Keep Your Cool
Maui No Ka Oi
The evening started out with this magnificent view from Front St. in Lahaina.
Family
Next was the arrival of my “Maui Family” consisting of son Michael, Daughter-in-law, Sarah and 9 year old Grandson Kevin. We had dinner reservations in a fancy new Lahaina restaurant. Everyone was excited. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there.
Too Long
We felt that waiting a full hour without our entrees was too long. I was as hungry as a bear, so I flagged down the waitress and asked her what’s taking so long. She said, “It’s because he (pointing to my son) ordered a Beef Wellington which takes an hour to cook.” We were all shocked. Michael told her that if she had told us that up front he would have ordered something different. He felt horrible for holding us all up. She then said that it’s still going to be “a while.” Michael said, “No way” and ordered something different; a New York Steak. She said, “Okay, we’ll get that out right away.”
Still Waiting
20 Minutes later we were still waiting, and the manager brought us each a bowl of tomato soup as an apology. The soup was sour, but I appreciated the gesture. In about 20 minutes they ceremoniously delivered our dinners. She told Michael that the cook would pay for his steak. My squash ravioli was tasteless, and Michael’s steak was burned to a crisp. I pushed the ravioli aside and she carried it off with no comment. Michael retrieved her and said that his steak is burned and that “turning it over and covering it with Bar-B-Q sauce” was not an appropriate solution to fix it. I told her to just bring me a the check.
Eat Anyway
Meanwhile and Sarah Kevin were eating away at their chicken and fish. After eating some of Kevin’s fish, Michael called the manager over and “unloaded on her.” He told her that they should make this disastrous meal complimentary. She just stared at him. I interrupted and said, “Just give me the check, it’s not about the money.” She then said, “We will comp it,” and stormed off.
Attitudes Show
On the walk to the car we talked extensively about how much better the entire thing could have been handled. It was nice of her to “comp it,” but she undid the nicety in the way she did it. Had she just apologized, offered the “comp” and said, “We hope you will give us another chance in the future” we just might. Maybe she thought we were just “tourists” and wouldn’t be back anyway. We are not and we won’t.
January 11th, 2013 at 11:35 am
Just had this conversation yesterday about service and the lack thereof these days. We went into great depth, and concluded that the heart of the problem is that many young people from the usa have an attititude that they can just show up and that is enough, that their employer is very lucky that they even can get a worker for such slave wages. In our discussion, we concluded that there is no value at all to that kind of attitude, that life and success in life means that if you now need to work in a low paying pain in the butt kind of job, you do it with gusto, do the best you possibly can so your reputation and job history reflect excellence, a team spirit and that you actually care to get somewhere good in life in general. just cruising thru the day to get your paycheck is an abominable and stupid way to live ones life as there is no happiness therein, and no payback except mediocrity and a depressing life. It is epidemic in my opinion. part of the cause of this problem is the parents. when i was growing up, if i wanted something, i had to get off my butt and earn the money to get it. my parents did not accept crappy attitiudes from any of us, they were not trying to suck up to us and be our friends, they acted as our parents, and so called parents today often feel guilty that they cant spend time with their kids, so they suck up to them, throw money at them so they will love them etc and that is not how you raise good kids. with the crazy hectic schedules we all carry, i do not see a solution other than individuals saying i don’t want to live like this, and actually making changes, no matter how painful. if you cant do a good job raising kids, then don’t have them is my advice. if you have to work 4 jobs just to stay afloat, figure out something else, your health and your families happiness is much more important. you cant enact change unless you really want to create a different life for yourself. where there is a strong will, there is for sure a way. i hear too many people whinning about how tough life is, and it can be, but caving into self pity is not going to help one bit. and so, that crappy waitress or clerk etc is most likely coming from a family situation similar to what i described here, think about it. My generation and Ron’s knows what work is, what customer service is. It should be taught in schools since parents do not have any time to teach them. And living on big gulps instead of water is detrimental to young peoples health. apparantley most parents dont have the time to teach kids how to properly nourish themselves either, so we will all be paying the price with health care costs skyrocketing, and school shootings escalating.
January 14th, 2013 at 9:48 am
Sounds like a nice evening, except for the dinner. Customers are more aware of value than ever before because hard earned money is worth less than ever before. I know from my own business, rectifying mistakes can be costly but ARE part of doing business and keeping customers. The lesson here is to be prepared and TRAIN YOU EMPLOYEES WELL. If you open a restaurant , the food HAS got to be great. Service HAS to be top notch or you are a goner!!!
January 24th, 2013 at 8:14 am
I’m so sorry to hear this story. I am hoping it did not occur at the highly touted,much promoted, new restaurant that starts with an F and ends with D.