Letter to the Editor
How rude!
Published Monday, July 14, 2008
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To the editor:
I’m an experienced and educated man. One thing I learned the hard way was it’s best to write things down, sleep on it and then look at it again before submitting it for the community or world to see. Mr. Nance clearly hasn’t heard of this since he decided to berate Mr. Dexter as he did in yesterday’s letter. How absolutely rude, sir.
I read Mr. Dexter’s article as merely making a point of poor customer service and the condiment issue was just an example of the continued failure of some local businesses to act like they give a hoot. “Get on board or go away.” Mr. Nance? I have a better idea. One night, Mr. Nance and all other doubters can take their family and another night maybe a few friends and go “support local restaurants and businesses.” See for yourselves the kind of apathetic and unaware service that is all too normal here. I’m not talking about paying a dollar or two for condiments; I’m talking about absolute lack of desire to even give an appearance of wanting to make and keep customers, for whatever reason.
In December 2006, I wrote a letter to the editor about this very thing; nothing has changed. Last Valentine’s Day, I placed a “to-go” order at a downtown restaurant. Twenty-five minutes after I was told my food would be ready, I was given my order, but not as I ordered it — because the cook took it upon himself to ask, who orders this like the ticket says? and did as he pleased. Thirty minutes later, I was given my corrected order and, as I made my way out, the owner herself exclaimed, “I hope I can save you as a customer!” Here’s a thought — if you served me as your customer the first time, there wouldn’t be any reason to save me.
Mr. Dexter was only speaking for all of us who you business owners/managers/shift supervisors continuously choose not to hear no matter how we say it. Thank you Mr. Dexter, please come again.
Community Discussion
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Amen. Very well spoken Alan. I too agree with the apathy so prevelent in our society, and not just with food service. That is why, when I am faced with a tip/no tip situation, service speaks. Great service is rewarded with a ridiculously generous tip and apathy gets nothing. And if the situation is non-food related, great service gets a heart felt thank you and hand shake. My 3 boys are being taught this behavior and I sincerely hope they never fall into apathy. Service is king.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!
I have continuously been appalled at the lack of even mediocre customer service that Fairbanks has!
I've completely stopped going to a few local places of business because the service is poor or the food less then desirable!
It does seem at times that the adults that work in the service industry have failed miserably at being a good example for the kids who work in it!
I love to go out to eat but have to agree that the service at most restaurants in this town are lacking. It isn't just at restaurants
though that service is lacking. I am sure that most of the problems
seen is lack of training and lack of staffing. We expect everyone to do more with less and then don't adequately train them for the job as most jobs in the service industry are not career jobs and the employers don't want to spend the time and money on training employees. The employees get fed up and move on and the employer thinks he did right in not spending the time and money on training as the employee left for another job but in the meantime how many customers has the employer lost because of the poor service. And would the employee have stayed on if he or she felt they were of value to the business and time and training was invested in them.
I wont get out of bed for less than a hundred dollars.
I have been fired from every restaurant job I ever had.
HATERS!!!
I have always said that Fairbanks has the worst customer service in all areas of business of any place I have ever lived (which is many). I moved to Fairbanks in 1995, and each and every time I leave state for a trip I am reminded once again how truly poor our customer service is, regardless of whether I am eating at the North Pole McDonalds or the Pumphouse, buying a wheel bearing or a $1500 refrigerator its just about the same across the board. I have always been of the belief that theres A) Not enough local business competetion and B) Theres just an abundance of low level jobs in Fairbanks that pay well above the average national minimum wage. Combine that with years of overpaying for medial task jobs and you develop a populus of people lacking any kind of work ethic. Its sad....but it is home, so theres not much you can do but live with it and I am okay with that. Didn't move to Fairbanks for the customer service.
Rude? Rude? Here is your RUDE in my best Archie Bunker imitation,PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPpppppppppppppppppppppPPPPPPPPPPPPP
You can get a much better meal at home than you can possibly get eating out.
Here is a tip ... save the money and buy oil instead.
Some people should just Eat at home only.
Eat at home - Lose weight, get healthy & save money...Lots of problems solved!
I think it's mostly the owners/management who figure they have a captive clientel in Fairbanks. They do not try to instill a sense of pride in the help and do not care about the customers or employees because they think we have nowhere else to go. I was treated so rudly by a local large chain motorcycle shop employee that I complained to the management who refused to do anything about it. I now get all my factory parts and supplies from Anchorage or the internet. I think everyone needs to make a statement and avoid those buisnesses that offer substandard service, eventually they'll get the message.
Attention server, if you do not receive a tip it is not because I'm cheap. It is because you provided such poor service that I can not justify giving you anything.
