I Hate To Complain, But...

I try really hard not to be a complainer, especially with the restaurant industry since I was a server for numerous years during my college career. I try to give grace when it seems like someone is having a bad day, because I know there are probably many other customers contributing to that bad day. Here it comes...the but. But, when someone in the service industry can't even offer an "I'll be right with you" that is when I get a little upset.

A couple weeks ago, Tolar, Baby K and I were headed to South Carolina to visit with my sister and her family. We stopped at one of our favorite fast food places, Arby's. Come on, tell me you don't love their roast beef sandwiches. Trying not to bore you with too many details, we walked in, waited by the cash register to order and just continued to wait. The workers saw us, several people even made eye contact with us. But no one said "I'll be right with you" or anything of the sort. They just left us standing there. We stood there a little while longer hoping to order, but nothing. So we left.

We were upset, mainly because we really wanted those yummy roast beef sandwiches. I quickly went to Arby's website and couldn't find an e-mail address to let them know about our visit, so I just tweeted about the encounter instead. And Arby's was FANTASTIC about following up.

I received a tweet the same day from Arby's Guest Support asking me to send them my contact info so they could follow up with me. I was impressed that they responded so quickly but I'll be honest and say that I thought someone would just e-mail or call me with a quick apology about what happened and that be it. But that was not the case. I received two calls and an e-mail from Arby's Corporate Office apologizing for what happened. And I also received a call from the General Manager of the actual Arby's restaurant that we left. She ended up speaking with my husband and offered him a huge apology as well. She was incredibly friendly and personable and we greatly appreciated her call. I can only imagine how tough that is to cold call someone that you know was upset with your establishment. And Arby's is making right on their failure, they are sending us some coupons in the mail to give them another try.

Well done Arby's. I really appreciate your follow up and your attention to our needs. Because of the superb way they handled everything we will remain Arby's customers. And I'm so glad, because I really love those roast beef sandwiches (in case you couldn't figure that out yet).