It’s 7.25 p.m. as you arrive with your wife and son, to be greeted by the hostess standing at the entrance to the restaurant, with a ‘Do you have a reservation?’ There was no ‘Good Evening’ or similar salutation, surprisingly so, for a property that claims to be ‘forever everlasting’.


We had not made any table booking and so I replied ‘No’, hurriedly adding that I wished to have a quick look at what was on offer at the buffet before making a decision. Whatever little warmth that was there in the hostess appeared to vanish, as with her left hand, she sweepingly gestured towards the buffet table.
The first interaction was more a dismissive than welcoming encounter – but more of that later. Finding the buffet spread appealing we decided to dine at this restaurant and returned to ask the hostess to lead us to a table.

She immediately pointed to a table close to the buffet - one that had a chair facing a pillar and was, by far, the worst spot in the entire restaurant. When it was brought to her notice that the restaurant was 3/4th empty and we preferred to dine at a better located area, she tartly replied that almost all the tables were required as they had 193 bookings for the night. Ah ha… it now dawned on me why we did not receive any greeting when we arrived. This hotel probably has a standard of operation that requires hostesses to greet only those who make advance bookings when dining and / or stipulates that no greeting is necessary when the restaurant is fully booked.

When my son mentioned that none of the many empty tables had any ‘reserved’ boards placed on t hem, the hostess indignantly responded that the hotel does not use ‘reserved’ boards: which I mentally accepted as some sort of a standard of operation. It was later on that we observed a couple of tables displaying ‘promised’ cards? Ah well, I can live with that, I say tomato, she says tomăto!
Gatekeeper syndromePaying for failed service

In your life you will encounter many gatekeepers, people endowed with a degree of power who can grant or refuse you access to something you need or desire.

The problem with gatekeepers is that they are in a position to unnecessarily complicate or derail your life. Those of us, who have been in sales, would have at some stage or another encountered the dreaded gatekeeper – that secretary or office assistant who intercepts sales calls, obstructing you from talking to or meeting the decision-making client you so desperately want to reach. What generally transpires typically goes like this:

You: ‘Good Morning, can I speak to Mr Hiran de Silva?’Gatekeeper: ‘May I know who is calling?’You: ‘This is Roy Perera from KryptonLtd’.Gatekeeper: ‘Regarding what?’
From this point onwards it just keeps going nowhere. No sooner the gatekeeper takes control; the call is as good as over. Nothing… not even fervent appeals or irresistible charm will let you get the better of the situation unless you use ninja techniques.

Getting back to the episode at the restaurant; I realised by now t hat I needed to take control of the situation if we wished to get past this intractable ‘gatekeeper’. Raising my voice, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing when done not too loudly and without showing anger, I told her that since she is being extremely unhelpful and making me a very unhappy customer, I wish to speak to the manager.

I proceeded to also tell her that the manager will agree with me when I say that not all 193 diners who have made reservations will come at t his very moment; many may not even be punctual and not many will linger on till closing time. I guess by this time the young hostess realised her lack of good sense, as she hastily steered us to where we wanted to sit.

An hour and a half later, as we got up to leave, the restaurant was about onethird full. We enjoyed the food which was extremely well presented, plentiful and tasty. Alas, the quality of service we encountered failed to live up to any expectation. The waiter did not ask us what we would like for drinks… we opted for water (if there is no effort, nothing comes out of the customer wallet), my empty mains plate was cleared before the others had finished or before I went to dish out dessert. The bill was presented in silence and no one bid ‘bye’ or thanked us for coming, as we left the restaurant.

Remember, the word ‘Restaurant’ comes from the French verb ‘restauer – meaning ‘to restore’: you are supposed to feel better leaving than you did going in! Didn’t happen at all in this case!Good service is a rarity rather than the norm, and I find myself constantly disappointed. I have heaps of opportunities each week to experience the service of many providers, be it in banks, supermarkets, food outlets, department stores to name some, and, it is for the most part, amateurish and forgettable.


Now, I shouldn’t generalize because every once in a blue moon, I do encounter great service – sorry what I meant was good service.(When you become accustomed to mediocre service as the norm; any step-up can easily pass off as ‘great’ when it isn’t).

The truth of the matter is that even good service is becoming harder and harder to find. More often than not, staff at all parts of the service chain remains disengaged or insincere when dealing with their customers. It gets worse when apathy, the number one demotivator kicks-in, especially after the business grows beyond the skill level of the managers or owners- but that then becomes an entirely different challenge.

Being that I have always worked in a hospitality industry, I am from an oldschool feeling that your job in the hotel industry is a stage. Those who work in the frontline must truly perform – not just carry out tasks perfunctorily. Think awhile; why are you being charged something called a service charge on the menu? Correct me if I’m wrong, but nowhere else are you charged for service except in the hotel and restaurant industry. When travelling by plane, you do not pay for service when served your in-flight food and beverage nor when you are fed your meals when hospitalised. That cost is included in the cost of the airline ticket or in the cost of the food indicated on the menu. So, why are you supposed to pay for the service of carrying the food from the kitchen to your table? Or for serving the drinks mixed by the bartender at the dispense bar located at the back-end of the restaurant?

Think again; the service charge you pay keeps the operator’s gardener, dishwasher, and an army of foot soldiers on the payroll – not the far-fromadequate minimum wage they get paid by the employer! The UK’s citizen advice bureau ‘Adviceguide’ has this to say,” If you go out for a meal and receive poor service you have rights that protect you from having to pay a service charge.

The restaurant could be i n breach of contract under t he Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, where it is legally required to use reasonable care and skill when providing its service.” Bear in mind that the quality of service should match the type of establishment you are in. So you shouldn’t expect a fast food outlet quality of service from a restaurant in a fivestar hotel. Unless operators up the ante on service, most restaurants could pretty much get by with a golden retriever that is trained to go to the tables, fetch a pre-written order and deliver it to the kitchen.

(Shafeek Wahab has an extensive background in Hospitality Management spanning over 30 years. He is a customerexperience transformist, helping organizations improve business results by changing how they deal with customers. Whilst focusing on corporate education, training, consulting and coaching he is passionate about identifying emerging best practices and helping companies become more customer-centric. He can be contacted on [email protected]. Website: www.in2ition.biz)