Have you Ever asked to "speak to the manager?"

[DoomYoshi]

I'm just curious... have you ever felt the need to resort to this option at a restaurant or hotel or something?

Share the deets, please.

[Neoteny]

I was at a Ruby Tuesday of all places and had some of the best steak and service I've ever had, so I grabbed the manager to give his crew a good word. Anyone who bitches to management is a cop.

[demonfork]

[Dukasaur]

I'm just curious... have you ever felt the need to resort to this option at a restaurant or hotel or something?

Share the deets, please.

I do it on a regular basis.

I was at a Ruby Tuesday of all places and had some of the best steak and service I've ever had, so I grabbed the manager to give his crew a good word. Anyone who bitches to management is a cop.

That's bullshit. Bad service deserves to be called out, or it will never get better.

I do agree with you, however, that one should also take time to praise good service, not just complain about bad.


My most recent run-in was the Esso station at the 420 & Stanley. I asked to see the chart of what I could get with my Esso Extra points. He asked, "what do you want?" I said, "I'm not playing this game. I want to see the list of what I can get so I can decide what gives me my best points-to-dollar-value ratio." I know, of course, that the very best deal is to cash in your points for car washes, but there's only so many times you can wash the car, and I wanted to find something else that gives a good ratio of points to dollar value. "We don't have a chart," he says. I know that's bullshit. Every station has a chart. He was just too lazy to look for it. If it was busy, I could be understanding, but it was a slow day, nobody in line behind me, and he had all the time in the world to look through his paperwork and find the chart. He was just flat-out fucking lazy.

So I went home and called the Esso Extra customer service desk and made a complaint. They confirmed that every station has a chart.

In this case, there was no point asking to see the manager there because I know the manager there. He is a lazy shit too and probably doesn't mind that his employees are lazy shits. I'm going further up the food chain. Next week, if they don't show me the chart I'll be on to the regional manager of Esso. I'll go the board of directors of Imperial Oil if I have to. Bad service needs to be dealt with.


About three weeks ago I had an incident at Food Basics. It wasn't the one I usually go to, it was the one at the other end of town, and their standards seem to be much lower. Anyway, while I was going through the checkout, one of those little plastic containers that the cherry tomatoes broke open and the cherry tomatoes were running all over the belt line. "Can you put those in a bleeder bag for me?" I asked. "We don't have those," she lied. I was absolutely flabbergasted. A supermarket cashier without a stack of bleeder bags would be like an electrician without a screwdriver. So I called for the manager, and explained the situation, and he sent her on her break and had another cashier take over, and sure enough she reached down beneath the cash register and opened the little cupboard door there, and there were about a thousand bleeder bags hanging there, and she grabbed one and put the damaged box of cherry tomatoes in the bag with no more hassles.

I don't know what happened to the first cashier. I wasn't trying to get her fired or anything, just disciplined, but from the way the manager was talking I suspect he was too much of a pussy to do anything to her. Still, I'm sure she was embarrassed, and I'm sure next time someone asks for a bleeder bag she won't lie and say she doesn't have any just because she's too lazy to look. If people don't stand up and challenge bad service, it won't get any better.

[Neoteny]

Settle down, Becky.

[demonfork]

I'm just curious... have you ever felt the need to resort to this option at a restaurant or hotel or something?

Share the deets, please.

I do it on a regular basis.

I was at a Ruby Tuesday of all places and had some of the best steak and service I've ever had, so I grabbed the manager to give his crew a good word. Anyone who bitches to management is a cop.

That's bullshit. Bad service deserves to be called out, or it will never get better.

I do agree with you, however, that one should also take time to praise good service, not just complain about bad.


My most recent run-in was the Esso station at the 420 & Stanley. I asked to see the chart of what I could get with my Esso Extra points. He asked, "what do you want?" I said, "I'm not playing this game. I want to see the list of what I can get so I can decide what gives me my best points-to-dollar-value ratio." I know, of course, that the very best deal is to cash in your points for car washes, but there's only so many times you can wash the car, and I wanted to find something else that gives a good ratio of points to dollar value. "We don't have a chart," he says. I know that's bullshit. Every station has a chart. He was just too lazy to look for it. If it was busy, I could be understanding, but it was a slow day, nobody in line behind me, and he had all the time in the world to look through his paperwork and find the chart. He was just flat-out fucking lazy.

