"customer service" news and stories

There's something oddly endearing about Samurai steakhouses in the Benihana mold. I'd always assumed it was the chefs' talent for flipping itty-bitty shrimp into their toques, or their ability to simultaneously pun and chop onions. But it turns out there's an even better reason to love Japanese steakhouses – their owners stand up for their servers.

While I can't vouch for official policy at all of the many Japanese steakhouses across the country, Kanpai Japanese Steak and Seafood House in Winston-Salem made headlines last week when it banned a bad tipper from ever eating there again.

"We can't keep continuing to serve her anymore because the servers and chefs are not willing to serve her," manager Michael Lam told a local television station.

Monica Covington clearly wasn't leaving bad tips because she was so dissatisfied with her experience at Kanpai. According to reports, she's dined there multiple times, and seems to be intent on remaining a customer. After she was refused service, she collected hundreds of signatures on a petition accusing the restaurant of unfairly standing between her and her teppanyaki.

Nichole McCready a manager at an Outback Steakhouse in Mansfield, Ohio, can handle the many grumblers who complain about bad service and substandard food quality. But what gets her really angry are those patrons who scheme to get free food in ways that may not be illegal, but are certainly manipulative and underhanded.

We feel her pain. Who wouldn't want to kick out the obnoxious customers who try to use expired coupons and then scream and yell when told those coupons are no longer valid?

"I'm happy to do whatever it takes to make the customers happy, but sometimes it just gets so frustrating when we feel like we're getting taking advantage of," the McCready tells Slashfood. "Our company is so worried about losing customers in this economy that no one will put them in their place and tell them no."

Ever wonder what happens when people find fault with a fast-food joint? Kyla Jones considers herself a reasonable person. As someone who has worked in customer service, she knows what it's like to be on the receiving end of an unwarranted phone tirade. Still, after receiving shoddy treatment from a KFC manager in Columbus, Ohio, she didn't hesitate to call the company's hot line to lodge a complaint.

In 2008, Jones and a companion began eating dinner around 8:30 p.m. at a KFC restaurant that closed at 9. Within ten minutes, they were approached brusquely by a manager and asked to leave without being allowed to finish their meals.

"We're closing in ten minutes, you have to go," Jones recalls him saying. "Do you want a box to put it in?" "He was just really abrupt and acting like us being there was a huge inconvenience," the 48-year-old continues. "Nothing like, 'I hope you're enjoying the food, but our employees need to go.' I sat there like a stunned deer in the headlights."

Sellers of surveillance cameras and point-of-sale systems make a big deal about how much restaurant employees steal: According to some estimates, staffers nationwide cheat their employers out of more than $8 billion a year.

That's a massive number. Even scarier for restaurant owners, most of the losses don't come in the form of easily foiled capers in which employees are stuffing their pants with steaks or siphoning beer off the taps. Instead, presumably well-meaning servers are giving away appetizers, failing to ring up coffees and helping themselves to fountain drinks. With management's blessing, my coworkers and I probably drink about 40 to-go cups of soda and tea every night.

But restaurant workers aren't the only culprits: A startlingly high number of customers filch what doesn't belong to them, and their motives are rarely innocuous. Intent on securing a souvenir or, perhaps, saving money on silverware, many restaurant guests treat the table like an all-you-can-take smorgasbord. And as the recession wears on, the problem seems to be getting worse.

Cutlery's by far the most popular item with thieving foodies, who seem to fancy specialized utensils like oyster forks and lobster crackers. A pint glass with the restaurant's name on it might as well be inscribed with the words "steal me." And while I've heard of customers pinching plates, candleholders and art, diners in my section seem to favor smaller trinkets.