UNVARNISHED YOU

Do you like to dine out? I know I sure do. Nothing better than a delicious meal to satisfy an appetite.

But what do YOU do when the meal isn't delicious? Perhaps the meal took longer than expected to arrive, and when the meal did arrive, your dish was cold. The burger was cooked to a temperature other than what you had ordered. Your beverage glass or coffee cup was allowed to become empty...or remained empty far too long.

How did YOU feel about the subpar dining experience?
What action(s) did YOU take?
What did YOU say when the food server or the manager finally came over to your table?
When you had finished having your say, were YOU satisfied with yourself?
Did you get the intended outcome, or did you leave the restaurant vowing to yourself that YOU wouldn't return?

The restaurant provides a service. The food server, the food preparer, the manager all work together to provide that service. Most of the time, the restaurant and its team perform well. Occasionally, they provide a subpar experience to the guest. A myriad of factors may have contributed to the error.

I contend that no employee gets up in the morning intending to provide bad service or to produce subpar goods. Certainly, if employees engage in a flawed process devoid of quality assurance and feedback mechanisms, then at some point bad service/production becomes unacceptable. But in the immediate example, I assume a simple error has occurred.

I contend that YOU do not get up in the morning intending to provide bad service or to produce subpar goods. You are human, and you occasionally make mistakes. While you certainly can benefit from receiving feedback or engaging in quality assurance exercises, you gain nothing of value if you are taken to the woodshed by a customer, a co-worker, or a manager for your unintentional error.

You might say, "Of course not. I would never treat my employees or my co-worker in that demeaning manner." I believe you.

TODAY'S QUESTION: How did YOU treat the food server following your subpar dining experience?