The Life of Bon: The squeaky wheel gets the grease

Sunday, March 04, 2012

The squeaky wheel gets the grease

You know what that title means, don't you? 

Whoever screams the loudest gets heard.
Whoever act the most obnoxious gets the attention.
Or, in my case, whoever complains the longest gets the problem solved.

I've always been a complainer.  I consider this a positive attribute of mine.  When I don't like the way something is, I complain and get it fixed.  None of this settling-for-less-than-the-best crap.

I mean, come on, I never would have married someone as great as Hubs if I hadn't spent years complaining about the dozens of morons that paved the way for him, would I have?

Lately I've been doing some hardcore complaining about the dishwasher in our apartment.  And by lately I mean for the best five months.  The dishwasher leaves the dishes dirtier than they were pre-loading and that is no exaggeration, my friend.  After the dishwasher finished running, dishes were covered with a sick grime and had to be scrubbed down before and after each load.  It got to the point where it was easier to just handwash our dishes.

Here's the thing with complaining, though.  You've got to direct your complaints to the right people or the whole charade is futile.  So I didn't complain to Hubs, the neighbors, or my mom.  I complained to the apartment manager.  I complained and I complained and I complained.   What do you know? Tuesday morning Hubs sent me a text saying, "We got a new dishwasher!"  Just like that.


Did you ever see a cleaner, more beautiful dishwasher?

And how about that glass?  Not a speck to be found anywhere! 
That bad boy is CLEAN, I tell you!
My most recent complaint was geared toward Texas Roadhouse.  After a miserable dining experience, I decided to take out my frustration via- how did you guess?- a complaint!  It read:

To Whom it May Concern:

On December 23, I went with a group of six to eat at Texas Roadhouse.  After calling several restaurants with an hour or more of wait time, the Texas Roadhouse in Bountiful told us they only had a 25 minute wait. We put our name on over the phone and hurried over.



We waited over half an hour to be seated. At about 40 minutes I went up to ask if our names were almost up. The hostess said that we were "next" on the list, and as soon as the next party of six left we would have their table. We waited another 20 + minutes, watching SEVERAL groups of six or more be taken to their tables in the meantime. Finally after more than an hour total wait time had passed, I approached the hostess again. She looked surprised to see me and said that our name must have somehow gotten "lost" in the computer because we should have had a table by now. I stayed at the counter until she figured it out and we were taken to our table five minutes later.
 Once seated, we waited over half an hour for our food and we were never talked to by our server after the original greet. She had two other big parties and was clearly given more tables than she could handle.



Another server brought out our food, which meant he essentially dropped it off and ran. There was no time to talk to him or ask him things that we needed. None of our orders were correct. Five out of the six steaks were cooked at the wrong temperature, and three out of the six had incorrect sides. When the server finally did come back to our table and we told her that we did not have the sides correct, she simply picked up the baked potato from my plate and the sweet potato from my father in laws plate and switched them. This is not the kind of service I would expect from a renowned steak house.



Our total time at Texas Roadhouse was over 2 hours and we all agreed it was one of the worst dining experiences we have ever had. I do know that nights like these are going to be busy, but hosts need to tell guests an accurate amount of time that they will be waiting. Had we known we would be waiting over an hour we certainly would have chosen another restaurant or chosen to dine in. I have long loved Texas Roadhouse; it has always been one of our favorite restaurants. Unfortunately, because of this recent experience, neither I nor any of my family members have any desire to return soon.


I sent that email on Tuesday.  Guess who was calling me up Wednesday?  You better believe it was the manager of Texas Roadhouse!  He asked me all about the situation and offered free dinner for two to make up for the unpleasant dining experience.  DINNER FOR TWO!  FREE!  I'll take it!
 
 
Moral of the story: 
Complain. 
It can get you far in life.
 
P.S.  Did I mention my complaint to United Airlines in September that got me $200 worth of free flights?  Admittedly, I was hoping for more, but sometimes you got to take what you can get.

7 comments:

  1. I write what I call 'onion letters' whenever I'm displeased about a service or a product. I've received numerous coupons in the mail because of it! I, also, write letters to companies when I really like a service or a product and the result is still the same.

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  2. I'm a complainer too, and it DOES work - there is no harm in voicing your opinion, and if nobody complained, then who knows how people would be treated! I also make sure I give praise where praise is due, and if the service somewhere is especially good I make sure to mention it!

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  3. Awesome! Granted if you hadn't had problems in the first place you wouldn't have to had complain but it all works out! :)

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  4. I have obviously been complaining to the wrong person. Yelling at my husband for the whole milk in my skinny latte is not getting me free skinny lattes.

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  5. I wish I was better at complaining - normally I leave that to the bf {it comes naturally to him, ha!}. But, since I am horrible with conflict, it's great that he has no problem putting in his ten cents because then I never have to :)

    Glad you got a new dishwasher - and a free dinner for two! Can't beat that now can you?

    xxx
    Jenna

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  6. I have found that if you also write people for excellent service...you often get great benefits. I once wrote a letter to a manager about an excellent cashier and received a response telling me the cashier was given a raise and the envelope contained a few free coupons to their store. Pretty sweet. Either way...I think it is important to tell people how we feel.

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  7. Maybe if I throw myself in the floor and kick and scream like my 7 year old my husband will take notice and get me a new dishwasher. We bought our house and 6 months later it broke. It's on our list of things to do, but I your version sounds pretty good.

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