So I went home and called the Esso Extra customer service desk and made a complaint. They confirmed that every station has a chart.

In this case, there was no point asking to see the manager there because I know the manager there. He is a lazy shit too and probably doesn't mind that his employees are lazy shits. I'm going further up the food chain. Next week, if they don't show me the chart I'll be on to the regional manager of Esso. I'll go the board of directors of Imperial Oil if I have to. Bad service needs to be dealt with.


About three weeks ago I had an incident at Food Basics. It wasn't the one I usually go to, it was the one at the other end of town, and their standards seem to be much lower. Anyway, while I was going through the checkout, one of those little plastic containers that the cherry tomatoes broke open and the cherry tomatoes were running all over the belt line. "Can you put those in a bleeder bag for me?" I asked. "We don't have those," she lied. I was absolutely flabbergasted. A supermarket cashier without a stack of bleeder bags would be like an electrician without a screwdriver. So I called for the manager, and explained the situation, and he sent her on her break and had another cashier take over, and sure enough she reached down beneath the cash register and opened the little cupboard door there, and there were about a thousand bleeder bags hanging there, and she grabbed one and put the damaged box of cherry tomatoes in the bag with no more hassles.

I don't know what happened to the first cashier. I wasn't trying to get her fired or anything, just disciplined, but from the way the manager was talking I suspect he was too much of a pussy to do anything to her. Still, I'm sure she was embarrassed, and I'm sure next time someone asks for a bleeder bag she won't lie and say she doesn't have any just because she's too lazy to look. If people don't stand up and challenge bad service, it won't get any better.

Are you a cop?

[DoomYoshi]

In 1900 the most common job in America was farmer, second place was domestic servant. Today, most people have never met a domestic servant.

Speaking to the manager is equivalent to thinking we should still have domestic servants. While I agree with that proposition, since we don't, I think you should just give up on good service and accept that poor people ruin everything. The fact that poor people think they should get any service is what makes good service impossible. There just isn't enough to go around.

I understand completely that the chance is that most people are not the 1%. However, a 1% chance of being ok is better than a 100% chance of everything being crap, which is the situation we have now.

[Dukasaur]

I'm not a cop and I don't know who Becky is.

In 1900 the most common job in America was farmer, second place was domestic servant. Today, most people have never met a domestic servant.

Speaking to the manager is equivalent to thinking we should still have domestic servants. While I agree with that proposition, since we don't, I think you should just give up on good service and accept that poor people ruin everything. The fact that poor people think they should get any service is what makes good service impossible. There just isn't enough to go around.

I understand completely that the chance is that most people are not the 1%. However, a 1% chance of being ok is better than a 100% chance of everything being crap, which is the situation we have now.

That's total bullshit. Domestic servants have nothing to do with it.

Everyone, or almost everyone, is both a servant at times and a master at times. Giving good service is just good work ethic. It means doing the best job you can under the circumstances, no matter how humble or how exalted that job is. If you're an opera composer, compose the best opera you possibly can. If you're a ditch digger, dig the straightest and most level ditch you possibly can. If you're an architect, build the most beautiful building the client will allow you the resources to build. If you're a taco flipper at Taco Bell, make the most symmetrical and evenly-topped taco you possibly can. Whether you're given the opportunity to do great things, or stuck doing trivial things, your self-respect should demand that you do them as flawlessly as possible.

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

[Neoteny]

What better way to build work-ethic and self-respect in a person than lording their livelihood over them? Over a plastic bag, no less. What even is a bleeder bag? I've had the good fortune of never having worked in a grocery store, and googling it only brings up hits for brake maintenence.

I don't know what happened to the first cashier.

Lol I bet you don't. In my experience there are very few reasons why a manager would want to immediately separate an employee from a customer like that.

[Dukasaur]

What better way to build work-ethic and self-respect in a person than lording their livelihood over them? Over a plastic bag, no less.

