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And that's part of the problem. I go to Super Duper in SF, and every time, the employee is forced to ask: "Have you been to Super Duper before?" If I say yes,
by deathanatos 8y ago
And that's part of the problem.
I go to Super Duper in SF, and every time, the employee is forced to ask: "Have you been to Super Duper before?" If I say yes, "Welcome back!" if I say no, "Welcome!"¹. It is pointless. All I want is lunch. Want to see that I've been here before? You have my credit card number…
¹The exact words might not be right, the point is that there is no meaningful difference to the customer between the responses.
- sergiomattei 8y agoNow that's just being antisocial.
- acjohnson55 8y agoLol, "have you dined with us before" is the most irritating thing. I usually want to say, "no, but I've dined at a thousand other restaurants, will this be radically unfamiliar?"
- adenadel 8y agoIn my experience servers ask this to find out if they should give the longer description of the menu or not. If you have been there before they might just tell you the specials, while if you haven't they'll tell you about some of the most popular items and anything unique about the way they do things (tapas style, etc.).
- acjohnson55 8y agoI've not once received useful information when answering this question honestly. Maybe because my face is also too honest :)
- airstrike 8y ago> All I want is lunch. All they want is to know whether they need to explain to you in detail or if you already have a sense of the menu. Not sure what you find odd with people trying to provide you good service. smh
- craftyguy 8y agoExcept in the case you're replying to.. which seems to indicate there's no difference in response from the employee.
- deathanatos 8y ago> All they want is to know whether they need to explain to you in detail or if you already have a sense of the menu. You missed the point of my post: they don't explain the menu to you in detail, if you answer in the negative. This particular part of their script occurs after you order to, so there isn't even an opportunity. Their menu is also bog-standard hamburgers, with not a whole lot of options. > trying to provide you good service No service is being provided during this part of the interaction, is my point. The whole thing would be more pleasurable if it was genuine, and not a forced, scripted word track.
- EpicEng 8y ago>"Welcome!"¹. It is pointless. All I want is lunch. Yeesh. If that bugs you then... just lighten up. Most people aren't anti-social to such an extreme. You're the odd man out here, not the rest of humanity.
- HarryHirsch 8y agoYou're the odd man out here, not the rest of humanity. Really? People like the forced conviviality? In San Francisco, one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country? With a sizable number of first-generation immigrants, unacculturated to the strange customs of the USA? Why can't we have attentive food service, where they pour you fresh coffee the second you sign them to but not earlier, and where they don't intrude on the conversation every 3 to 5 minutes?
- HeyLaughingBoy 8y agoYou can, you just have to avoid chain restaurants to do so.
- p49k 8y agorest of the US Most of the world doesn’t have the bizarre forced scripted friendliness in customer service that the US has. People are allowed to be polite or friendly in their own personal way.
- jackvalentine 8y agoI was shocked at how obviously insincere servers were when I first went to the US - at least in my home country sure you get grumps but when someone gives good service it feels like a connection with them... not a faux polite scripted exchange. I prefer it - but fast food countries value consistency over higher highs and lower lows.
- mulmen 8y agoIs using your credit card number for this purpose ethical? Is it legal? Is it desirable?