I complained when I didn’t get a fuku bag last year, but I didn’t complain about the broken Meh sunglasses and lack of a Meh sticker in my fuko in the summer.
I’ll complain without too much provocation, but always respectfully. And the person I’m voicing my concern to is never the bad guy, they’re someone that I can work with to fix something that shouldn’t have gone wrong.
In other words it’s possible to complain and stand up for your rights as a consumer / customer without being a dick.
@melonscoop
I was thinking, “Where is the option ‘I don’t complain’?” Is it uncommon for people not to complain about everything? If something needs to be said, constructively criticize, don’t complain.
@DVDBZN I won’t complain about something small. But when my $100 drill breaks after a year, I’ll call the company and give them a chance to make things right. Complain isn’t really the best word to describe how these things should go.
I don’t generally complain unless I’m purchasing a thing, and the thing is unusable, or unless some business asks me to complain, in which case I criticize them.
Cold food rates as, “chew chew. Meh. Maybe it’ll be hot next time.”
I am usually more passive-aggressive about it. Like with the McDonalds on State; it’s always kinda crappy service and not-great food, so I usually just go to the one on Veteran’s Memorial; that place is magical.
Most of the time, I don’t consider things important enough to complain about.
@Charcoalwolfman Just a suggestion to perhaps save you a bit of dough.
Return to the McDonald’s on State, wait for the poor service then go home and write a well thought out script. Then call corporate for that store, explain the cost to loss ratio and how they could improve those numbers, making note of the various differences in experience between the two that you visit.
Most likely, the two are owned by separate parent companies, but either way I’d suspect at least a visit from corporate would be warranted from a well thought out comparison, and how it impacts their bottom dollar.
This could just be a matter of poor management at the local store, and with any luck could be remedied. Corporate is usually too busy swimming in money to have a grasp on Every one of their stores and do appreciate the feedback greatly.
However, if it’s a case of one store being more ‘urban’ than the other, nothing can really be done.
Bottom line is find a good Dairy Queen, they’ve got better food, better desserts, and nearly always a younger workforce made up of sexy white girls from the suburbs. And of course the $5 meal deal, running all day through October. $5! How can this price be beaten, really?! 5 (or 6 sometimes) chicken strips, gravy (if they still have it in their store), fries, a drink, and a sundae. You can’t even get a chicken sandwich at McDonald’s for that. You’d end up paying over $12 for this same meal at McDonald’s with lack of sexy young white girls (available in participating locations).
It’s gotta be at least three issues for me to complain. Like when I got a growler and the bartender filled it without noticing the top was cracked… [1. wasted money on broken bottle], it leaked in the car [2. annoying cleanup] and I didn’t know if there was glass in the beer [3. safety concern, drank it anyway]
I stand up to people who mistreat service workers: teenagers, grumpy old men, and drama-mamas. If I see someone being raked over the coals about something trivial…I go after the person doing the complaining; 9 times out of 10 they immediately apologize for the tirade. We are all human. Things happen. We learn from it. Life is good.
I don’t generally bitch. However, if whatever did not go as expected, I will let a manager know so they may do as they see fit. Most people in retail and restaurants have very little control over policy, so take it to a manager and let them decide. They are the ones that hired the person, and will ultimately be more effected by that then a one time customer. Likewise, if a service was beyond my expectations, I am also asking for a manager to let them know.
I have been in management since my 20’s. I am not in retail or a restaurant, but customer service is just that no matter what field. As a manager, I want to know how my employees are doing. Good and Bad.
Restaurant wise, I will probably just eat the food and say meh to my wife. The only exception is if there are onions that are visible in the meal (if I can’t see them/they are cooked down in the sauce then it is fine.) I have alliumphobia, and can’t deal with that nonsense.
I’m more likely to speak the more I like a store/restaurant /whatever and want to return. Otherwise I appreciate the opportunity to strike a place off my list.
@Pantheist I’m just the opposite. I feel like with big or national companies, my voice is not even noticeable. But with a small, local business, especially one I like, I feel like constructive criticism is heard, acted on, and needed. Just yesterday, I took an out of town guest to the most popular local Tex Mex restaurant for breakfast. I’d never been there for breakfast, but their lunches have all been great. I took my guest there because I was hoping to show off cool stuff about my town. The restaurant has been in business for amost 100 years, the fourth generation of owners cooks there now. It’s across the street from the famously haunted Concordia cemetery, where John Wesley Hardin and other gunfighters are buried, with its special sections for the Buffalo Soldiers and the Chinese workers who built the railroad. The meal was terrible. I was so disappointed, and didn’t get to take my guest to any other local places to redeem our cuisine’s reputation. So I’m going to try to find an email address for the owners and let them know they need to improve.
@moondrake That makes sense. I think the different styles are because we expect different results. I don’t expect anything to change when I complain besides to get a discount, new product, or my money back. I feel bad for smaller places since it typically hurts them more to provide that sort of solution, and I used to be a waiter so I try to cut them slack.
Do I really really care? Is it something that can be fixed? Do I care enuf to spend the time/energy, and someone else’s time? Then I might take it on.
