I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

I picked up the phone on Thursday around 3:45, and woman asked if there was someone she could speak to about a charge on her credit card.

I said, I can help you with that, what is the problem?

She begins to explain:

Seems that in August she made a reservation for 5 people that was cancelled less than 24 hours before the reservation and they were charged $25 per person.  

I ask for the date of the reservation.

I find the reservation. And every single moment of the reservation, is preserved in history. When it was made, every table it was assigned to and when it was cancelled and when they were charged.

The reservation for 5 was made on August 16 at 4:07 for August 17 at 5:00.  

They made the reservation on line and had to click through the prompt that said that if they cancelled within 24 hours of the reservation that they could be charged $25 per person. 

To explain, if you make a reservation on line, the site says you may be charged $25 per person, then it asks for your credit card, then you have to confirm that you understand all of this.  

It’s not like they made the reservation over the phone and no one explained the process.

She tells me that they called on Tuesday and but we were closed.  She says that she left a message and no one called her back.  I also know that not once this summer did I NOT call everyone on my list back.  Sometimes, if the reservation was for 3 weeks from now it was not the next day, but I always called back.   

However, for the sake of argument, let’s say that I did not call back.  

You could have left three more messages the next day, which was the day of the reservation.  

Alas, you did not, because I can also assure you that before we charge people, we check to make sure that you didn’t call saying you were in a car accident, had COVID or that your grandmother died.  All things that happened this summer.  

What actually happened was this:

You made a reservation at 11:41 for 5 people. You cancelled that reservation at 11:42.

You made another reservation for 5 people at 4:07. (I can’t know this for sure, but I’d bet my next paycheck that you knew that you were going to be 6 and instead of calling as Rest says to do, you made the reservation for 5 as a placeholder and 99 million other people have done.

But that’s okay, except that if you called you didn’t leave a message as you say you did or I’d have called you.

Also, technology is a wonderful thing, you were texted at 12:01 the day of your reservation and told to confirm or cancel by texting us back. You did not do that.

You were texted again at 4:30 reminding you that you were supposed to be at the restaurant at 5:00. You could have texted us at that point.

You were texted by my host at 5:14 asking if you were coming for your reservation.

You responded at 5:19 saying you cancelled on the phone, and I can assure you that you’d have never been charged if you’d let us know.

She argued all of this.  I explained that when she made the reservation she only had 53 minutes to cancel.  I also explained that she cancelled 20 minutes after her reservation, leaving us no way to fill the seats.  

She continued to argue and finally demanded I not charge her and I said, unfortunately there was nothing I could do.

She said, you are going to lose the business of a local over this, and hung up.

And wouldn’t you know, the reservation she cancelled is the only reservation she has ever made at our restaurant.  

However, she did leave a message on our Facebook page today:

Hello. My kids surprised me by coming to Maine this august. It was my daughter’s birthday so we made a reservation for 5 on 8/17 as we have enjoyed many dinners there. My son also surprised me on 8/16. We left a message that day asking to enlarge the reservation to 6. You were closed that day so I thought that you would call us on 8/17 to confirm. We called twice that day only to get an answering machine . In a panic during the busy days of August we made a back-up reservation at another restaurant. We made one last call to you during open hours only yet to get the answering machine. I was not going to bring the 6 of us with confirmation so we had to go to the other restaurant. You charged my cc $125. I get your policy and totally agree with that. I called yesterday and explained my situation but there was absolutely no flexibility. I asked if we could get $125 credit at your restaurant but no. We are members of the R**er Club, Web**nnet, Edgcomb, Cape Ar**del, just to name a few and extremely local You have already lost 4 of my neigbors. Stop Manhattanizing my town and bring back Cape Porpoise. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Oh, kids…

Based on the number of times you say you called, you could have said you were cancelling 3 separate times, but alas you did not. 

When you made the back up reservation, at another restaurant, you could have cancelled, by phone or by app, by text, since at this point you were going to screw one of the two restaurants you had made a reservation at.  

You call yesterday and tell me that you agree with the policy.  What part do you agree with?  The part where we take a credit card.  The part where we expect you to cancel prior to the exact time of your reservation?  The part where you are charged $25 per person.  I’m not sure how you can “get” our policy, then call and be angry with me. 

As for the credit at the restaurant, uh, no. 

My favorite part:

How do you tell me you are rich without telling me you are rich?

 By listing the country clubs that you belong to in town. Are you somehow not required to follow the rules because you belong to a country club?

Seriously, telling me you are rich only lets me know that you can afford to pay the $125 without much crisis.  It actually hurt the restaurant more than you. It hurt my server more than you. It hurt my food runners, bartenders and hosts more than you. If you can afford to belong to 4 country clubs, you can afford $125. The tip my server lost on your 5 top would have been that much. And the server mades $6.38 an hour. Who do you think can afford it more????

I’m extremely confused as to what extremely local means. 

I’d think extremely local means that you live across the street.  

By Maine standards to be extremely local your great, great, great, great grandparents needed to be born in our little town which I know to not be true.  They have had to be born in Maine which I also know not to be true. In fact you weren’t even born here.

As for your 4 neighbors, I have no doubt that I must have told them no as well, and now I’m on their list.  

And what does Manhattanizing mean?  

I’m assuming it’s a variation of the word manhattanization.  Google defines is as:  : congestion of an urban area by tall buildings. There is no urban area in our town. There are no tall buildings within 10 miles of us, unless you count the church steeple.

We are a 2-story building that’s at least a football field away from our nearest neighbor so yes, definitely manhattanized.    

I’m truly sorry, that you were asked to follow the rules. I’m truly sorry that I got a parking ticket today. I’m truly sorry that life is hard for some people. I’m pretty sure you are not some people.