I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

We were busy again tonight.  Crazy busy.  The last two days we’ve done Saturday business during the week.

Today was different, as the host couldn’t make it to work.  I say host singularly because the days of me having two hosts are quickly coming to an end. 

With only one host scheduled, and them not being there, anyone want to guess who was on the door tonight?  Yes, Yes, Yes.  It was ME!  ME!  ME!

The night went swimmingly well for the most part.  The kitchen killed it.  The FOH did great.  All the problems were slight to say the least.  And I sat near record numbers by myself.  With the aid of my staff. 

The one problem we have when there is only one host is that there is only me to answer the phones.  So, we are limited in the number of same day reservations we can make because I can only pick up the phone when nothing is going on. 

Tonight around 7:00 I made a reservation for a woman named Sarah.  Nothing out of the ordinary about the reservation. 

They arrived around 7:30 and I get them seated.  Once again, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. 

They are a very attractive couple, she is very nice, and he is very serious. 

Around 8:45 I walk through the area of the restaurant where they are serious, after giving a table my speech about needing to order soon, and I casually ask the couple how their dinner was.  They are so complimentary and so nice.

I go out to back to the bar and their server is standing there and she says, did they tell you what happened tonight?  I say, no and so she tells me.

Oh.  WOW. 

So I tell her to take them a round of our house made limoncello and to say that we are glad we turned their night around. 

She asks if I’d like to take it to the table and I say, of course. 

So I take the two glasses to the table and say, hi, your server told me what happened tonight and I just wanted to say how glad we are you ended up at our restaurant and that we were able to turn your night around.

They were so happy. 

At this point, the man apologizes for being rude when he came in.  I assure him he was anything but rude, I just thought he was someone who moved to a more serious nature.  Its clear now in talking to him that that is not the case at all.  He apologizes again, and I can now see he is not the serious guy I thought he was.  He’s super cute and very funny. 

They tell me their story.

He is from a neighboring state.  She is from NYC.   They met four months ago and have been dating.  He asked her to come to our fair state to get away for the weekend.  On the way up, he said he had a great surprise for her for dinner. 

I think she might have been afraid he was going to ask her to marry him, but instead, he’d made reservations at a restaurant near ours.  It was made over a month ago, and had required a $250 deposit and a requirement that they spend at least $600.  However, they got to have a very private dinner for 2 in a very romantic setting. 

They arrived on time for their reservation and upon checking in were told that the restaurant had no record of their reservation.  No record of his deposit.  No record of the conversations he made to make the reservation. 

And to make matters worse, they basically said, sorry dude!

He was pissed to say the least. 

Before I go on, this is my worst nightmare as a manager.  That I booked an event, failed to record it in the system, on my spreadsheet, etc and the people show up expecting something we can’t deliver.  My absolute worst fucking nightmare. 

He is close to losing his temper when his new girlfriend drags him out of the restaurant.

He is fuming in the car and says; just find us someplace to eat.  Any place.  I don’t care.  

And so she called, and miracle of miracles, I answered and they arrived and they were seated and they had an amazing time. 

They loved everything about the experience.  EVERYTHING.

The service.  The atmosphere and especially the food. 

And so they shared this story with their server.  And this story made me happy as I love to turn people’s experiences around and also, the other restaurant used to be the go to in town and was owned by the evil corporation in town and it seems they have ceased to be amazing. 

They also showed me the 5 page apology email the GM had sent apologizing for their not having the reservation, but doing little to make it better. 

So they shared this with me and I told them I was so happy that I had answered and that they had had a great time. 

They then asked where they should go to get the best lobster.  I explained that lobster was easy, they should instead go searching for the best lobster roll and seafood. 

So when they left 45 minutes later, I had given them a list of things to do, including asking my bf to make a reservation for them at his restaurant on Saturday night.  I told them it was the best place seafood in town. 

And they are coming back on Sunday to spend their last night in town with us. 

And that’s how I spent my night turning things around. 

I like being nice to people.  Till they won’t let me be.