On Customers & Karma

I'll give you a tease intro:

My wife and I were out to dinner the other night to celebrate her birthday. I took her out for sushi(her favorite) at her favorite sushi joint. We only get to eat there about 2 or 3 times a year($$$$$!!!!!). It is a very nice place and we have never had a bad experience there. This evening was no different.

This particular place is quite nice, they know our names and preferences. Needless to say they go the extra two steps for every customer. I had made reservations 2 weeks prior to insure I could get us a booth away from the hibachi grills(it can get noisy). When we showed up, Amy at the front pedestal verified our reservation and asked that we take a seat for just a quick moment while we wait for the manager(I forget his name) to guide us to our seat.

While we sat down a large party of 8 early 20' somethings walked in behind us and wanted a table. They did not have a reservation and the place was packed. They also were expecting 6 more people to join them. I overheard Amy explain that they may have to wait about an hour for a table. They do not have a table for 14 and they need to wait for 3 tables to be free so they can join them together. This did not sit well with the alpha male in the pack as he exclaimed something about them not knowing how to run an establishment. My thinking is that this is exactly how you run an establishment. I was raised knowing that if you have a large party, you make a reservation, otherwise you wait. However this was all I could overhear, as 30 seconds after we sat down, the manager came over and took us to our seat.

The food was awesome. The service was above my expectations. However, only about 10 minutes after we were seated, the staff started pulling tables together for the party, right next to our booth. So much for being quiet. I commented to our waiter how fast they got the table together, and he told me that they had 2 cancellations. The two cancels were in his section.

After the tables were pulled together, only 3 people in the party sat down. The waiter took their drink orders and I overheard the 3 saying that they did not want to wait for the rest of the group before they ordered their dinner. I also heard the waiter ask if everything was going to be on one check. One of them said yes after a short discussion. Remember this for later. 

More here...