ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - July 13, 2001

I had a great week at the National Speakers Association convention in Dallas. Next week, Margene and I will be in Western New York for her Dad's birthday, then on to Massachusetts for my niece's wedding.

CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?
If you are a parent (and especially if you are a grandparent) you know that it can be difficult to dine out with children. If you go to a place that the kids like, the adults usually don't enjoy it. If you go to a place that the adults like, the kids are usually bored. If you go to most "family restaurants," then it seems that nobody has a good time! (This may be a slight exaggeration, but you get the picture.)

I am interested in hearing about restaurants that have been able to bridge this gap successfully or at least, about ideas you have seen that help adults and children peacefully co-exist in a dining environment. If you have anything to share, please pass it along.

PEOPLE DON'T WANT BAD FOOD FOR FREE
I had lunch at a restaurant in California this week. I arrived with my client at nearly 2pm, well after the lunch rush had passed and our first impression of the place looked promising. The interior was attractive and the manager was in evidence. It was all downhill from there. The manager was talking to a table just behind the greeter station when we arrived, but it took him at least two minutes to make eye contact with us and another minute to tear himself away to seat us. Lost points but I could live with it.

While we were standing there waiting, we got to look at a little promotional display that was front and center. With a large "head shot" photo, it informed us that the manager's name was Gordon, that he had previously been in the theater, and that he would sing a song at your table if you asked. (According to my client, he would also do this even if you didn't ask and it was often annoying.) This sign was next to a jar stuffed with dollar bills labeled "Tips for Gordon." More lost points . . . but I was still OK.

Finally, Gordon took us to a table, told us of the specials and left. We had a project to discuss anyway but after about ten minutes, we noticed that nobody had come to the table so we asked for a waitress. (Understand that there were a total of four parties in the place at the time.) A few minutes later the waitress arrived to take our drink order. It took awhile to get them (I guess ice water and iced tea are a little hard to handle.) More lost points but I could still live with it.

Somewhere in there, she took our order for a small pizza and a plate of ravioli and we continued our conversation. It must have been 20 minutes or so later when she came to the table to tell us that the order was still not ready and she couldn't understand what the delay could be. (Hey, THAT was helpful information!) A few minutes after that, she arrived with the meals saying that the manager was not going to charge us for them. The right approach in totally the wrong way. The pizza was cold and the ravioli was overcooked -- inexcusable at this stage of the game!

What I could NOT live with was that nobody ever gave us the impression that it mattered to them what sort of experience we were having. It seemed like the thinking was, "OK, we screwed up. Here is your free food. Next!" We did not want bad food for free.

I think most folks understand that things don't always go right. They will usually cut you some slack if they get that you sincerely WANT it to be right and that it matters to you when it isn't. In this case, the manager didn't want to face us himself so he sent the waitress over with the message and she was obviously uncomfortable with it. Nobody even said, "Oh I am so sorry that you had this problem." They only succeeded in giving away food, assuring that we would never be back and giving us a terrific horror story to tell our friends.

As my favorite swamp philosopher Pogo puts it, "We have met the enemy and he is us!

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