The bag isn't the issue. The issue is being too lazy to look and lying about it.

People who will lie to your face deserve to be immediately punched in theirs, but unfortunately that's illegal.



A bleeder bag is one of those thin plastic bags that the cashiers put over products that are leaking. Most often packages of meat with blood leaking (hence the name), but can be used for other leaks, including cherry tomatoes leaking from a defective carton.

[jonesthecurl]

Not "see the manager", but I once complained about the total non-service from a holiday rep, and she was fired.

[Neoteny]

People who will lie to your face deserve to be immediately punched in theirs, but unfortunately that's illegal.

Spoken like a proper pig. One of the only reasons I would have removed one of my employees from a situation like that so suddenly is if either the employee or customer (or both) were getting heated or otherwise emotional. You didn't mention the cashier disrespecting you in any other way (which I have no doubt at this point that you would still be fuming over it) or that she was on the verge of tears, so I guess we can assume she wasn't the problem there? With comments like that, we might be getting closer to the root of the problem here.

A bleeder bag is one of those thin plastic bags that the cashiers put over products that are leaking. Most often packages of meat with blood leaking, but can be used for other leaks, including cherry tomatoes leaking from a defective carton.

Is there, like, a Canadian Google or something where I can confirm this is a thing that people know about and would expect every cashier would know by name as opposed to "produce bags" or "those thin plastic bags we keep under the register?"

[DoomYoshi]

A bleeder bag is one of those thin plastic bags that the cashiers put over products that are leaking. Most often packages of meat with blood leaking, but can be used for other leaks, including cherry tomatoes leaking from a defective carton.

Is there, like, a Canadian Google or something where I can confirm this is a thing that people know about and would expect every cashier would know by name as opposed to "produce bags" or "those thin plastic bags we keep under the register?"

Haven't you even been to customer service 101? People should be mind readers.

It should be referred to as LDPE bags:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-5-m ... nu-joseph/

That way there is little ambiguity.

[DoomYoshi]

I'm not a cop and I don't know who Becky is.

In 1900 the most common job in America was farmer, second place was domestic servant. Today, most people have never met a domestic servant.

Speaking to the manager is equivalent to thinking we should still have domestic servants. While I agree with that proposition, since we don't, I think you should just give up on good service and accept that poor people ruin everything. The fact that poor people think they should get any service is what makes good service impossible. There just isn't enough to go around.

I understand completely that the chance is that most people are not the 1%. However, a 1% chance of being ok is better than a 100% chance of everything being crap, which is the situation we have now.

That's total bullshit. Domestic servants have nothing to do with it.

Everyone, or almost everyone, is both a servant at times and a master at times. Giving good service is just good work ethic. It means doing the best job you can under the circumstances, no matter how humble or how exalted that job is. If you're an opera composer, compose the best opera you possibly can. If you're a ditch digger, dig the straightest and most level ditch you possibly can. If you're an architect, build the most beautiful building the client will allow you the resources to build. If you're a taco flipper at Taco Bell, make the most symmetrical and evenly-topped taco you possibly can. Whether you're given the opportunity to do great things, or stuck doing trivial things, your self-respect should demand that you do them as flawlessly as possible.

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

So you want to impose your own measures of self-respect and success on others, that proves that you think of them as your own domestic servants. The cashier's self-respect should have nothing to do with whether some tomato-buying guy thinks she is doing a good job or not.

[Dukasaur]

People who will lie to your face deserve to be immediately punched in theirs, but unfortunately that's illegal.

Spoken like a proper pig. One of the only reasons I would have removed one of my employees from a situation like that so suddenly is if either the employee or customer (or both) were getting heated or otherwise emotional. You didn't mention the cashier disrespecting you in any other way (which I have no doubt at this point that you would still be fuming over it) or that she was on the verge of tears, so I guess we can assume she wasn't the problem there? With comments like that, we might be getting closer to the root of the problem here.

There were other symptoms of a generally lazy person, but I've been staying to the core of the problem and not digressing. This is a thread for anecdotes; I'm not writing you an essay.

