Was I right to walk out of restaurant ?

Soldato
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What do those that do walk out, do about their drinks? Normally I find they can be quick enough to take your order and bring drinks over but then delayed with food.

You might not have entered into a contract to pay for the food at that point, but I'm sure by the time you've had a few slurps at your drink you'll have to pay for those.

Yes, you pay for what you’ve received at the point at which you decide to leave.
 
Soldato
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Yes, I'd do the exact same in that situation. The owner/manager saying you should pay before leaving is a moron. I'd have paid for any drinks I'd had up until that point but that would be it.

Once you're up ready to go, I'm gone. Decision made.
 
Soldato
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Hope this is a joke? It's akin to going out in a tractor to purposely drive Infront of delivery vans. It's cruel because you know your actions have a negative impact on another human beings life.

Working in retail at some point in your life develops ( well should) empathy towards others.
Being a former retail worker, people abandoning trolleys of stuff isn't that bad, the worst job is prolly decarding and facing up shelves, just going around with a trolly, putting stuff back and chatting to people is a good job to have :)
 
Caporegime
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I walk out all the time if the service is not good enough. When I'm in the supermarket and realise I don't need/want something I just throw it in whatever Isle I'm on. Got to make them earn their wage!



Of course you do Timmy.

Now off you pop, your fish fingers are ready.
 
Man of Honour
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The latter isn't really the supermarkets fault though is it, if everyone decides to swarm them past their capacity?

What exactly can they do about that?
They should staff appropriately and open more tills for peak periods. It is within their control. If there aren't any more tills to open then they designed the store to maximise profit at the expense of their customers time.
 
Soldato
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We’ve all had to wait too long for food before and yes after a reasonable amount of time has been exceeded you can of course walk away assuming no food/drinks have been consumed.

Did I ever tell you all about the time I had to wait nearly an hour for a meal? Nope because you’d all be bored :D

OP if you ever truly want to experience a wait for food order a fillet of fish from McDonald’s.
 
Soldato
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For what its worth to you guys that dont work in restaurants, Just eat, Deliveroo, etc all have priority over seated guests. When I worked at Toby carvery, 90% of the stuff is cooked and just put into take away packaging, but when you have 20 tickets each with at least 3-4 meals, thats a good damn lot of food to pack up. You barely have 5 mins to get an order ready for the drivers. When the drivers are waiting they are losing money and get arsey with the staff. This is my experience from working in restaurants. Obviously not all places use Just eat or Deliveroo etc. So if you are waiting long for your food I can say its because of deliveries if not the fact that the kitchen is probably short staffed as most kitchens are unless is a Michelin gaff.


And for me that's an issue that needs to be gotten rid off. If a restaurant cannot manage it's in-house and delivery guests then one of the 2 should go. As a patron I've taken the time to come and support your business. I shouldn't be made 2nd fiddle to some lard **** who couldn't be bothered to leave the house.

At which point, if I were a restaurant owner I'd be telling the driver and the delivery service provider that the driver is no longer welcome at my establishment. I would not allow my staff to be belittled or abused by anyone.
 
Associate
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Surely just completing the current purchase, even if there is a slight delay is still the quicker and less stressful option.

Get out of here with your logic and reasonable thoughts.

Not long ago i picked up a refrigerated coconut milk from the long life isle, when i got to the checkout it wasn't discounted which alarmed me to the fact that someone just ditched the refrigerated one in the long life isle. At worst if it was gone off it would have tasted iffy, but point being the laziness caused me and staff hassle.

In regards to OP, sure walking out is fine if they said a timescale completely different to what was given. But if they were "ringing the police", then was probably an indication of not worth going there again. Going to mcdonalds was probably a mistake though :p
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Jun 2007
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As a restauranteur the OP's situation was not handled correctly. Poor communication within the industry causes so much trouble.

As for the simple dish. That doesn't really push you up the list. Sometimes it might but ONLY if the kitchen is prepping more of those dishes. Its only slightly harder to prepare 2 of the same dishes than it is one. So the other table may have ordered a meal which was a duplicate of one that was already about to me made and that is why they got theirs sooner.

However the OP should really have told a waitress they were cancelling the order before walking out.

However just to add. The hospitality industry is on its *rse right now. So many chef's have retrained as something else and no-one wants the high stress, usually crappy wages and long hours. So Please help them out and be a little more sympathetic.
The world is short staffed. Don't take it out on the ones that showed up.
 
