Slightly Off KIlter

I had dinner with a friend tonight at Fresh Choice. Spouse does not care for Fresh Choice; whenever he is out of town or otherwise unavailable for dinner, I take the opportunity to eat there! (I love the tapioca pudding).

As I was choosing muffins, the employee in the bakery area pulled over a large garbage can and began to select and throw away “muffin caps” (half muffins with no bottoms). As I had just been choosing blueberry muffin caps by preference I was appalled and said “Why are you doing that!?” She looked at me blankly and continued to throw out muffins. That is, she was throwing away perfectly good edible food. She was also doing this in front of the customers and using a large garbage can, not a welcome site at the bakery counter. (Yuck).

I looked around for help, and tried to speak to another employee (who shrugged). The manager heard me and came over to ask what was wrong. I explained. I remonstrated. He said this was “policy” and claimed the muffins were “no good” and “damaged”. He then claimed that “no one will take them.” Given that I had just taken several blueberry muffin caps by choice, the last comment is, of course, patently untrue.

Then, apparently having decided that I’d been “told”, the manager walked away. I followed him to where he was working behind the salad bar. I told him that Mollie Stones (a Bay Area chain of grocery stores) bakes and sells “muffin caps” from their in-store bakery because these are a favorite of many customers. I told him I thought the policy was wrong and should be corrected. I asked for the address of the corporate offices, to write a letter of complaint.

At that point, the manager told me not to yell at him. I said that if I had, in fact, raised my voice, that I was not yelling at him. If I raised my voice it was at the company, not at him.

The store manager (in fact, any of the employees) represents the company.

I reminded him that I pay his salary and at that point I asked for his name. Prior to that point, I had planned to write a letter of complaint dealing only with the wrongful discarding of good, edible food. When the manager crossed the line, I knew I would also be complaining about a manager who needs to learn how to defuse a situation and how to be, at all times, polite to the customer. When he makes it clear to a customer that he Does Not Care, perhaps he should be replaced.

A manager must learn the art of Apologizing on Behalf of the Company.

Even if the customer is complaining about store policy, it is imperative to acknowledge the complaint and to be polite to the customer at all times. Never say to a customer “Don’t yell at me.” Never, ever, be rude to a customer (even if you think the customer is being an obnoxious annoyance). Learn to say “I’m sorry. What can we do to make things better?” (even if you have to say it through gritted teeth :-).

Let’s go back to the problem that started the incident. Many people go hungry today. Charitable Organizations such as Project Open Hand would gladly accept “broken” muffins from Fresh Choice. Yet, not only is Fresh Choice throwing perfectly edible food into a garbage can, but they are doing this in front of the customer. This says that Fresh Choice simply doesn’t care. Obviously the prices are high enough to justify discarding edible food just because it isn’t “perfect”.

At the VERY Least, Fresh Choice should put the broken pieces into a pan and carry the pan into the back. Tossing muffins into a large garbage can in the bakery area is simply… disgusting.

Other possibilities:

• put the broken pieces into a separate serving pan for customers who want those
  
• allow employees to take the broken pieces home
  
• sell the broken pieces in a bag tomorrow at a discount
  
• donate the broken pieces to charity
  
• Wait Until The End of the Day to discard “imperfect” but edible food!!!
  

Now we’ll return to the manager.

A restaurant manager has several jobs:

• Keep the store running smoothly and manage” the employees and the food
  
• Keep the customer happy
  
• Represent the Company
  

The manager at this Fresh Choice has forgotten the second and third items on this list. He seems to care more about store policy than about the customer. He has apparently forgotten (if he ever understood) that he represents the Corporation.

After I got the manager’s name and the comment card, I returned to my table and my friend. We discussed what had happened. My friend suggested that the manager doesn’t care about his job and so, doesn’t feel it necessary to placate, apologize, or in any way cater to the customer. I suggested to my friend that this might well be so. But in making it so very clear that he doesn’t care about his job, he risks losing it.

In the “old days”, the best I could do would be to write a letter to the corporation and perhaps a letter to the editor of my local paper. These days, I can post my experience in my weblog. I can tell all of my friends and they can tell their friends.

This is a good time to be a consumer. This is a bad time for a company, or any representative of a company, to be anything other than unfailingly polite to the customer.