A bleeder bag is one of those thin plastic bags that the cashiers put over products that are leaking. Most often packages of meat with blood leaking, but can be used for other leaks, including cherry tomatoes leaking from a defective carton.

Is there, like, a Canadian Google or something where I can confirm this is a thing that people know about and would expect every cashier would know by name as opposed to "produce bags" or "those thin plastic bags we keep under the register?"

Doesn't matter. Maybe the term is no longer current. It doesn't change anything. If you see someone's tomatoes rolling down the belt and you know you have 'thin plastic bags under the register' and they're using a word you don't know, you say, "I might not have one of those, but lo! and behold! I have a thin plastic bag under the register with which I can save your day! Aren't I a clever girl?"

If you care about the work you do, you stay close to problems and fix them as best you can, not stand there looking like a trout.

[riskllama]

i agree w/duk 100% on this. that cashier is being paid $$$ to perform a job. oftentimes a job will require us to do things we would rather not do, but if we want the $$$, we had best do them. to me, taking an extra 5 seconds and grabbing a fucking plastic bag for a customer who politely(i assume) asked for one does not seem to be an unreasonable request for a cashier at a grocery store...*shrugs*

[Neoteny]

There were other symptoms of a generally lazy person, but I've been staying to the core of the problem and not digressing. This is a thread for anecdotes; I'm not writing you an essay.

Lol symptoms of a lazy person? These I want to hear. More of this anecdote, please.

Doesn't matter. Maybe the term is no longer current. It doesn't change anything. If you see someone's tomatoes rolling down the belt and you know you have 'thin plastic bags under the register' and they're using a word you don't know, you say, "I might not have one of those, but lo! and behold! I have a thin plastic bag under the register with which I can save your day! Aren't I a clever girl?"

If you care about the work you do, you stay close to problems and fix them as best you can, not stand there looking like a trout.

Sure, it wasn't a difficult situation to manage. Even just getting a separate grocery bag to tie them up in would have diffused this. Which you could have helpfully suggested if you were interested in just carrying on with your day. But, no, she lied to you. You felt personally slighted and wanted her to be punished. If it were about her learning to do her job better, you wouldn't be expressing the urge to inflict physical violence on a woman.

God, imagine the gallons of teenage spit you've consumed.

i agree w/duk 100% on this. that cashier is being paid $$$ to perform a job. oftentimes a job will require us to do things we would rather not do, but if we want the $$$, we had best do them. to me, taking an extra 5 seconds and grabbing a fucking plastic bag for a customer who politely(i assume) asked for one does not seem to be an unreasonable request for a cashier at a grocery store...*shrugs*

Big assumption, apparently. It's not that the request is unreasonable, it's the discrepancy in the response to the denial. Duk was told no and he could not let such an indignity stand.

Cops don't actually deal in correction; it's all punitive.

[DoomYoshi]

i agree w/duk 100% on this. that cashier is being paid $$$ to perform a job. oftentimes a job will require us to do things we would rather not do, but if we want the $$$, we had best do them. to me, taking an extra 5 seconds and grabbing a fucking plastic bag for a customer who politely(i assume) asked for one does not seem to be an unreasonable request for a cashier at a grocery store...*shrugs*

But have you ever actually asked to speak to a manager? If not, you aren't actually on his side. He's in the trenches fighting the fight.

[riskllama]

ofc i have - in fact, the last time i asked to speak to someone's supervisor was with RevCan : the agent i dealt with that day was super personable and, more importantly, lightning fast. i told his supervisor exactly that.

[DoomYoshi]

This is Becky:


https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bbq-becky

[mrswdk]

What's wrong with having domestic servants? It's no different to going to a restaurant, dry cleaners, taxi company or any other service provider, other than the service provider lives with you and doesn't serve any other people.

[DoomYoshi]

What's wrong with having domestic servants? It's no different to going to a restaurant, dry cleaners, taxi company or any other service provider, other than the service provider lives with you and doesn't serve any other people.

The problem is that people think that those in the service industry are a replacement for domestic servants. They aren't.

[riskllama]

i don't think that, DY.

[DoomYoshi]

i don't think that, DY.

well, clearly you do since you're on the "speak to the manager" side of things.