Are You Ignoring Your Dine – In Customers Too?

My husband, sister and I were dining at a mid range Chinese restaurant and were subject to the usual ‘ignoring’ by all the waiters in the restaurant except the ‘chosen one’. 

We had neared the end of our meal and my husband wanted a glass of warm water. Here, I must also place on record that each of us asked for a glass of warm water before the meal, alas the head waiter forgot and we had none. When the ‘chosen one’ was waiting on us I requested for warm water and got a solitary glass. 

Back to my husband who was flailing his arms, raising his hand and trying all sorts of other gestures to catch the attention of a waiter. It was a small room with about seven to eight tables of four. There were three waiters who were prowling around near the entrance to the kitchen and the main door. Manning this space is really not a difficult task if you ask me; but maybe since I have never been a waitress, I am in for a surprise. Not a single one of these prowling chaps looked up at us. My husband is certain that one of the guys purposely looked the other way as he was not the ‘chosen one’ for our table. Seeing the remorseful expression on his face I joined him in his quest. There was some music playing above our heads and there was a rumble of everyone’s chatter. However, there was less than 15 people in the room excluding us. My voice is generally clear and cuts through loud noises. Yet, it was not loud enough to be heard by the wait staff. Finally, I managed to catch the eye of the head waiter who duly directed a rather irritated looking chap towards our table.

My husband lost no time in reprimanding him and said that he called several times. I try to keep my mouth shut in these instances. One thing is that no one wants multiple people finding fault with him or her at the same time, second thing is that it is not pleasant for both of us to be annoyed at the same time and third of all, I would enter in to a tirade of etiquette and good customer experience management outside his classroom. 

This chap did not acknowledge my husband’s complaint the tiniest bit. He simply asked what we wanted instead. Then nodded, walked away and returned with a jug of warm water to fill our glasses. 

All of us have experienced this sort of below par customer service. Where is the welcoming and warm hospitality we boast about as Sri Lankans? Do we expect everyone else to offer good customer service and simply muddle through making lives miserable for those we serve? 

From my Full of Etiquette point of view, here is what we may need to tell our teams-

01. Wait staff is called ‘wait staff’ for a reason. They must pay attention to diners and they should be told to make sure that someone regularly paces the floor and keeps an eye. If it is a private dining area, the method of calling a waiter should be prearranged or one should be hovering around close to the entrance for quick beckoning.

02. People need to move out of the ‘chosen one’ mentality. It is true that one person attending to a table helps the customer as well, but surely anyone can carry a message if it is a complex request and attend to the need if it is as simple as getting water. The customer is everybody’s business. Poor service will drive every waiter’s customers away over time. 

03. Learn to apologize. Honestly my dear Sri Lankans, it is not beneath your dignity to apologize and accept a mistake. It should be beneath your dignity to look stand offish, stubborn and disrespectful to your customer. 

Being Full of Etiquette can only help you. Let’s make good habits a habit.