Usually just live w it.
I do try to be very polite to overseas CS people working from a script who can’t fix anything. Those people are always incredibly polite to me. I just escalate.
Once in a while I get pushy. Never vulgar, no cursing, and I always make it clear that I don’t blame the CS person I’m talking to. And I always wind up apologizing for being irritable or difficult, if I think I’m likely guilty of it.
Today
(Amz overseas CS answers, asks how she can help. She does not ask for my email or order #. But she is incredibly sweet and polite.)
Me: Amz shipped me blah blah blah with express 1 day shipping, and UPS delivered it to an erroneous address. And I need it today.
Amz: how can I help you?
Me: can you check your tracking, contact UPS, see if they can locate it and deliver it correctly? (She still has not gotten my order # or my email)
Amz: how do I do that?
I didn’t want to follow the temptation to start being difficult or acting frustrated. She was so sweet! I just made a fake excuse to get off the phone, called back, got US cust service, who understood the prob and fixed it. UPS had delivered down the street to a large biz. They retrieved the shipment and got it to me.
I suspect it is corp policy for many large companies to make things so impenetrable and difficult - esp involving privacy and standing policies - that you can’t even figure out what they’re doing to you, and you quit trying.
I try not to complain too much. I’ve worked retail for way too long. The shit people complain about makes my head spin. During the hurricane preparation, we had customers cursing us out because we ran out of stuff, days after the track had us in the path.
I do remember my last complaint. I’m more likely to complain about bad food than anything else. I was at a Cracker Barrel and my pancakes were obviously burnt, and the burnt sides were flipped downwards so the server wouldn’t of noticed. I ate around the burnt parts as much as I could, but a lot of the pancake tasted burnt anyway. I told the server I didn’t want more pancakes, but I wanted them to be aware that the cook was sending out burnt stuff. She ended up getting the manager and they comped my meal. I tipped the server, since it wasn’t her fault.
I complained when I didn’t get a fuku bag last year, but I didn’t complain about the broken Meh sunglasses and lack of a Meh sticker in my fuko in the summer.
You’d damn near need to throw a punch to get me to complain. Working retail for a decade makes you extremely sympathetic
@TheGreatNico i would even give advice on how and where to punch to get the maximum effect
I’ll complain without too much provocation, but always respectfully. And the person I’m voicing my concern to is never the bad guy, they’re someone that I can work with to fix something that shouldn’t have gone wrong.
In other words it’s possible to complain and stand up for your rights as a consumer / customer without being a dick.
@melonscoop
I was thinking, “Where is the option ‘I don’t complain’?” Is it uncommon for people not to complain about everything? If something needs to be said, constructively criticize, don’t complain.
@DVDBZN I won’t complain about something small. But when my $100 drill breaks after a year, I’ll call the company and give them a chance to make things right. Complain isn’t really the best word to describe how these things should go.
The only place I tend to really complain at is at hotels. I spend so much money to stay at them, I expected things to be perfect.
I don’t generally complain unless I’m purchasing a thing, and the thing is unusable, or unless some business asks me to complain, in which case I criticize them.
Cold food rates as, “chew chew. Meh. Maybe it’ll be hot next time.”
I don’t know what option I want, but it’s not in this poll. And I am pissed off at that! When will this madness end? When will justice prevail?
I am usually more passive-aggressive about it. Like with the McDonalds on State; it’s always kinda crappy service and not-great food, so I usually just go to the one on Veteran’s Memorial; that place is magical.
Most of the time, I don’t consider things important enough to complain about.
@Charcoalwolfman Just a suggestion to perhaps save you a bit of dough.
Return to the McDonald’s on State, wait for the poor service then go home and write a well thought out script. Then call corporate for that store, explain the cost to loss ratio and how they could improve those numbers, making note of the various differences in experience between the two that you visit.
Most likely, the two are owned by separate parent companies, but either way I’d suspect at least a visit from corporate would be warranted from a well thought out comparison, and how it impacts their bottom dollar.
This could just be a matter of poor management at the local store, and with any luck could be remedied. Corporate is usually too busy swimming in money to have a grasp on Every one of their stores and do appreciate the feedback greatly.
However, if it’s a case of one store being more ‘urban’ than the other, nothing can really be done.
Bottom line is find a good Dairy Queen, they’ve got better food, better desserts, and nearly always a younger workforce made up of sexy white girls from the suburbs. And of course the $5 meal deal, running all day through October. $5! How can this price be beaten, really?! 5 (or 6 sometimes) chicken strips, gravy (if they still have it in their store), fries, a drink, and a sundae. You can’t even get a chicken sandwich at McDonald’s for that. You’d end up paying over $12 for this same meal at McDonald’s with lack of sexy young white girls (available in participating locations).
It’s gotta be at least three issues for me to complain. Like when I got a growler and the bartender filled it without noticing the top was cracked… [1. wasted money on broken bottle], it leaked in the car [2. annoying cleanup] and I didn’t know if there was glass in the beer [3. safety concern, drank it anyway]
@pajamma Isn’t that all one serious issue that had cascading effects?