Soldato
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Also if people have booked a table and for one reason or another, can’t make the booking. Many don’t bother to contact the restaurant to say they can’t make it.

lt only takes a couple of minutes to ring the restaurant to say you can’t come to free the table for another group.
 
Associate
OP
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We’ve all had to wait too long for food before and yes after a reasonable amount of time has been exceeded you can of course walk away assuming no food/drinks have been consumed.

Did I ever tell you all about the time I had to wait nearly an hour for a meal? Nope because you’d all be bored :D

OP if you ever truly want to experience a wait for food order a fillet of fish from McDonald’s.
If you visit a McDonald's which is situated in an East Asian area, then you will get your fillets in no time, as majority of the people in the area cannot eat the meat dishes.
 
Man of Honour
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However just to add. The hospitality industry is on its *rse right now. So many chef's have retrained as something else and no-one wants the high stress, usually crappy wages and long hours. So Please help them out and be a little more sympathetic.
The world is short staffed. Don't take it out on the ones that showed up.

Going out to eat is often a treat to some people. In a time when a lot of people are under financial stress it should be the restaurant making the customer have a good time to attract their business. The customer shouldn't be expected to put up with a shoddy service to help the restaurant out.

I rarely take the family to eat out because of the cost and lack of time I have. If the experience is good I will be back. If its poor then I won't.
 
Associate
OP
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18 Jul 2015
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439
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London
Get out of here with your logic and reasonable thoughts.

Not long ago i picked up a refrigerated coconut milk from the long life isle, when i got to the checkout it wasn't discounted which alarmed me to the fact that someone just ditched the refrigerated one in the long life isle. At worst if it was gone off it would have tasted iffy, but point being the laziness caused me and staff hassle.

In regards to OP, sure walking out is fine if they said a timescale completely different to what was given. But if they were "ringing the police", then was probably an indication of not worth going there again. Going to mcdonalds was probably a mistake though :p
I think this was just to scare me.
I doubt I will visit that place again, as I live over 130 miles from premises. But they do make exceedingly good food
 
Soldato
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Required
In this kind of industry, with margins so tight, the outcome is one of "mostly happy" customer service, with most customers leaving satisfied, some not. The economic gain of the few unsatisfied customers I suspect is not large enough to warrant spending more money on more staff and staff training to fix. The end result is a mediocre experience all round for everyone, and the whole industry is one big compromise.

Of course it doesn't help that a huge chunk of a restaurant's expenses is their landlord, because a lot of chain restaurants are built on the borrow as much as possible & open as many branches as possible mentality.
 
Man of Honour
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If you visit a McDonald's which is situated in an East Asian area, then you will get your fillets in no time, as majority of the people in the area cannot eat the meat dishes.

That may be okay for people who live in Bradford, Leicester, Southall, or Tower Hamlets, but fortunately for them, most people don’t.

Is that why they bring the drinks early. As I prefer to drink after a meal.

My wife and I like to have an aperitif, a Kir, or Kir Royale, perhaps a Bellini, and depending how we feel, a Calvados or Armagnac after dinner.

There were no couriers coming to collect an order whilst we were seated for over 40 minutes; unless there is a back entrance for them, which I don't think there was.

I think that’s more than likely, there is a pizza joint that I order from online then collect, couriers are constantly walking in from the back while I’m there, a local Indian is the same.

Not long ago i picked up a refrigerated coconut milk from the long life isle, when i got to the checkout it wasn't discounted which alarmed me to the fact that someone just ditched the refrigerated one in the long life isle. At worst if it was gone off it would have tasted iffy, but point being the laziness caused me and staff hassle.

In regards to OP, sure walking out is fine if they said a timescale completely different to what was given. But if they were "ringing the police", then was probably an indication of not worth going there again. Going to mcdonalds was probably a mistake though :p

I’d agree with you in principle, but, and don’t get me wrong, was it wise to anticipate a discount on the coconut milk?
If you wanted it guaranteed “not iffy”, might it not have been better to get one from the refrigerated section, rather than get £1 knocked off, then finding it ‘on the turn’?
As for ringing the police, who would they look for, IF they ever turned up, a guy in jeans and a white shirt, accompanied by a woman in a flowery blouse and black skirt?
Better call Sherlock Holmes!

Also if people have booked a table and for one reason or another, can’t make the booking. Many don’t bother to contact the restaurant to say they can’t make it.
It only takes a couple of minutes to ring the restaurant to say you can’t come to free the table for another group.

Which is the reason that many good restaurants ask for a credit card number when a reservation is made, then if the customer is a no-show, without advising the restaurant, they will be billed X amount per person.
 
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