Restaurant Horror Stories

[tommy525]

I think its important to note how many were in his party. Was it two persons total? Was it ten persons total. What was the total bill that the OP expected the restaurant to comp? Was it 2,000nt or 20,000nt. There is a difference.

And this was not at a five star hotel in Las Vegas. If it was and it was a couple or even 4 people at a dinner, I would think the hotel would comp the meal. But that's because its a different venue and five star hotels have much more at stake.

This was a small independently owned restaurant. To demand to see the OWNER was out of hand. The OWNER expects his or her manager to handle the situation. And she did by trying to defuse your anger (which wasn't working because you expected to be comped the entire meal and nothing else will do) and offering you compensation she can do.

At the end it was such a scene she just kicked you out. I don't think you or any members of your party should return.

I admit I wouldve been pretty pissed too and probably wouldve wanted some sort of compensation. But if I was with a group of ten? I wouldnt expect everyone should be comped.

That dish comped and a round of drinks for the party should more then do it.

At least it wasn't part of a cockroach or a foot from a rat. Less dangerous then a screw but the ick factor goes up by a factor of ten .

[dan2006]

I'm with the OP on this one.

Whether someone in the group tried to pull a scam to get a free meal or not, the restaurant cannot determine that. So for the time being they should take it as it was their mistake, unless the same group has tried to do the same thing previously. Most people wouldn't do this and I doubt it is a common occurrence anywhere.

In addition if this happened to me I would also absolutely refuse to pay for the entire meal as well and if they wanted to call the police I would let them. No need to get rowdy, as you have the picture of what happened. I would just walk out and tell the manager if she wishes to call the police that is fine, but I will show them the picture of what happened. I doubt they would call the police and lose face over it.

I don't think the OP was unreasonable at all. This Bu hao yi si garbage is really annoying as well when it is obvious the person couldn't care less but is just saying it to be 'ke qi hua' - sometimes making a scene gets you the desired results, embarrassing or not. A few bu hao yi si from a person who looks like they don't care just makes me angrier and they are probably wondering why it is having an opposite effect on me, versus a local.

[tommy525]

If I read correctly, they ended up not paying anything and were kicked out. And free to disparage the restaurant as much as they want. So they got what they wanted.

[Nuit]

Tommy you is right, I just clocked the OP said it was a birthday party - perhaps comping the whole meal might have been too much $$$.

It seems absurd to suggest that management didn't care about this and didn't look into it.

Not really, when a few bu-hao-yi-si can make the problem go away. Why investigate further? That's often the ROC attitude. It seems equally, if not more, absurd to suggest that the OP and friends went to a restaurant with the express intent of inserting screws into an entree (note the OP hadn't even received his food yet, and all but one of his fellow diners were still eating), AND THEN post about their experiences on here.
I'd give that possibility 1-2%, rather than 10-20%.

You're labelling the OP and his fellow diners as possibly dishonest, unreasonable, loud and bullying. I don't read that. The situation escalated after the party did not receive an apology for the incident (just the usual bunch of bu-hao-yi-si). I'd say that this experience qualifies for a touch more than a few utterances of that famous phrase.

This stinks of a high level of restaurant cha-bu-duo, and sometimes you got to take a stand against that. Well played, OP.

[ChewDawg]

I'm with the others - you went too far and behaved inappropriately.

I disagree. Finding screws or a needle in food is a serious problem. It could mean contamination or security breaches. Look at how airlines react when someone finds such things in the catering. Becomes worldwide news. Now I know it is not so serious in just a normal restaurant, but it could represent a lack of cleanliness or inattentive/careless cooks/dishwashers/waitstaff. I think the OP was perfectly within his/her bounds to get pissed off. There is such an indifferent culture" in Taiwan for service in many respects and I truly think people in the service industry should aim for exceptional service.

If a customer found something like that and I managed a restaurant, I would be mortified. I would offer a bottle of wine, free dinner, and say sorry 100 times. News gets around fast.

[Omniloquacious]

If a customer found something like that and I managed a restaurant, I would be mortified. I would offer a bottle of wine, free dinner, and say sorry 100 times. News gets around fast.

If you were the owner, or if you were the manager who had authority from his boss to do that. It's highly doubtful this the manageress involved in this incident had any such authority, and it's likely she was offering as much as she understood herself to be authorised to offer.

I sympathize with you, Tony, for having your party spoiled by the discovery of this alien object in the food.

I sympathize at least as much with the hapless manageress, who found herself on the receiving end of so much unpleasantness. She did apologize repeatedly (不好意思 can constitute a proper apology here, if said with sufficient sincerity in the right tone of voice ), but your party wouldn’t let it go, blew a gust of dissatisfaction into a typhoon, and disturbed every other customer in the restaurant. We can presume that she went as far as she believed she could in attempting to assuage the perturbingly unrestrained anger with which she was confronted, but it wasn’t enough for some members of your group, and she was as helpless as hapless in being able to do anything to stem the rising tide of fury directed against her.

I sympathize with the other diners, who had their dining experience spoiled by this row. If I had been there, I might have been tempted to come over to your table and suggest to those getting most worked up that they might consider toning it down and seeking more appropriate means of presenting and obtaining recourse for their complaint. Such as writing a complaint addressed to the owner, and impressing upon the manageress that she must bring the matter to his attention and have him communicate his response to you. Or something else, but not going ballistic in a way that affected everyone else in the restaurant.

As I said, I sympathize with you for encountering such shocking negligence by the restaurant staff, which could have had dangerous consequences if the screw had been unwittingly swallowed. But I do think the matter could have been handled better, possibly by the manageress, certainly by those in your party.

[dan2006]

If you were the owner, or if you were the manager who had authority from his boss to do that. It's highly doubtful this the manageress involved in this incident had any such authority, and it's likely she was offering as much as she understood herself to be authorised to offer.

And there is the problem right there.

The so called 'managers' with no actual power to enact any resolution. Don't call yourself a manager if you can't resolve something to a customers satisfaction, especially something so serious as this. And if she is not empowered to help, then she shouldn't have refused getting the owner involved, when it became obvious that this group wasn't going to be satisfied with what was offered.

Essentially, you can't help? Then shut up and get out of the way to let me talk to someone who can.

[Mother Theresa]

I'm not casting aspersions on the OP. Not at all. We just don't know what happened (and probably the waitress didn't either), but FYI. . .

A man who stuffed a dead mouse into his Taco Bell burrito in a botched extortion attempt was sentenced Friday to 16 to 30 months in prison.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197 ... z23D1KsPAj

Baltimore's notorious "Galloping Gourmet" is up to his old tricks once more. The man, whose real name is Andrew Palmer, made a name for himself by faking seizures at fancy restaurants in order to avoid paying his bill.

http://boston.grubstreet.com/2012/08/ba ... urmet.html

A woman who identified herself as Melissa is currently in police custody after she attempted to fleece the Mei Tung Restaurant . . . the newspaper had one Faye as an employee and that she had promised to cause to be published a report that he had served her a meal that contained a cockroach. He said that the woman was demanding $100,000 to settle the matter. . . the woman had tried the same thing at New Thriving and it was at this point in time that the police was called in.

http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2011/ ... staurants/


Should they always compensate the customers immediately in every case without hesitation?

In what amount? The one bad meal? The entire table? US$100K, as demanded in the above cockroach case?

[archylgp]

If you were the owner, or if you were the manager who had authority from his boss to do that. It's highly doubtful this the manageress involved in this incident had any such authority, and it's likely she was offering as much as she understood herself to be authorised to offer.

And there is the problem right there.

The so called 'managers' with no actual power to enact any resolution. Don't call yourself a manager if you can't resolve something to a customers satisfaction, especially something so serious as this. And if she is not empowered to help, then she shouldn't have refused getting the owner involved, when it became obvious that this group wasn't going to be satisfied with what was offered.

Essentially, you can't help? Then shut up and get out of the way to let me talk to someone who can.

Unfortunately, bosses are usually bad - she / he probably would of taken the meals out of the managers probably already small pay check. But, the OP did deserve to have all the meals free, considering they weren't eating them after they found the screw. (right?)

[ChewDawg]

If you were the owner, or if you were the manager who had authority from his boss to do that. It's highly doubtful this the manageress involved in this incident had any such authority, and it's likely she was offering as much as she understood herself to be authorised to offer.

Have you ever worked in a restaurant? Surely you must understand that managers or manageresses (as you refer above) in most restaurants have a wide degree of latitude in what they can do (discounts, promotions, give aways etc.). It would have been very easy to say "free meal for you, let me serve you some of our best alcohol, and let me give you a further sampling of our menu." Such attention would have calmed things down. If you don't give this authority to your staff crew, you are basically hiring mindless sheep that will piss off more customers with their indifference. Sounds as if the hired help really need to learn the learned art of customer service.