A Question........

David,

First, My sympathies.

Lots of different approaches could be used, but as one person pointed out-these people may bad mouth you to others, and I'd hate you to get bad word-of-mouth in New Albany. You may not be able to avoid this as some people will be unreasonable regardless, but I think the approach suggested:

I would suggest that you politely take the person who pays the bill to the side and explain that it disrupts your service to accomidate their request. You appreciate their business but during the peak hours you will not be able to accomidate going forward. If they want to come in at a non peak time you can accomidate, business permitting.

Combined with a plating charge for non-peak hours, sounds reasonable if you explain that this takes a huge amount of extra time for your staff to prepare their party's meals.

Deb

Davie,
You know what I would do. Seriously, I would tell them " It seems I can not make you happy. It may be better for both of us if you dined elsewhere." I certainly would not buy them a meal. My god man you are in business to serve food not take care of OCD issues. Don’t you have enough of your own?

I was just going to say what Will said. I've used that before with difficult customers who take away from other customers' service. The only different wording I use is "Perhaps another establishment can better satisfy your needs."

Davie,
You know what I would do. Seriously, I would tell them " It seems I can not make you happy. It may be better for both of us if you dined elsewhere." I certainly would not buy them a meal. My god man you are in business to serve food not take care of OCD issues. Don’t you have enough of your own?

Willie- I hope they have enough gas to make it to Westport cause that's where I'm sending em baby!.. LOL!! Call me...we have lots to talk about....(still got that room over your place?)

It is available at the end to the month.

There is a more obvious solution to all of this. Just say "NO" to every request.

mr clancy

don't send them my way

do what you feel is right, bad word of mouth can become good word of mouth

it seems you have tried every possible avenue of appeasment for these folks
and they just don't want to be happy
so let them cook their own meals

so i'm sure their friends are quite aware of their bad habits and will not forsake you

do they ever bring new customers with them??
or do other customers ever mention them as the reason they decided to try your place.... do they give you good word of mouth??

don't feel alone, i just had to post a sign saying that we do not allow customers to bring in food from other restaurants...... go figure

you deserve a pizza --- and i'll seperate every slice for you

shawn

mr clancy

don't send them my way

do what you feel is right, bad word of mouth can become good word of mouth

it seems you have tried every possible avenue of appeasment for these folks
and they just don't want to be happy
so let them cook their own meals

so i'm sure their friends are quite aware of their bad habits and will not forsake you

do they ever bring new customers with them??
or do other customers ever mention them as the reason they decided to try your place.... do they give you good word of mouth??

don't feel alone, i just had to post a sign saying that we do not allow customers to bring in food from other restaurants...... go figure

you deserve a pizza --- and i'll seperate every slice for you

shawn

Nice!! But....I would really like the Pepperoni removed from the pie, cooked separately, then placed on a small side plate (sterile of course). Oh, and I don't like Mozzarella or Provolone so can you make my pie with cheese whiz? Yah....that'd be great!! Talk to ya soon!

Providing them with a free meal is probably what they really want! They just make excessive demands hoping that they all won't be met and then they can demand compensation.

You need to quit pampering them or they'll just get worse over time. Put an end to it (nicely as possible) before gets worse.

This sounds like a family with some major pathologies. I suspect someone has severe OCD and they dictate to the entire family on how things ought to be. Or, the whole family has OCD. From a psychological perspective, however, I suspect that it's one person who essentially controls the family.

As a customer type of person, I expect a restaurant to accommodate requests within reason. By this I mean, no onions, extra onions, whatever, rare, medium rare, etc. However, I also expect that a chef have a right to set what parameters he/she chooses to have. A magnificent dish can be ruined by adding or removing things and the chef's reputation may hang on his or her presentation of the dish.

One piece of advice. Buying their dinner for them enables them. In your desire to make things right, you set yourself up to be taken advantage of even more. You did good business practice for most people most of the time, but you were taken advantage of by these people.

Ultimately you can refuse to accommodate their parameters and if they don't like it they can leave. You didn't throw them out, they left on their own. And don't buy them dinner!!! You do have a business and you are entitled to make a living. On those rare occasions when something does go wrong and the customer is legit, you might do this. These people, as far as I can see, will do little more than continue to take advantage of you and your staff.

Let me start off by saying that I agree with the sentiments that such demanding customers should either be refused service or charged extra for extreme alterations to the standard service.

I'm a little surprised though by other people's reactions to a desire to keep foods from touching, especially in a forum full of culinary critics. Is it a little on the OCD side? Sure. But most people into food the way readers here are into food here are generally a little on the OCD side about it. I would think if anyone could appreciate the desire to keep foods seperated, it would be the foodies! Sometimes it really results in changing the flavors as prepared.

When I was a kid I wasn't crazy about my food touching, generally because I didn't want my mashed potatoes tasting like spinach. I think my sister still has issues about her food touching!

So a nice pan seared tuna on a bed of rice is a no no?

So a nice pan seared tuna on a bed of rice is a no no?

My God, I can just imagine if he ordered a Hot Brown!!!!?!?!?!

you deserve a pizza --- and i'll seperate every slice for you

Nice!! But....I would really like the Pepperoni removed from the pie, cooked separately, then placed on a small side plate (sterile of course). Oh, and I don't like Mozzarella or Provolone so can you make my pie with cheese whiz? Yah....that'd be great!! Talk to ya soon!

oh, how i can see this unraveling in the BNA kitchen.

Dave and crew banging heads on prep tables, 'They want WHAT?', knives raised to the sky...


....It's like trying to cater to ovolactoveganglutenfreediabeticsodiumrestricted guests who don't have the foresight to give the kitchen adequate warning.

There's usually never a problem to accomodate dietary requests anywhere i've worked... but when someone rolls in with a long list of them, and doesn't call in advance?
...well, you get the idea.




this seems appropriate:






...you know what to do now Dave.

So a nice pan seared tuna on a bed of rice is a no no?

Was that for me? My own thoughts on the matter would be regarding foods that aren't intended to be mixed yet served on the same plate. If the dish is intended to be served that way... *shrug*.

Not that I care ultimately, I don't really have those issues....