What steps (not seen in the video) could the waitress have taken to reduce the p

Question

What steps (not seen in the video) could the waitress have taken to reduce the probability of service breakdown?

https://www.viddler.com/embed/dac415ff/?f=1&player=simple&secret=27705558

1.      What steps (not seen in the video) could the waitress have taken to reduce the probability of service breakdown?

2.      Which behavioral style do you think the customer exhibited? Explain and support your response.

3. did the waitress and Brian, the supervisor, handle this difficult customer situation well? Yes or no, why or why not? Provide specific examples from the video to support your response.

The video subtitles transcript:

Jane (waitress): Hello. Here is your chef’s salad and your Reuben. So let me know if I can get you anything else, okay?

Margaret (Mrs. Marks friend): Thank you. It looks good.

Mrs. Marks (customer): They call this a Reuben? My goodness. I don’t believe this. Look at this. A Reuben isn’t supposed. To look like this. It looks like it’s on an oversized pretzel or something. Oh, well, it should be on rye bread. I know what a Reuben is supposed to look like, and this certainly isn’t oh, that’s not corned beef. Where is it? I can’t even find it. Oh, there it is. No, I don’t know what it is, some kind of, I’m not even going to get started on the sauerkraut. My goodness.

Margaret: oh.

Mrs. Marks: well, a good Reuben, there isn’t anything like it. I mean, you use rye bread, and you have a good thousand island that’s real creamy. I don’t know, but it tastes awful, I don’t know, but it tastes awful, just awful. Look at all that relish, would you, but not this. Well, I don’t know what kind of a bread that is. I can’t figure it out. Of, gosh. This is supposed to be a good restaurant.

Margaret: I know, but have you had one here before?

Mrs. Marks: well, can you see that?

Margaret: yes, I do.

Mrs. Marks: what do you- What do you think you would call it? This is just most unsatisfactory. Oh, that was horrible - oh. Let’s see how the lemonade is.

Jane: how did everything –

Mrs. Marks: Well, at least that’s right.

Jane: did everything taste okay?

Mrs. Marks: Did everything taste okay? Did everything taste okay? No, everything certainly did not taste okay.

Jane: Okay. Well, I’m sorry to hear that. What can I do to fix things?

Mrs. Marks: well, where would you like me to start? Should I start with the problems alphabetically or in the order of importance?

Jane: okay. Well, if you would like me to, I can take your plate back to the kitchen and they can make you something else?

Mrs. Marks: no, I don’t want anything else. What I wanted was a Reuben in the first place that tasted like it was supposed to taste.

Jane: I’m sorry that you’re disappointed, but like I said, I can take that back, and in five minutes I’ll have you a brand new sandwich.

Mrs. Marks: I don’t want another brand new sandwich. I just can’t believe that this restaurant would serve something like this and call it a Reuben.

Jane: Okay. Would like me to bring you some dessert?

Mrs. Marks: no. I’m not even really hungry. I guess it was the breakfast that I had earlier this morning, but I cannot believe that my favorite restaurant would serve this, that was supposed to be a good Reuben.

Brian (manager):   how was lunch today?

Mrs. Marks: how was lunch today? How was lunch today?

Jane: it seems that Mrs. Marks wasn’t very happy with her Reuben, and she doesn’t really want another Reuben.

Brian: Well, maybe it’s like a bad hair day. It’s a bad Reuben day. Well, I’m very sorry that you’re so disappointed with your lunch. I hope maybe that I could buy your lunch today, and I hope that we get the chance to serve you again sometime.

Mrs. Marks: oh, well, yes, very nice, Brian. It certainly is bad Reuben day, but I will come back to the wooden shoe, because of the good service. Shall we leave, Margaret?

Margaret: yes, I think so.

Mrs. Marks: Thank you again, Brian.

Brian: Thank you.

Jane: thank you.

Margaret: thank you.

Mrs. Marks: okay.

Brian: Jane, you did very well handing Mrs. Marks today,

Jane: Thanks.

Brian: sometimes no matter what you do, some people just can’t be pleased sometimes.

Jane: Yeah.

Brian: ideally, we don’t want to give away a lot of free dinners, but, you know, we have to do that sometimes in order to retain our long-term customers.

Jane: Well, I didn’t know what she wanted me to do. I offered to get her a new sandwich, but she had basically eaten everything on the plate.

Explanation / Answer

Although the waitress handled the situation quite well, there are certain things that she could have done to prevent service breakdown at the restaurant:

The customer (Mrs. Mark) exhibited the behavior style of an angry and dissatisfied customer. She was very talkative and dissatisfied with Reuben served to her and was criticizing the taste.

3. In my opinion, Brian (the supervisor) and Jane (the waitress) handled this difficult customer really well. They were courteous to listen patiently to the agitated customer (Mrs. Mark) and adhere to her needs. They even offered to buy her a new sandwich/dessert but the customer was agitated enough to be pacified. Both of them were willing to help the customer and paid attention to the customer’s problems.

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