Louise Crane is the general manager of Harrington’s, a 200-seat restaurant that is one unit in a nation chain. As she sits at her desk this Monday morning, she thumbs through completed guest comment cards that patrons have left on the table. The morning mail also brought some additional cards.
As she reads through them, she becomes more and more alarmed. While there are two or three that are mildly complimentary, there are several that are highly critical. Here is a sampling of what guests submitted:
“You charged me $4.50 for a glass of wine and the glass was only two thirds full. What a rip off.”
“Doesn’t anybody in this place ever smile?”
“There was nobody to greet us when we walked in. We stood there for five minutes.”
“I don’t know who was more surprised, the cockroach or me!”
“We never did get the ice water we ask for.”
“We told the server we were in a hurry and that seemed to slow him down.”
Louise was grinding her teeth by this time. She set the comment card aside and turned on her computer. Among the various e-mails she had received, there was this one comment: “I’ll never go to Harrington’s again. My wife’s meal was served 10 minutes after mine, and it was cold.” Louise knows that these things cannot continue. “I’ve got to take action,” she says to herself.