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Michael Bauer posted a very interesting story from a reader on his SF Chronicle blog, Between Meals. The gist of it is that, on Mother's Day, the reader and his family showed up at a restaurant, arriving at the time of their reservation, to find that their table (and name) had been taken by another, already seated, party. The manager must not have believed that this family had actually placed the original reservation because, instead of offering to seat the displaced patrons as soon as possible, offering them free drinks in compensation, or even double-checking the cell phone number on the reservation, he said "you need to wait until a vacancy occurs in the reservation list. As it is Mother's Day, and we have only so many tables available, it may be an hour or so."
The family, less than thrilled about being treated as though they have never had a reservation, actually threatened to confront the party who stole the original reservation, but the manager finally, angrily, sat them. He then later instructed their (crying) waitress to tell them "that the kitchen was completely out of all the desserts, coffee and espresso" apparently is some attempt to take revenge on them.
I strongly suggest that you read the whole post to grasp the full craziness of this manager. True - the family might not have threatened a confrontation and the manager did have something invested in keeping the thieving party in the restaurant, but for the him to refuse to accommodate the family's reservation (after giving it away) is just ridiculous.
I have never had a reservation "stolen" from me in a restaurant, but I can only imagine how irritated I would be, especially on a holiday like Mother's Day when reservations are at a premium. The unfortunate thing about this incident is - poor service notwithstanding - that the thieving party will undoubtedly do it again because they "got away with it." We can only hope that they don't do it at a restaurant we're planning to eat at.
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5-31-2006 @10:18AM B said... After reading the story, I'm not sure who was the bigger jerk, the manager or the guy whose reservation was stolen. First he demands to be seated in 20 minutes, which is an impossibility on Mothers Day plus free drinks. When the Manager refuses that, he extorts a table by threatening to dump pitchers of water on the party who stole thier reservation.
Oh, and on Mothers day, your mom deserves a home-cooked meal. If you really want to take her out, go the night before.
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5-31-2006 @4:40PM Chek said... Well, that was an interesting story indeed. I would have done the same thing in his situation. You expect a level of service and respect when putting in reservations at a nicer restaurant. The manager was obviously in the wrong. He should have verified the the reservation info with the seated party and the "reservationless" party.
Demanding to be seated timely and a round of free drinks is not too much to ask. What's a round of drinks cost a place if it means making a customer happy and possibly gaining a returning customer?
My trick is always to get loud so people hear that there's a problem. If the restaurant were smart, they'd expedite your request.
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5-31-2006 @5:31PM Ana Charvat said... OMG! I followed the link and read the whole story. I'm not suprized since it was San Francisco...and after what the manager did at the end of these peoples dinner was just totally, ethically and morally wrong!
It's amazing that people really treat other people this way with no thought of remorse! How sad!
But then....that's the Bay Area for ya! I should know...I live here. I don't make 6 figures and I get treated like that all the time. I just laugh at them!
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