You guys crack me up. If you want to make a stand call out these places that are so awful. How are any of us to know not to frequent these places if you are not saying who they are.
I don't get to eat out very often, but I went to 3 different establishments on Saturday night and had great service at each place. Bobby's--food and service excellent, Lavelles--dessert, coffee and service excellent, and then went to the Boatel--where the bartender was friendly and the booze was cold. No complaints.
I have read the article that Mr. Mitchell is refering to and from a former servers stance more then less his points are extremely valid. As are some of the ones in the comments and article above mine.
Service in this town at SOME businesses sucks, there are many on the other hand that are good. One thing that is blatently stated above is that the COOK messed up your order not the server, not the manager. Having done the job and waited for the cook it sucks to walk up to a customer with food that is incorrect or late or just not up to standards. On the other hand it is very hard to find a cook in this town that will not only work for the crappy wage they get but come to work on time and not be high as a kite.
Secondly the customer has a lot to do with how they are treated. Is it not the Golden Rule to treat others the way you want to be treated. Has anyone watched to movie Waiting? It is an EXTREME!!! version of a restaurant but there are some very valid examples also, just watch the customer interaction and trust me when I say I have been treated this way, but definetly not retaliated in the same way. Just be aware of your attitude when talking to someone. Just because they are in the service industry does not mean they are your slave, they are on their feet all day usually not on a good floor just as a Nurse is but would you treat them that way.
For future refrence: service at Boston's sucks! So I don't go. I waited an hour for food at Bobby's on it's first night open but the server was very accomidating and did what she could. You could see Bobby himself frantically cooking and overwhelmed, on the first night. I would still go back, its a beautiful place.
I agree whole heartedly that customer service in Fairbanks is generally poorer than elsewhere. However, I would like to point out that I don't think we can blame this entirely on the folks who are on the front lines of customer service. Many times I believe the blame falls squarely on management and ownership. There is a certain deck restaurant in town that I used frequent. In an effort to increase profit, the staffing was cut back considerably. I stopped going when it took forty five plus minutes just to get a drink. The servers were not necessarily bad; on the contrary, I found them quite pleasant when I treated them respectfully. But, that was not the norm that they were getting from their severely overcrowded and over large sections. Many times now when I walk into a business (local or not) I pay attention to what time it is, how many other customers there are and what the staffing levels are like. Just as many times as not, I find the person I am getting poor customer service from is someone who has been put in a bad situation to start with.
I am not trying to make excuses for local businesses or poor customer service. All I am saying is that the next time you get ready to rail off at someone who is taking care of you properly, look around and see how much of the blame rests on that person. Make sure you aren’t about to aggravate what is already a bad situation. If you look around and realize that you have two people trying to deal with ten customers simultaneously, ask to talk to management. Tell them what you think of their staffing and how it translates to the image of their business.
I agree on Bobby's--simply gorgeous restaurant--one of the nicest, best decorated places in town. The food is excellent, even though a week after being opened they didn't have anything I wanted. Which was fine, the waitress was willing to joke about it with us and I felt accommodated enough to try it again (soon I hope).
How about focusing on restaurants that deserve our attention as a way to deal with the rudeness in other places? Or as mentioned before, point out ones to avoid? That's the only way to really change a business, is open their eyes with bad reviews.
Just last Friday evening we ventured out to eat at a local, well known, burger joint. We ordered and waited and waited it seems like a long time. Our appetizer never came out which we had wanted while we waited for our meals. And we couldn't seem to find our server to ask what was up. Another server came by and we asked her to see about our appetizer. Apparently the server forgot to put our appetizer order in. The shift manager came to our table and apologized as well we received our appetizer late but on the house and our drinks were on the house as well. Although the server had messed up she and her manager did well for us. We will go back. If you think the service is bad just ask some polite and pointed questions and you might be surprised at the response you receive.
Bobby's is FINALLY open??? I will just have to drop by! =)
Yes, Bobby's is opened. They are working out the kinks still, but the food is still AMAZING, as is Bobby, Rena and the rest of the staff, and the restaurant itself doesn't look like it belongs in Fairbanks. Finally is the right word ;)
Brewster's - Not unusual to never receive appetizer or receive it after dinner arrives. Also they have a sign in their window at Teddy Bear Plaza that says they support the troops but don't give a military discount.
Boston's - Poor service on bar side. On family side, we asked our server about our salads and he said they're coming and proceeded to bring them with our meal so our meals got cold while we ate our salads.
Turtle Club - We were continually asked if we wanted refills on our soda, only to be charged for each glass of soda we had when leaving. Who doesn't give free refills anymore? besides the Turtle Club...
