[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Blarg,

"No, training people to do their jobs right is the part of their job that matters here. Again, what happens if the manager/owner is not around? Disaster always looms imminent? People can't be trusted not to screw up minor matters?"

Training employees to do things right is the owner/manager's responsbility, not the customer. When the owner/manager slips up in that way, that is when it is reasonable for the customer to escalate the issue to him.

As for things going haywire when the manager/owner, isn't around, yes, that is very standard for bars/restaurants.

Here's what happened:

Dad goes to family restaurant where he expects them to sing happy birthday
Dad asks hostess to confirm, she confirms
Waiter comes out with meal, nobody singing
Dad asks waiter about singing, waiter says they dont do it anymore
Dad asks waiter to speak w/ supervisor

I still fail to see where Dad is unreasonable in this process.

[/ QUOTE ]

At a loss here.

Never said it was the customer's job to train the staff. I said it was the staff's job to handle the customer, and it was the owner/manager's job to train the staff to do so. Dunno where that other came from.

As to the "here's what happened, what's wrong?" part:

Dad "expecting" something on arrival in restaurant doesn't work. I can expect anything I want anywhere I go, but that has no bearing on whether I'll get any of it or should.

Dad expecting something after hostess said he'd get it: fair.

Re: speaking with supervisor: I'm assuming hostess IS supervisor here. Or that at least the waiter had a supervisor somewhere.

Dad did nothing particularly dreadful by asking to speak to supervisor. However, if supervisor says, "Hey, I checked, sorry I misled you. We can't do that anymore," Dad has been told how it is and that should be the end of the story. Hostess was wrong, admitted mistake, apologized for it. What left is there besides creating grief? Bad luck. Oh well. Happens sometimes. Make mental note to consider taking your business elsewhere, especially if no comp offer is made.

Hostess should have handled the matter herself, and I agree that some comps might be in order. Free dessert(s), couple drinks, whatever.

If owner did not give hostess authority to handle it herself, then he did not design his business well, and if he gets dragged into things like this, it's his own fault. Since he didn't train her well enough to know his policies, he may well have not granted her authority to handle such matters by herself, either. In which case, he got his just desserts by doing a half-assed job and arranging it so customers could be easily dissatisfied and he'd have to hear about every little screw-up.