You may recall that I've complained more than once about the poor quality of customer service in the District. I've been lucky enough to encounter the opposite of that recently - at Founding Farmers, for example, where our server, Cory, was the epitome of awesome.
Cue the good old days, though. A friend just invited me to join her Restaurant Week reservation at Vidalia, where I've never been. Annoyingly, I couldn't get the menu to load on my computer, in any browser, & a couple of my friends couldn't either. I'm a picky eater but also a Restaurant Week lover, so I gave Vidalia a call to see if I could have a RW menu faxed or emailed to me (extreme, I know). The hostess I spoke to transferred me to (a man whom I assumed was) a manager.
When I explained my problem to him, he answered, & I'm not exaggerating: "I have a lobby full of people here. Is there something you want from me?" When I told him I was hoping for an alternate way to see the menu - or, just to be kind & tell them their site wasn't working! - he said something to the effect of, "Do you have a reservation here or are you just looking?" Well, sir, even if I didn't, you're certainly not going to get a reservation out of me like that.
"Other customers use our website just fine," he told me matter-of-factly. "So it's not from our end." When I assured him I felt it was, he repeated (imagine the tone for yourself), "I have a lobby full of people. I don't have time to deal with computer problems." In a tone that was a struggle for me to maintain, I told him I wouldn't be dining at Vidalia if he couldn't treat his would-be customers with a little respect. And I hung up.
I still want to go there, if only because I like the friends who invited me, & I promise to update my cranky Yelp review as appropriate. But for now, the manager at Vidalia could use a few lessons in customer service.
Dear DC: Teach your employees how to be nice, will ya?
Edit/PS/Note: I didn't necessarily need them to DO anything. I was trying to be helpful, mostly, & probably could've done without a menu or checked back later. A simple, "Thanks for letting us know. I'll check in with our Webmaster" would've done the trick. But then again, perhaps I am too demanding.
