I had a rough experience the other day at my local gymnasium. I needed to drop an add-on feature from my account. I wasn’t using this feature and therefore felt my money was being thrown away each month. A simple request, right? You would think. I was told by the front desk employee that this wasn’t a simple request and I would have to meet with a sales representative at their convenience (they work from, uh, 9 to 6, fancy that, so do I!). I am sure you see where this is going so suffice it to say that when I finally sat down with the sales rep I was none to pleased to find out I was going to be charged $10 to make a simple notation on my account via a keyboard stroke.
I wanted to go home and rant about this on the Sac Rag, but alas the customer service Gods saw my dismay from up above and threw me a celestial bone. A few days later I visited the Jack’s Urban Eats restaurant at Loehmann’s Plaza as I do enjoy me a Jack’s salad. It was a crowded evening (I know, shocker) and we were dining with another couple so finding a table was imperative. As such, I sent Mrs. TopofIt to scout out the scene. She left me with specific instructions as to the type of salad she prefers. The list of ingredients is a simple one, but it all hinges on the salad dressing. Short story long, I finished up my order, paid, and sat down with my party salad in hand. My wife took one bite and quickly realized that I had chosen the wrong dressing.
Not to ruin a pleasant evening I quickly got up and got back into line (which was out the door at this point) to reorder the correct the salad. The employee that had just returned from delivering the rest of our order noticed me back in line and asked what the matter was. I sheepishly told him and he said “Oh, not a problem, what did you order?” I looked at him in amazement and began listing the salad ingredients. He wrote them down and said, “Have a seat, I’ll bring this right out.” I returned to my table and filled everyone in on what just transpired. Minutes later my salad hero returned with the correct salad, on the house! Now that’s what I’m talking about. As I said thank you for the 10th time he simply replied, “No worries, man, just tell your friends about us.”
Well, friends, consider yourselves told.
The Sac Rag 
Hm. Sounds like a similar experience I had with my gym.
I went in to change which of my cards my monthly membership was charged to. They accidentally started charging somebody else’s monthly fee to my new card, and continued charging mine on my old card.
I went in to get it fixed, and thought it was all over with, but all they did was stop charging me the other guy’s account. I had to call and go back into the gym so many times that I lost count. I kept bringing in printed receipts and bank statements. It took them three months to refund twenty-five dollars.
Something tells me that their customer service is built to be difficult to retract by design. You’d think the money you were giving them was barbed or something.
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So, what’s the preferred dressing? The gorgonzola is my perennial favorite, tossed with romaine lettuce, jicama, roasted red peppers, beets, kidney & garbanzo bean mix, croutons, kalamata olives, and chicken (just in case anyone is heading over there for lunch & wants to pick up a salad for me.)
Regarding the customer service issue, I’ve been having weekly conversations with Dish Network over the account that I had at my house that I sold last summer. My favorite part was when I was talking to a “customer service” person, and I asked to speak with her manager. She put me on hold, and then she came back on the line professing to be a different person. I’d like to think that if I had the chance to inflict harm on her that Tom Sullivan would bail me out too.
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Gym’s are one of the biggest scams going. I signed up and missed the “when your year is up we will charge your account ad infinium unless you send in a cancellation notice written in the blood of a virgin.” clause, they drew out the $29.00 for like a year before the wife asked me what the charge was for. I called them and even thought their records showed I had not been in over a year, they would not cancel the pending charge, I had to submit in writing 30 days prior to cancellation. I suspect that the place was in financial trouble as the owner clung to my $29.00 like it was the last lifeboat on the Titanic. The indy business was soon after replaced by a chain, and I never got the satisfaction of eating five pounds of asparagus, urinating in a locker and locking it with one of those krypton locks. I decided I needed a new approach to fitness after that.
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Preferred dressing – honey dijon vinaigrette. Romaine, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, marinated mushrooms, marinated onions, croutons and steak to top it.
Now he is another little customer service RIGHT AWN! that I experienced last week… Go to Rubio’s on Marconi for some lunch. Get there and realize that my wallet is next to the computer (hazard of online shopping). Call Mr Topofit to see if I can get a credit card number from him to pay for it. Get to the register – ALL I tell her is that I forgot my wallet and is there anyway my husband can give her the numbers over the phone. NO sob story, no favors asked… nothing. She just smiles back and tells me to catch her next time and what would I like. I have to catch my breath and clarify… you want me to just “catch you next time??” She is confident and says yes.
(I am by no means a regular – and she doesn’t know me from adam)I gasp and order my burro. Then continue to offer driver’s license numbers, laptop computers, mother’s maiden name… she wants nothing. Not even my name. Couldn’t believe it. Had to bring her back a tip when I returned, but just thanked her profusely. It is so nice to get some real hometown customer service.
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That’s very nice to hear. Way to go Rubio’s. I’ve actually had the same experience at Peet’s. Did I mention I love Peet’s?
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Here’s a good article about what questions to ask before joining a gym. The tip about avoiding initiation fees is good, too.
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Is there an etiquette regarding the seating situation at that Jack’s? Is it a kill-or-be-killed /every man for himself? Some people wait for everyone in their party to go through the line before selecting a table. Others , upon arriving at Jack’s, send an advance scout to “hover” near the dining area to secure the first available seat (booth, if you’re lucky) while the food orderers stands in line.
Nothing is more heartbreaking than when you and your dining companion are nearing the finish line (cash register) and a seat that you were starting to covet gets claimed by an advance scout from a group that just walked in the door as you’re handing your money over to the cashier (it actually makes my buffalo chicken salad lose some of its flavor). I’ve started to adopt the “if you can’t beat ’em” philosophy, though it makes me feel bad when we cut off a family of four that was way ahead of us in line and we steal “their” seat and they’re left to either go eat outside or hold their food while they wait for something to open up.
Is there a guideline here? Is it more acceptable for a party of four to send someone to reserve a seat than it is for a party of two? Does having a baby with you make you more deserving of a table than people who, quite frankly, don’t care about your baby and feel that you should have thought about the dining room situation at Jack’s before deciding to procreate?
Similarly, if after waiting in line at my favorite coffee place during a busy hour, I observe someone enter the store and place their crap (backpack, newspaper, etc.) on the last available table before they enter the queue, am I within my rights to go sit at that table anyways and then explain to the usurper that I didn’t mind them temporarily storing their crap on my table while they stood in line behind all the people who were there before them?
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Norm, you bring up solid points/questions.
The seating scout thing is very slippery. It makes more sense some times (Jack’s) over others (coffee place).
I think if you are solo, you gotta find your own seat after waiting in line. If your party is two or more, scout away…
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But if it’s a party of two or more, shouldn’t at least one of the people in the party sit at the table to hold it, rather than having someone leave some personal article on the table to hold it?
I’ve seen “empty” tables with notebooks (the paper kind, not laptop) and other things to signify someone is about to sit there.
That kind of irks me — but not as much as it irks me to see people using 2 or 4 top tables by themselves at Whole Foods, rather than using the long table intended for people eating on their own. The long “solo” table is plenty wide enough to spread out a magazine or other reading material while eating.
And whatever happened to offering one’s seat to the elderly, obviously pregnant, and those with small children? I feel like those of us who do are a dying breed.
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At Jacks, I scout regularly. I send our almost 6 year old to sit at tables AND I have left a notebook that read “RESERVED”. I don’t really see any need to contact Miss Manners in a cafeteria style restaurant. Please feel free to join me if there are additional seats left at our table – although I have never sat by myself at a four top.
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Gentle Reader,
Miss Manners clutches her pearls at the horror of cafeteria-style eating, but she would certainly write you a thank you note on her tastefully monogrammed stationery should you offer her a spare seat at your table.
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Yes, in the absence of any kind of rule about it, this is just one of those things. We all reserve the right to send the advance scout to get a table, and then the one time we forget to do it and we have our food and no seat, we all reserve the right to be outraged at Those People who sent advanced scouts to get tables.
Also I think the line becomes a priority queue (for you computer programmers out there)… a party of 6 with little kids, people in wheelchairs, etc. vs a party of 2 who strolled in from shopping at Pavilions? It’s a delicate balance we live in here in the 916…
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What about if a party of four little kids in wheelchairs, a Rabbi and a Priest walk into a cafeteria-style eatery?
Also, aren’t you being insensitive if you don’t include translations of “RESERVED” into Spanish, Vietnamese and braille?
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First, I witnessed the thumbs-up customer service at Jack’s of which RonTopofIt speaks. I was awestruck.
To answer norm’s question regarding including various translations of the RESERVED notation Mrs. TopofIt and I left at a table at Jack’s, we may have run afoul of the ADA but the federal courts confirm that nobody has a right to have anything (save voting materials and such) printed in any language other than English. Go figure. So, culturally insensitive we may be in staking our claim to a table, but kudos to our fellow diners for respecting oursimple notice on a yellow legal pad and finding somewhere else to sit. I love Sacramento.
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