I hate Yelp
I stand up to people who mistreat service workers: teenagers, grumpy old men, and drama-mamas. If I see someone being raked over the coals about something trivial…I go after the person doing the complaining; 9 times out of 10 they immediately apologize for the tirade. We are all human. Things happen. We learn from it. Life is good.
I’ll replace Yelp with Google Maps. Local Guide!
I don’t generally bitch. However, if whatever did not go as expected, I will let a manager know so they may do as they see fit. Most people in retail and restaurants have very little control over policy, so take it to a manager and let them decide. They are the ones that hired the person, and will ultimately be more effected by that then a one time customer. Likewise, if a service was beyond my expectations, I am also asking for a manager to let them know.
I have been in management since my 20’s. I am not in retail or a restaurant, but customer service is just that no matter what field. As a manager, I want to know how my employees are doing. Good and Bad.
I thought that was what the Meh Goat was for.
I live in the PNW. We dish out complaints using a passive aggressive tone.
Restaurant wise, I will probably just eat the food and say meh to my wife. The only exception is if there are onions that are visible in the meal (if I can’t see them/they are cooked down in the sauce then it is fine.) I have alliumphobia, and can’t deal with that nonsense.
@jmendenhall
@jmendenhall I’m no expert in this but isn’t alliumphobia a fear of garlic – not onions?
@jmendenhall @cengland0
Sort of.
I’m more likely to speak the more I like a store/restaurant /whatever and want to return. Otherwise I appreciate the opportunity to strike a place off my list.
Banks and big retailers I complain easily.
Small retail has to be an issue that makes the product unusable.
Customer service/waitstaff you have to be in the bottom 1% for me to complain.
@Pantheist I’m just the opposite. I feel like with big or national companies, my voice is not even noticeable. But with a small, local business, especially one I like, I feel like constructive criticism is heard, acted on, and needed. Just yesterday, I took an out of town guest to the most popular local Tex Mex restaurant for breakfast. I’d never been there for breakfast, but their lunches have all been great. I took my guest there because I was hoping to show off cool stuff about my town. The restaurant has been in business for amost 100 years, the fourth generation of owners cooks there now. It’s across the street from the famously haunted Concordia cemetery, where John Wesley Hardin and other gunfighters are buried, with its special sections for the Buffalo Soldiers and the Chinese workers who built the railroad. The meal was terrible. I was so disappointed, and didn’t get to take my guest to any other local places to redeem our cuisine’s reputation. So I’m going to try to find an email address for the owners and let them know they need to improve.
@moondrake Wow, you’re back! We’ve missed you.
@moondrake That makes sense. I think the different styles are because we expect different results. I don’t expect anything to change when I complain besides to get a discount, new product, or my money back. I feel bad for smaller places since it typically hurts them more to provide that sort of solution, and I used to be a waiter so I try to cut them slack.
@Barney Thank you, old friend. Glad to see you still purple.
Do I really really care? Is it something that can be fixed? Do I care enuf to spend the time/energy, and someone else’s time? Then I might take it on.
Usually just live w it.
I do try to be very polite to overseas CS people working from a script who can’t fix anything. Those people are always incredibly polite to me. I just escalate.
Once in a while I get pushy. Never vulgar, no cursing, and I always make it clear that I don’t blame the CS person I’m talking to. And I always wind up apologizing for being irritable or difficult, if I think I’m likely guilty of it.
Today
(Amz overseas CS answers, asks how she can help. She does not ask for my email or order #. But she is incredibly sweet and polite.)
Me: Amz shipped me blah blah blah with express 1 day shipping, and UPS delivered it to an erroneous address. And I need it today.
Amz: how can I help you?
Me: can you check your tracking, contact UPS, see if they can locate it and deliver it correctly? (She still has not gotten my order # or my email)
Amz: how do I do that?
I didn’t want to follow the temptation to start being difficult or acting frustrated. She was so sweet! I just made a fake excuse to get off the phone, called back, got US cust service, who understood the prob and fixed it. UPS had delivered down the street to a large biz. They retrieved the shipment and got it to me.
I suspect it is corp policy for many large companies to make things so impenetrable and difficult - esp involving privacy and standing policies - that you can’t even figure out what they’re doing to you, and you quit trying.
I try not to complain too much. I’ve worked retail for way too long. The shit people complain about makes my head spin. During the hurricane preparation, we had customers cursing us out because we ran out of stuff, days after the track had us in the path.
I do remember my last complaint. I’m more likely to complain about bad food than anything else. I was at a Cracker Barrel and my pancakes were obviously burnt, and the burnt sides were flipped downwards so the server wouldn’t of noticed. I ate around the burnt parts as much as I could, but a lot of the pancake tasted burnt anyway. I told the server I didn’t want more pancakes, but I wanted them to be aware that the cook was sending out burnt stuff. She ended up getting the manager and they comped my meal. I tipped the server, since it wasn’t her fault.
I’m kind of surprised that nobody shared this: