My wife and I picked up our daughter who lives in downtown Charleston SC yesterday. We were going to drive back out to Tanger Outlet to iHop but I was on a tight window of time since I had a podcast interview to do at 2 pm. So, we opted to go eat at the KFC/Taco Bell fast food restaurant that is about 5 min from my daughter's place.
Our experience was less than optimal. Here is why
I missed the first driveway since I was going too fast to slow down. If you miss the one entrance to the store you had to go down half a block and turn right onto a street then another right into the parking lot. That was my fault, not the store so I take responsibility for this. The parking lot was a lake due to all of the rain we had. I had to make a run through the drive through going the wrong direction to get to the other side. It was do that or swim. I opted to risk a slow motion head on collision with another customer.
In this case it worked out and no one was coming. Whew!!
We go into the restaurant and I ordered an 8 piece family meal which came with 8 pieces of chicken, two sides and 4 biscuits. The poor lady that took my order looked like she was angry with the world. She barely gave me eye contact when she asked me for my name. Ok, so she is not a people person. WRONG JOB!!!
Katy, daughter and I got our drinks and sat down in the dining area. My name was called and my daughter (Koala) went up to pick up our food. She was told two things. NO biscuits. No plates. Excuse me? I can live without NO biscuits but NO plates? How are we supposed to eat Mac N Cheese and mashed potatoes with gravy? Are we just supposed to scoop it out with our spoons out of the container? Or put it on a napkin and eat it from there?
I remained seated and let Koala (her nickname) and Katy go do the talking. They knew not to let me deal with it because I would not have been as nice as them. Luckily a manager was making rounds in the dining area and I let her know that we were told NO biscuits and NO plates. Just like that, no explanation, no apologies, no offer for a refund. Just a “go sit down and eat your damn meal and leave me alone” look.
The manager actually offered an apology and asked which person told us NO plates. I guess she figured it was a teachable moment for the staff member. We were showered upon with multiple to go type plates within about 4 minutes. Yeah! We were not going to have to eat like cave people. I mean, I dont mind finger food but our sides were not exactly finger food.
Katy was going to leave a bad review on Yelp. Is that even a thing any more. Do people read those reviews and comment on them? I told Katy not to so I could regale you with our sub optimal experience at this particular KFC in downtown Charleston.
Something tells me that the staff was not accustomed to people coming in to the restaurant to order food and sit down to eat it. Also, if you know that you are out of biscuits offer me an extra side to make up for it. Don't just shrug your head at me and tell me that is life, suck it up butter cup.
Also, I know that interacting with the public can be stressful at times. Make an effort to start the encounter off on the right foot by smiling, giving eye contact and saying hello. That tells me that you are acknowledging my presence and that I an imporant customer. The customer is the reason for your pay check. Without customers, guess what? The parking lot can be used for the neighborhood crack dealers to sell their junk. Who knows, maybe that is already happening.
How about you dear readers. Do you have any bad dining experiences to share with us?