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Okay, now I'm in the mood to write about it without breaking everyone's profanity filters in the process.
For those of you from Winnipeg: the restaurant in question is Tubby's, located on the corner of Stafford and Grovesner, a couple of blocks walk from my current apartment. Its proximity was most of the reason that myself and a couple of other friends -- call them T. and R. -- had gone there for the last couple of weeks for coffee and a light supper before going to the AD&D game that R. and I play in every Saturday night. T. and R. had never been there before, and were very favorably impressed with the quality of the food (which was excellent).
Wish I could say the same thing about the guy who owns the place. In the course of maybe twenty seconds, he convinced me that I'll never go back to his restaurant again.
To recap, the food was excellent, the prices reasonable, the waitress pleasant and efficient. After the meal, we took our bill up to the front counter to pay, and I went first, electing to use Interac. And that's where the trouble started.
The cash register has NO readout visible to the customers. The owner (I recognized him from the cartoons and caricatures that were posted at the front of the restaurant) ended up punching in my charges (since we'd received a bill that combined all our orders), but did so in such an uncertain manner, with so many cancellations and re-punches, that I wasn't sure he'd done it correctly. My suspicions increased when he quoted me a price of $15 and change -- about three dollars over what I'd estimated my meal would cost.
So to double-check, I asked him if he'd given me the a la mode price on the ice cream (a difference of $1.75 over the full serving) and charged me for a cinnamon bun slice rather than a whole cinnamon bun (also a considerable price difference).
He ignored my question completely.
So I started to restate it. He gave me such a glare that, I'm sad to say, I crumbled and rang through the Interac charge (yes, I need more practice on some skills!) However, I rediscovered my spine after ok-ing the purchase, and asked again -- this time for a receipt from the cash register, since this, I thought, would give me the individual prices rung in, and thus ammunition to ask for a refund if warranted.
With a sigh of disgust, he grabbed a receipt book -- yes, a receipt book -- jotted down the items in a barely legible scrawl, with no prices, put the total amount at the bottom, and slammed it down on the counter in front of me.
"Excuse me," I said, "but I think you overcharged me on --"
At which point, the yelling began.
Owner: "How much do you think it's over!?"
Me: "I'm not sure, I haven't calculated the --"
Owner: "How much do you think it's over!?!?!?!"
Me: "Well, I though it would be about twelve dollars, but --"
So disgusted that he wouldn't even look at me, the owner yanks open the change drawer, pulls out a toonie and a loonie ($3, for non-Canadians) and SLAMS it down on the counter in front of me. Honestly not knowing what else to do, I took the change and stepped aside so T. and R. could pay their bill.
Then the adrenaline hit. Enraged, humiliated, and completely bewildered, I wandered up to the front of the restaurant and started looking at some of the cartoons posted on the wall as a displacement activity, lol... but could not distract myself from my own "WTF?" reaction. I mean... really? What had just happened here? Had I just been treated like a lying piece of shit by the OWNER of the restaurant where I'd just dropped the price of a meal? A restaurant where T., R., and I might well have continued coming every Saturday night before our regular game, for a total of about $40 a week?
Repeat: WTF???
Ooh... even posting about it makes me furious all over again. I'm seriously considering what I can do at this point to give that idiot owner the equivalent of a sharp, hard smack on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper. Writing a letter to him won't work -- the guy is pretty clearly psycho, or at least off his usual medication (I honestly can't believe that he's like this ALL the time, otherwise he wouldn't have any customers left! Or maybe he just hates short, red-haired women!).
However, a letter to the restaurant association he belongs to, OR to the Winnipeg Free Press's food critic, might do nicely.
I'm still considering my options. Grrr.
For those of you from Winnipeg: the restaurant in question is Tubby's, located on the corner of Stafford and Grovesner, a couple of blocks walk from my current apartment. Its proximity was most of the reason that myself and a couple of other friends -- call them T. and R. -- had gone there for the last couple of weeks for coffee and a light supper before going to the AD&D game that R. and I play in every Saturday night. T. and R. had never been there before, and were very favorably impressed with the quality of the food (which was excellent).
Wish I could say the same thing about the guy who owns the place. In the course of maybe twenty seconds, he convinced me that I'll never go back to his restaurant again.
To recap, the food was excellent, the prices reasonable, the waitress pleasant and efficient. After the meal, we took our bill up to the front counter to pay, and I went first, electing to use Interac. And that's where the trouble started.
The cash register has NO readout visible to the customers. The owner (I recognized him from the cartoons and caricatures that were posted at the front of the restaurant) ended up punching in my charges (since we'd received a bill that combined all our orders), but did so in such an uncertain manner, with so many cancellations and re-punches, that I wasn't sure he'd done it correctly. My suspicions increased when he quoted me a price of $15 and change -- about three dollars over what I'd estimated my meal would cost.
So to double-check, I asked him if he'd given me the a la mode price on the ice cream (a difference of $1.75 over the full serving) and charged me for a cinnamon bun slice rather than a whole cinnamon bun (also a considerable price difference).
He ignored my question completely.
So I started to restate it. He gave me such a glare that, I'm sad to say, I crumbled and rang through the Interac charge (yes, I need more practice on some skills!) However, I rediscovered my spine after ok-ing the purchase, and asked again -- this time for a receipt from the cash register, since this, I thought, would give me the individual prices rung in, and thus ammunition to ask for a refund if warranted.
