The Sweater, The Splinter, and the Snag

[Jinmyo]

Well, let's not go too far.

The original poster was in earnest.

Edited September 23, 2004 by Jinmyo (log)

[tommy]

i think everyone is posting in earnest. all two of the possible opinions have been voiced several times over.

[Suzanne F]

. . . From the sound of it, they were unaware of the extent of the  damage it caused and offering free dessert probably seemed fair at the time.  But the restaurant admitted responsibility when they comp'd dessert. 

Regardless, a mountain out of a mole hill has been made.  It seems to me, if you wrote or called the place and explained what happened like you did in your post, you could probably end up with a satsifactory agreement. . . .

Exactly: it seems unlikely that they could read your minds. They can, however, read your correspondence.

Happy anniversary (ain't love grand? ) and best of luck with the job-hunts.

[Jinmyo]

i think everyone is posting in earnest.  all two of the possible opinions have been voiced several times over.

←

Well, it's all-over wilde and important to be earnest... tommy.

[RKHessel]

Wanted to give y'all an update on what had happened....Took the sweater to a sweet older Italian lady who said that she would give it a shot. (For free, no less. Bless you, Assunta!)

Unfortunately, the line in the sweater is still there. (I did, however, get a great lesson on how to use a pasta machine, which I had never seen in use before. That was cool! )

Wife sent a very nice letter to the chef/owner about a week and a half ago...No response, not even an acknowledgment of the letter.

[RKHessel]

OH!

And, THANKS, everyone for the great advice. We truly appreciated it.

We'll let you know what happens.

[Fat Guy]

All this talk of who's obligated to do what and who's entitled to what makes me sad. But what makes me sadder is that this restaurant missed an opportunity to make a friend for life, and instead an evening was ruined. Regardless of the law, ethics, or anybody's sense of blame or responsibility, any restaurant above the level of a 7-11 should know that it's just good business to have managers whose immediate response to anything like this is to fix it. As far as I can tell, everybody on this thread who is actually in the restaurant business has said the same thing: offer to pay for the repair, end of story. That's the industry standard. It's not because restaurants have to do it -- I'm sure they'd be successful nine times out of ten in court on the "life is not fair" defense -- but this is the hospitality business, people. The way you earn repeat business is by being hospitable. Here, there was an opportunity to be hospitable and it was missed.

[Richard Kilgore]

As far as I can tell, everybody on this thread who is actually in the restaurant business has said the same thing: offer to pay for the repair, end of story. That's the industry standard. It's not because restaurants have to do it -- I'm sure they'd be successful nine times out of ten in court on the "life is not fair" defense -- but this is the hospitality business, people. The way you earn repeat business is by being hospitable. Here, there was an opportunity to be hospitable and it was missed.

I think that about covers it. This goes for small chef/owner cafes, as well as four star restaurants and international hotel chains.

[RKHessel]

Checked the mail today and was pleased (and very relieved) to see a letter from the restaurant. There was a nice note that explained how sorry they were for what had happened and a check for $50.

Relieved because now we will go back. (I would have stayed away on principle otherwise.)

Relieved because I will now be able to once again enjoy their divine country pate.

Releived because I will be able to try their fabled roast chicken that you have to wait for.

Releived because I will get to drink wine out of the tiny litte pitchers that they sometime serve it in....

You Seattleites out there should have figured out where I am talking about by now...

[jschyun]

All's well that ends well.