed this woman treat customers like dog doo-doo! I have even seen this lady bully her own coworkers! One customer became so enraged that she threw an all-out tantrum in the middle of the restaurant. Nobody could blame her because the waitress is soooo very evil. The upset customer threw her crawfish, and some other crawfish sitting on a random table all over the restaurant, and smeared it all over the place. She then proceeded to dump all of the fake flowers out of their pots and hurl them everywhere. After cursing the waitress out, she turned, and left. She deserved a standing ovation because justice was served.
6. Almost Every Beauty Supply Store, Nuff said!

Please allow me to apologize for ranting on and on and on, but I had to get this off of my chest. I just long for the Old Skool times way back in the day when you could walk into a fresh, clean business and receive good, honest service with a smile. Feel free to add your customer service nightmares to the list! Maybe if everyone refused to accept this kind of service, we could actually hurt their pockets!