With a sigh of disgust, he grabbed a receipt book -- yes, a receipt book -- jotted down the items in a barely legible scrawl, with no prices, put the total amount at the bottom, and slammed it down on the counter in front of me.
"Excuse me," I said, "but I think you overcharged me on --"
At which point, the yelling began.
Owner: "How much do you think it's over!?"
Me: "I'm not sure, I haven't calculated the --"
Owner: "How much do you think it's over!?!?!?!"
Me: "Well, I though it would be about twelve dollars, but --"
So disgusted that he wouldn't even look at me, the owner yanks open the change drawer, pulls out a toonie and a loonie ($3, for non-Canadians) and SLAMS it down on the counter in front of me. Honestly not knowing what else to do, I took the change and stepped aside so T. and R. could pay their bill.
Then the adrenaline hit. Enraged, humiliated, and completely bewildered, I wandered up to the front of the restaurant and started looking at some of the cartoons posted on the wall as a displacement activity, lol... but could not distract myself from my own "WTF?" reaction. I mean... really? What had just happened here? Had I just been treated like a lying piece of shit by the OWNER of the restaurant where I'd just dropped the price of a meal? A restaurant where T., R., and I might well have continued coming every Saturday night before our regular game, for a total of about $40 a week?
Repeat: WTF???
Ooh... even posting about it makes me furious all over again. I'm seriously considering what I can do at this point to give that idiot owner the equivalent of a sharp, hard smack on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper. Writing a letter to him won't work -- the guy is pretty clearly psycho, or at least off his usual medication (I honestly can't believe that he's like this ALL the time, otherwise he wouldn't have any customers left! Or maybe he just hates short, red-haired women!).
However, a letter to the restaurant association he belongs to, OR to the Winnipeg Free Press's food critic, might do nicely.
I'm still considering my options. Grrr.
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(no subject)
Holy.... sh*t... I mean, holy SH*T!!!!
That was the *WORSE* expression of taking out a bad day or something similar on someone who did not deserve it.
What an absolute A**HOLE!!!!
*GROWLS*
I'm glad I know to avoid the place, otherwise, I'd be down there causing him just as much problems as he caused you, doubly so because "the customer is always right"
*WOW*
I'm appalled....
*HUGS*
we need to do tea!
Oh boy...
I have to say that when you said it was Tubby's I wasn't surprised. I only went there once and while i didn't have the experience you had, i didn't have an overwhelmingly pleasant one, either and had never planned to go back but now definately won't!! I saw on the menu that there was a ceasar salad for around eight dollars. I figured this would be a salad large enough for dinner at that price (ie the huge breadbowl salad at Perkins' is about 9.99, with chicken). When i got it, it was a salad that could fit on a saucer. And there were no free refills.
My mom had a bad experience at this place too. She went there with a friend for lunch. Bear in mind for this story that my mom's lunch break is promptly at noon. they get to Tubby's at about 12:10 or so (she only works about a ten minute drive away) and the so called "lunchtime buffet" consisted of a couple pieces of greasy leftover pizza and about two helpings of salad. Her friend complained and said they wanted the lunch buffet price that was advertised, and she had to fight to get it, as they claimed the lunch buffet was "sold out"..and there was hardly anyone in the restaraunt. My sister went there once with friends and said the pizza was so greasy that it made a gigantic pool on the plate, and the service was slow and rude because they were young (hello? She went to St.Mary's Academy which is practically right around the corner ,not to mention Kelvin High, and had they been nicer, they could have made big bucks from after school kids stopping in for a snack)
This always makes me fuming because I used to work as an Assistant Manager in retail and I used to have to bend over backwards to help clients. The fact that anyone thinks they can treat other human beings this way makes me ill, and most particularily when those human beings are funding your business and giving you your paycheque.
I would write a letter to the Better Business Beureau and the Free Press. There also are radio programs like CJOB's beefs and bouquets and several others that have opportunities for people to air their concerns. You should at least, at the VERY least, get your meal price back and a formal apology. AAAAAARRRGGHHHHHHH. I would support you in this if you need, as mentioned, i haven't been impressed with Tubby's in the past and now definately won't go back, and will spread the word.
AAARGGHH!!
(no subject)
Why am I minded of a dry-cleaner in my neighborhood which I refuse to go to since a former co-worker of mine told me a story about the manager of the place acting psychotically and rumpling up people's stuff on purpose when they came in with even the most minor complaint about something?
::Hugs::
I'd write a few little letters to a few powers that be asking them to yank that guy's chain a little, if I were in your place!
an older restaurant story
A group of four came in and ordered. One found her steak still very rare, and sent it back to the kitchen. It returned in a bit, still pretty rare, and went back again. Then the owner came out and gave the whole tableful of people a shouting-at for being such a lot of work and so discourteous to him.
They finished their meal, paid, and went home -- all except for the steak lady, who went off to the Free Press to write her restaurant review.
h_e_nelson
~waves and smiles~
Re: an older restaurant story
Wonderful story... was it Marion Warhaft at that time, or a different reviewer? In any case, it's good to see that sometimes less-than-kind people pick the wrong person to go ballistic on, and end up being kicked in the rear by their own attitude.