Walmart - Recently used the one hour photo service and after an hour and 45 minutes I finally got my photos. Then I looked and about 10 were excluded so I took the negatives back and they told me it would be another 15 minutes or so. I decided to go back the next day.
McDonalds (North Pole) - Not unusual to wait 15 minutes in the drive thru line when you're the only one in line. If someone is in front of you 20-30 minutes is not unusual. Its as if they take your order, cook your food from scratch, give it to you and then move on to the next person in line. Not fast food by any means.
Food Factory - They have a commercial about supporting the military and so forth but don't even give a military discount. They give on to UAF students but not our military members.
I could probably keep going if I had more time.
Not for lack of trying to have a positive mindset, I have been disappointed too many times by a few places in town. I finally took them off the 'list'.
I am working on a 'review' site for restaurants in Ak, I have the domain ownership & name, I just need to get typing! I am definitely noting the comments (positive & negative) on here & will incorporate opinions into my write-ups. I tend to cook at home a fair amount simply because I can then have what I want, served in a healthy matter. However loving food, I love to eat out as well, though the incidences of me doing so have decreased. I figure if I want to spend the money & fuel to go somewhere, I then want a pleasant experience with good food. Too much to ask? I don't think so.
I'll start getting it more complete this week!
ever seen those hidden camera shows?
I am always nice even if the food sucks.
Come on people call them out! Don't just tell me about a burger joint--I want to know about the place.
I went to Gambradellas and had the worst service I have had in a while, but when we got there no one was in the building. In probably a 15 min time frame the whole place filled up. I had to give the guy a break because he was doing his best with the amount of tables he had all at one time. I did complain to the management because I had my kids with me and you can only keep kids entertained for so long before all hell breaks loose. We sat there for 30 min before we had our order taken and then I just couldn't wait another hour for my kids meals. When we got the food it had obviously been sitting in the window for a while because it was luke. Once I complained the food came hot, we ate, recieved a free dessert and we got out. I did tip 20%, because I didn't feel like this was an avoidable situation for the server. By the way the food was good.
Now that McDonald's in North Pole has been mentioned, I need to point out that there is a pricing discrepancy at this particular location that is NOT attributable to the North Pole sales tax. At any McDonald's in Fairbanks, I can get a Mighty Kid nugget meal for $4.19. In North Pole, the same exact meal costs $5.49 plus tax ($0.16). I questioned the North Pole manager about this and her explanation was that Fairbanks had not changed to the new pricing yet. A week later, I talked to the manager at the Bentley McDonalds. He said the prices had not changed and were not going to as far as he knew. I e-mailed McDonald's corporate, as well as the North Pole owner, with my complaint. I have yet to receive a response from either. The only reason I can think of for McDonald's North Pole to charge more than Fairbanks is the tourist business they get in the summer. The service at any McDonald's in the area is still pretty bad regardless of the prices charged.
the other day I waited at a red light for what seemed like forever!
I don't know why this world can't serve me better!
Yesterday I had to slap my wife around because my clothes were strewn all over the house and I had like 3 pairs of dirty work boots that I left around and she never bothered to set them nicely anywhere.
Then to top it all off my kid spilt his milk!
I WAS SO ANGRY!!!
If these servant people can't treat me properly then I suggest they get better jobs so they have more money so they can afford to go out to eat and see how the other half lives putting up with thier crappy service!
As a mom returning to the work force after raising her kids, I can tell you it sure isn't easy working in the food service industry here in town. Working along side kids who might or might not show up for work and having to do their work when they do show up is hard. Management has a lot to learn here in town but also so do the customers. People from out of state don't realize that just because one place in the lower 48 offers something on the menu doesn't mean it is offered here, or they bring in coupons from the lower 48 and expect them to work up here (when they often state they don't). Sometimes you just can't please a customer and when you are over worked, understaffed it can be hard. I also found it interesting that often people don't tip because they are at a buffet, when we do work for tips and money is taken out of our wages because the Government feels we are tipped. I'm glad I'm out of that business and it sure has opened my eyes to how people are treated. Like someone said we aren't your slaves, we try our best and keep a smile upon our lips,try not to judge the whole place by one bad time, go twice and see if it was just a bad day. That's what I do and who knows maybe you will find a server who is worth her/his weight in gold.
Wow... just listen to yourselves... be thankful for the ability to go out to eat and have others wait on you. If you have a problem with all the services you find in this town, take a moment and reflect. It could be that you are the problem. Why are we in such a hurry? It should take 15 minutes to cook a burger when you think about it!! We are just so used to everything being so instant~ and we believe that this world revolves around our satisfaction~ take a deep breath! In the grand scheme of things, whether you get your appitizer or not is really not a big