My dumb waitress story took an unexpected turn today. I'd said that
we'd gotten less than perfect service at that restaurant before but
never anything worth complaining about or not tipping for. At one point
I'd asked for more water, seen the waitress disappear into the kitchen
and forget all about it. No big deal. The restaurant wasn't crowded,
and I could understand being absent minded about something like that.
Another time I asked for a soup spoon because I'm one of those people
who eats spaghetti with a fork and spoon. She disappeared into the
kitchen that time too and later explained that she only had teaspoons
and so hadn't brought it. Both times she was friendly and apologetic.
Both times we tipped normally anyway. Both times the restaurant wasn't
crowded, but we weren't eating at peak dinner hour.


Then there was the time I told you about recently with the younger
waitress. That was only a few weeks ago. I said that one reason we
didn't complain to management was because management wasn't obviously on
the scene.


Jim drove by the restaurant on his way to somewhere else today. The
fixtures were outside, and the placard said AUCTION. Apparently the
whole time we were thinking that the service was subpar but not too
terrible, the whole place was so mismanaged that it was going out of
business.


I hate it when restaurants go out of business. I like a good variety of
them. I may not have loved the place, but I'm bummed that it is gone.
I can only hope that new management takes over the old space and puts in
a great restaurant.


--Lia

"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message

> Jim drove by the restaurant on his way to somewhere else today. The
> fixtures were outside, and the placard said AUCTION. Apparently the
> whole time we were thinking that the service was subpar but not too
> terrible, the whole place was so mismanaged that it was going out of
> business.

Sometimes people just don't know how to run a business. It is a tough
lesson. Evidently, others though the service was sup-par too.

Julia Altshuler wrote:
/snip/
> I hate it when restaurants go out of business. I like a good variety of
> them. I may not have loved the place, but I'm bummed that it is gone.
> I can only hope that new management takes over the old space and puts in
> a great restaurant.
>
>
> --Lia

I heard once that here in Toronto 500 new restaurants open every year.
If 500 didn't close we'd be knee deep in menus.

Cam

Julia Altshuler wrote:

> I hate it when restaurants go out of business. I like a good variety of
> them. I may not have loved the place, but I'm bummed that it is gone.
> I can only hope that new management takes over the old space and puts in
> a great restaurant.


Restaurants are one of the diciest businesses to get into. I watch that
BBC show Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, the one where he goes to
try and fix failing restaurants. The #1 problem is poor
ownership/management. The #2 is an incompentant head chef. #1 can fix
#2, but so often the owners have bought a line of BS from the guy, or
they just aren't tough enough to fire people when needed.



Brian

In article >,
Julia Altshuler > wrote:

> My dumb waitress story took an unexpected turn today. I'd said that
> we'd gotten less than perfect service at that restaurant before but
> never anything worth complaining about or not tipping for. At one point
> I'd asked for more water, seen the waitress disappear into the kitchen
> and forget all about it. No big deal. The restaurant wasn't crowded,
> and I could understand being absent minded about something like that.
> Another time I asked for a soup spoon because I'm one of those people
> who eats spaghetti with a fork and spoon. She disappeared into the
> kitchen that time too and later explained that she only had teaspoons
> and so hadn't brought it. Both times she was friendly and apologetic.
> Both times we tipped normally anyway. Both times the restaurant wasn't
> crowded, but we weren't eating at peak dinner hour.
>
>
> Then there was the time I told you about recently with the younger
> waitress. That was only a few weeks ago. I said that one reason we
> didn't complain to management was because management wasn't obviously on
> the scene.
>
>
> Jim drove by the restaurant on his way to somewhere else today. The
> fixtures were outside, and the placard said AUCTION. Apparently the
> whole time we were thinking that the service was subpar but not too
> terrible, the whole place was so mismanaged that it was going out of
> business.
>
>
> I hate it when restaurants go out of business. I like a good variety of
> them. I may not have loved the place, but I'm bummed that it is gone.
> I can only hope that new management takes over the old space and puts in
> a great restaurant.

Management doesn't read minds. Declining revenue might have clued the
owners in that there was a problem with the way their restaurant was
run, but if you really liked the place enough to eat there repeatedly
and regret its closing, you really should have informed the owners of
the problems you had. How can someone correct problems if they are not
aware that the problems exist?

Then again, perhaps the restaurant's owners just decided to retire, or
get into another line of business. Who knows?