While bitching to my other close friends about what happened, Adi mentioned something that hit the nail on the head. Not to mention, the very same thing was broadcast on the show Undercover Boss - that the "attitudes of the staff are a reflection of the manager's". Which, looking at the attitudes of staff from different outlets, you do realise that they do tend to follow the manager's quite a bit.
After helping out at a few outlets, I realized that there's one outlet that have almost crazy staff now that the manager is also a big joker, while they were a bit more uptight with rules under the previous one. Then there is another outlet's staff that are rather laid back, chatty and easy going, even when the place is fully packed and busy. Somehow their attitudes also seem to rub off on their customers as well.
Then comes this one outlet, and the reason why there's no change or improvement goes back to the manager. It was probably why I wanted out of that place because if you can't change what is bringing you down, then you have to leave! So since staff there can't be bothered to improve themselves, or work harder, or try to speed up their service. Basically, they're cocky - thinking they're the best, that their efforts are always good enough. When there's feedback, they don't even see that it's a problem with them and rather think that the customers are all impatient and bitchy.
Yes there are times when the customers are just pissy about everything, but if you actually listen and take note of what the customer is trying to tell you, you'll realise that sometimes there's a flaw in the system. Could the flaw be rectified? DEFINITELY! However they rather cover thier arses, and make all the excuses they can find, rather than try to improve. Sometimes you have to put yourself in the customers shoes and see if they were being bitchy or that the service was really crap.
Honestly for that day, the service was crap as a salad came out before iced water. Worse still, a sandwich came out before 2 glasses of wine. Really? You still want to make excuses for your staff and insist that the customer was being a bitch? The bar might have a lot of orders but that doesn't mean the kitchen was just waiting for orders, had salads all ready & waiting in the fridge, or had sandwiches pre-made waiting to be toasted.
So you've always said you don't like other outlet's staff coming around and changing things, but I think it's high time you look at your attitude that is rubbing off your staff, that they give excuses because you give excuses. They've gone cocky because you've been cocky by saying that customers are bitchy and so no matter how badly you do, it's just that the customer is having a bad day rather than it being lousy service rendered.
Wake Up & Smell The Bull Shit!
