You know the scene. You’ve let the boss “see” you working hard all day, the traffic was atrocious, you couldn’t find a parking spot, but finally you got into the restaurant only to find a long wait. The staff was rude, the food was cold, your order was wrong or the place wasn’t clean. So… the money you earned today is down the tubes on a nasty experience that you and your therapist will discuss for weeks.
THAT SUCKS!!!
So, you mention it to your server, who looks at you with a glossy vampire-like fog on her face. She suggests you speak to the manager. The manager. Hmmm…. Good thought, but you don’t want the embarrassment of a “scene”. You just want customer revenge! So, you fill in one of those paper surveys, figuring someone will take your concerns to heart. But then there’s a fear that pops up in the back of your mind – “they’ll have my personal info – my email address, my phone #! Oh no!! They’ll even have my name!!!”
“If I fill this thing out, I’m sure to be banned from every restaurant in the world, have my picture on a Wanted Dead or Alive poster on the wall at the post office or ten years from now, when I win the Oscar or become President of a country, these survey details are sure to be leaked to the press and ruin my dreams.” So… do you decide against it, pay the bill and slink out of the restaurant with your tail between your legs and a bitter tale to tell you great grand children 50 years from now or do you take the chance, roll the dice and fill it in?
You rebel! You reach deep within your aching soul, borrow a pen from the little old couple in the booth next to you and bare your thoughts, thankful that you wore your superhero underwear today to give you courage!
You pay the bill, begrudgingly tipping the waitress and leave the survey for the establishment. Good for you! This is where your personal knowledge of the story ends, and ultimately, you will survive with the belief that you’ve saved another customer from the same experience. Dreamer!!!
Here’s what we know, that you don’t:
That survey that you labored over is now put to one or more of the following uses:
1) At the end of the shift your survey will be lovingly processed into art – folded repeatedly in origami fashion – to make paper planes, birds, hats and even boats.
2) If you’re the 10th person to have complained that your table wobbled more than a drunk on stilts, your survey will be folded 4 times – to just the right depth to fix the wobble. Not bad news. At least it served some purpose and was actually read!!!
3) Your survey has been tucked away in a nice manila folder for senior management to see during an audit. After all, yours is one of the few without swear words and without comments about the manager’s “mama”, so it’s a keeper.
4) Your survey is reused at a local wedding. The restaurant industry is struggling in these economic times, so everyone has a “side business”. Confetti production is profitable.
THIS SUCKS!
Oh wait… maybe you’re one of those individuals who takes the receipt home because there’s a website survey option noted at the bottom.
Good thinking! You’re already angry, so it’s best that you stew over it and fill in the survey later. So, you get home, get into your jammies, feed the cat, load up the computer and complete the survey. Damn… where did you put that receipt? Let the hunt begin. Oh good. By some miracle you found it in the same pocket as the mints your server gave you for dessert.
But there are the voices again… “Why am I bothering?” “I know I’m never going to step foot in that place again.” “Oh wait, it says that I can win $1,000 or an IPod.” “I wonder if anyone other than family of the staff ever wins these things.” “Have I ever heard of anyone winning?” AH! Stop the voices!!!
THIS SUCKS!!!
It’s time to STOP THE SUCKAGE!!!