The Most Common Common Complaints At Restaurants

Very few workers deal with as many complaints on a daily basis as those in the foodservice industry, and whether you’re a busser, server, or simply pouring drinks in a restaurant bar, you hear your fair share of complaints from customers who expect more from your establishment than they do from most anywhere else.

Many restaurant patrons want things done their way, because in their mind paying for a meal means paying for their idea of service perfection, so it was probably easy for Consumer Reports to create this infographic detailing The Most Common Restaurant Complaints.

Most people have no problem sharing their opinions about dining out, and if you eat out enough you're bound to have complaints, so how do your complaints about eating out measure up to the percentages on this infographic?

Click here to see an enlarged version of the infographic

-Via DesignTAXI

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Red Robin servers: "Is everything OK?"
Me: "You just brought my food 5 seconds ago. I haven't had a chance to try anything yet, so I don't know."

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Most of those don't bother me, just oversights by the restaurant and if there are too many of them, we take our business elsewhere and tell management why on the way out the door.

I once considered stabbing a busboy while sitting in a comedy club, after he zoomed by our table in the middle of the show, snapped up my half-drunk cola (cola only) and kept running on down the aisle, stacking the glasses inside each other on the tray. Even if I could have caught him in time, the cola was gone (along with my sense of humor) and I'd have missed several minutes of the show trying to get that vastly overpriced drink replaced. All the time he's grabbing drinks off people's tables, he had this little smile on his face, like he'd made a game of it and was enjoying himself at our expense. I warned the waitress the next time we went to a show there I'd sacrifice my good time to kill the busboy who snatched my drink off the table without permission. I don't think we saw a busboy all night and beyond the two-drink-minimum, the waitress left us alone too. I recall it was a fine evening.

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The one that bugs me is having the server come up to you right as you put food in your mouth and them wanting to know how everything is. I can't talk with food in my mouth. Well... I could but it wouldn't be pretty. And I don't want to choke on my dinner, either. All they need do is approach the table so we see them there and then while they have our attention they can ask us whatever. It's all about timing.

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It's missing the one that bugs me most...Overattentive Staff.
Please - I've ordered my meal. You've delivered it. I'm eating it.
If I require further attention, I'll make eye contact, or catch you as you pass.
PLEASE leave me with my partner to enjoy our meal without doing the "customer service" thing. Or at least, learn to take the hint the first time that we'd rather eat our meal in peace.

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