4 ms·

My best suggestion for the author of the post, is to return to the restaurant. Be gracious, say please and thank you. Make sure your kid is especially well beha

My best suggestion for the author of the post, is to return to the restaurant. Be gracious, say please and thank you. Make sure your kid is especially well behaved. Tip well (30% plus). When you get the chance, tell the owner that you come an extra distance because you appreciate her food and enjoy the place. Because it's a touchy subject now, don't quibble about the bill (even if there's clearly a mistake). For a while, don't worry about the promotion. Just be a good customer. You'll see, in time, that her attitude will soften, and things will be comfortable again. It's hard to run a business, whether it's a startup or a breakfast spot. There are lots of stresses your customers will never see, and a lot of burdens. Especially financial burdens on non-venture-funded/bootstrapped businesses like the breakfast place. Maybe she snapped, maybe she overreacted. Maybe there's more to it than you realize. Maybe she gets annoyed with people who are too exacting about small financial things. It doesn't matter. Just be a good customer to her. It's he best thing you can do.

vacri 14y ago
I found it particularly ironic that the author considered this a 'single transaction' from the eatery's side, but a 'lifelong' transaction from his side. If you're really not worried about single transactions, pay up today, and get the discount next time. Extrapolated out, you make the loss of an amazing $1.25 - instead of wasting your own time and causing a scene.
- jsonmez 14y ago
  The difference is being the customer vs being the service provider. As the customer I have options, I can go elsewhere. I pay for food service because I get service, I can get food anywhere. When I stop getting service, I stop paying. Do I really care about the $10? No, but it makes a great point for a blog post.
  - vacri 14y ago
    I don't care about the food or the service in your story, it's irrelevant to my point. I care about you having different standards for the two parties. Standing on principle over a measly $1.25 is 'single-transactioning'. If you were really concerned about your lifetime transactions, you'd take the blip and keep on running. You've already said that the eatery has 'high quality food and higher quality service', so it's clear that this behaviour is not the norm. So what you're saying here is that at the sign of the first mis-step, you're out the door? That means you see it as a series of single transactions.
    - jsonmez 14y ago
      Actually, I had said it was around a $10 transaction, which I agree is also not important. But what is very important to me is that on my relaxation time (which I have so little of, hence the value)-- I am surrounded by the atmosphere that gives me peace and makes me feel good. That is the point of going to a nice little cafe with my family. This cafe has a history of bad reviews which parallel my experience and I rather go to a place I feel valued at. So, I am actually looking at things in the bigger scope. I have enough information to know that I don't want to pay money to be mistreated. I don't see that as a double standard in any way. I do understand your point though and I still think it is a good point, just not in this particular situation, because of the circumstances. In a 100 other circumstances, I would agree with you 100%. If that makes me a hypocrite in your eyes, then so be it. I didn't even want to make as big of a deal as it as it is. It didn't ruin my day by any means... Just wanted to use it as a point for this post.
      - paulsutter 14y ago
        Funny, I thought we were talking about karma. You're right, you don't owe her anything. Or yourself. Just stay home with clenched fists and stay angry about it. Be sure to have some aspirin handy in case you have a heart attack. Call me crazy, but just for fun, you could try a mental experiment: imagine for a moment that she is in fact a deeply wise and loving person, and she was at that time doing just the right thing to teach you perfect patience. Just saying, neither you nor me can prove it true or false. Just saying, you know, it's a way to look at it. By the way, that's a gorgeous picture on your blog. Makes me want to go travel.
        Dylan16807 14y ago
        What is your point? You're basically making a counterargument of "you shouldn't care", and then throwing in a nonsense scenario with a taunting "can't prove me wrong". Your post bothers me. You're setting yourself up as the 'better man' and making it so you can mockingly dismiss anyone that disagrees with you.
        14y ago
dbrock 14y ago
It’s hard to run a business, but the hard part is not honoring your own stupid promotional gimmicks instead of using them to insult your customers and make them feel like complete idiots.

vacri 14y ago

I found it particularly ironic that the author considered this a 'single transaction' from the eatery's side, but a 'lifelong' transaction from his side. If you're really not worried about single transactions, pay up today, and get the discount next time. Extrapolated out, you make the loss of an amazing $1.25 - instead of wasting your own time and causing a scene.

jsonmez 14y ago
The difference is being the customer vs being the service provider. As the customer I have options, I can go elsewhere. I pay for food service because I get service, I can get food anywhere. When I stop getting service, I stop paying. Do I really care about the $10? No, but it makes a great point for a blog post.
- vacri 14y ago
  I don't care about the food or the service in your story, it's irrelevant to my point. I care about you having different standards for the two parties. Standing on principle over a measly $1.25 is 'single-transactioning'. If you were really concerned about your lifetime transactions, you'd take the blip and keep on running. You've already said that the eatery has 'high quality food and higher quality service', so it's clear that this behaviour is not the norm. So what you're saying here is that at the sign of the first mis-step, you're out the door? That means you see it as a series of single transactions.
  - jsonmez 14y ago
    Actually, I had said it was around a $10 transaction, which I agree is also not important. But what is very important to me is that on my relaxation time (which I have so little of, hence the value)-- I am surrounded by the atmosphere that gives me peace and makes me feel good. That is the point of going to a nice little cafe with my family. This cafe has a history of bad reviews which parallel my experience and I rather go to a place I feel valued at. So, I am actually looking at things in the bigger scope. I have enough information to know that I don't want to pay money to be mistreated. I don't see that as a double standard in any way. I do understand your point though and I still think it is a good point, just not in this particular situation, because of the circumstances. In a 100 other circumstances, I would agree with you 100%. If that makes me a hypocrite in your eyes, then so be it. I didn't even want to make as big of a deal as it as it is. It didn't ruin my day by any means... Just wanted to use it as a point for this post.
    - paulsutter 14y ago
      Funny, I thought we were talking about karma. You're right, you don't owe her anything. Or yourself. Just stay home with clenched fists and stay angry about it. Be sure to have some aspirin handy in case you have a heart attack. Call me crazy, but just for fun, you could try a mental experiment: imagine for a moment that she is in fact a deeply wise and loving person, and she was at that time doing just the right thing to teach you perfect patience. Just saying, neither you nor me can prove it true or false. Just saying, you know, it's a way to look at it. By the way, that's a gorgeous picture on your blog. Makes me want to go travel.
      - Dylan16807 14y ago
        What is your point? You're basically making a counterargument of "you shouldn't care", and then throwing in a nonsense scenario with a taunting "can't prove me wrong". Your post bothers me. You're setting yourself up as the 'better man' and making it so you can mockingly dismiss anyone that disagrees with you.
        14y ago

dbrock 14y ago

It’s hard to run a business, but the hard part is not honoring your own stupid promotional gimmicks instead of using them to insult your customers and make them feel like complete idiots.