if you owned a restaurant what would you do ....

[EezyOozy]

Went to gp today, they said I could attend at short notice .... Had to wait for ages with two young kids to actually be seen … got out at 1730 , it's quite a long drive home.... so I decided to take them to pizza place over road. Have been many times before and just pay using my phone. Didn’t have purse with me as was in other bag and left in a hurry.

Had our food , just as I was asking for the bill my phone died. Had a charger in car…which was over the road.

I apologised profusely as it was totally my fault. I alerted the waitress as soon as I realised. She went to get the manager.

Again I apologised profusely and admitted it was my fault. The manager was really really abrupt and a bit of a bully about it, and said I wasn't allowed to leave!

-she wouldn’t let me go and get my charger , saying that I couldn't leave without paying

-She wouldn’t let me use their business phone to call DH and have him pay over the phone (it's also a takeaway so they take payment over the phone)!

-She wouldn’t let me go home to get money…..

-I offered to leave my name and address and all contact details!

They just kept saying “you can’t leave until you’ve paid, you will have to contact someone to bring you some money"

Me: "But my phone has died and you won’t let me get my charger or use your phone”

“Well that’s your problem, but you can’t leave without paying or we will
CALL THE POLICE"

Went on for about 20 mins and my kids were both going mental by this point and I was struggling to contain them . Eventually I said “look I’m just going to have to leave, phone the police if you like. I’ll call up and pay when I get home”

An elderly couple who had overheard the whole thing came over and said they’d just pay our £20 bill as the was ridiculous…
So the couple paid, I said goodbye to them at my car and thanked them grovelingly. I insisted on taking their bank details and mobile number, and within 5 mins I had charged my phone and transferred them the money (and texted them to confirm).

Is it just me or were the restaurant really mean??!!! I would have expected them to let me get my phone charger or call my husband ?

yes it was totally my fault, i apologised profusely I will never rely on just my phone again

I like to think I would have just let the person get their charger?!!

The restaurant staff sound not very bright. Detain you and you have no means of paying whatsoever, let you get your phone charger=a chance of payment.

How do you go on when you're buying petrol? If you can't pay, garages file a police report

DH filled up but didn't have his wallet. He came home with a sheet explaining what was owed and giving him a week to pay. The petrol station said people do it regularly on purpose a week before pay day.

Terrible customer service. They expected you to call someone telepathically?

I forgot my wallet at a food place the other day. The woman was halfway through getting my order when I realized but she served my full order anyway, and wrote down my name and the amount for me to come back later, she couldn't have been nicer. Luckily I remembered I could pay by phone 5 minutes later and went back, but that's the kind of service that inspires customer loyalty. If I'd even just witnessed what happened to you I would not have gone back to that restaurant.

LOL you can really tell who the unreasonable wankers are on here by their posts along the lines of "if you rely on the normal way of paying and don't have a back up you can expect to have the police called on you".

And as for the "Just be nice, don't mention it on Social Media" crowd, you know what, if a business treats a customer like this, it deserves to be shamed on SM. It's not being kind to the customers who don't want to fund wankers like this, not to tell them to avoid them.

You should write to the manager/owner and paste pretty much what you've written on here on trip advisor, goggle reviews, their own website, fb...most decent customers would be horrified and I certainly wouldn't go to a place like that if I read your experience.

@Reviewer123456

Don’t write a review. Some restaurants make the employee’s pay the bill if people don’t pay. Plus they might have Persistent issues of customers not paying their bills. You just don’t know the background. Just take it as a lesson leant and make sure you have adequate payment methods in the future.

The OP doesn’t need to know the background. Any review she writes will be a review of the service she received, not the history of the restaurant.

Honestly they were ridiculous. I'd have let them call the police, she'd have got a right bollocking for wasting police time. Id also leave a stinking review if I were you.

"How do you go on when you're buying petrol? If you can't pay, garages file a police report"
I went and filled up once and then realised I didn't have my purse. I went in and explained and they let me call DH who paid over the phone, they were really nice about it.

We were in a local restaurant recently and the internet went off in the whole town.
We didn’t have enough cash to pay and the bank machines obviously didn’t work either.
The owner just said don’t worry, see you tomorrow.
He didn’t even take contact details and if you’re untruthful the contact details will be made up,

We went back next day with our chq book in case the internet was still off.
It was so we used a chq.

I had a slightly similar situation the other day. My battery died at soft play - car charger stopped working on me! I had a charging cable but no plug or power bank. I was bored stupid waiting for DD and there's no magazines cos' covid.
So I went to the desk and very politely asked if they had either an iPhone charger or a USB port I could possibly please use for 5/10 mins as I was going stir crazy sat on my own staring into space with nothing to read (I'm disabled so couldn't go in the play frame with DD).
Yes they do have both an iPhone charger and spare USB port but that they had to be 'PAT Tested' Obviously if the USB port is used to charge a staff member's phone then there's really no difference and if the iPhone charger is an Apple one then it's perfectly safe.... But nope, the smirking attendant just shrugged.

Nowhere near as serious as OP's situation but annoyed me nonetheless! Some people get a kick out of purposely not helping when they know they're in a position to. It's a power thing

BlondeWidow that sounds annoying but I don’t think it’s at all the same. You wanted them to let you charge your phone because you were bored. They probably just couldn’t believe you asked! In the OPs scenario letting her charge it/get her charger/make a call would’ve been in their interests too that’s why they were stupid not to let her.

I would report them to the police and press charges!

@User0610134049

BlondeWidow that sounds annoying but I don’t think it’s at all the same. You wanted them to let you charge your phone because you were bored. They probably just couldn’t believe you asked! In the OPs scenario letting her charge it/get her charger/make a call would’ve been in their interests too that’s why they were stupid not to let her.

I did say in my post that I realise it's not anywhere near as serious as OP's situation

YANBU at all. I’ve seen someone do a runner and it was obvious.

This was a family I knew, their Dd was in my DDs class. They were well known for being less than honest. Ironically it took place in Pizza Hut. They came in and ordered up a storm, we were sat fairly close and you could tell from body language something was off. The two kids would have been 3 or 4 and 8 at the time.
Dad loudly proclaimed he was going out for a smoke, mum put the childrens coats on and then said she was going to the toilet. You could see what they were planning immediately and so could the staff. One followed Dad outside whilst another hung around the doorway.

This wrong footed the pair and they couldn’t leg it as planned. Police turned up just as I was leaving. I assume the plan was to just run and leave the children to catch up poor buggers.

Anyway point is, they were so obviously furtive and showing no upset or remorse and it seems obvious to me that you were clearly upset. Owner is an idiot.

@Juliauns91

Wow - I never go anywhere without cash on me - never. I wouldn't rely on a phone.

I never go anywhere with cash any more 🤷🏻‍♀️ have my debit card on me but never cash.

A staff member could have gone with you to get your charger, they could have lent you one, they could have phoned your DH...so many things instead of being that's.

twats flaming autocorrect

They could have kept hold of your phone whilst you went and got the charger!

@buddylicious

They could have kept hold of your phone whilst you went and got the charger!

Or her kids!

Did OP clarify whether her car was in fact just over the road (ie seconds away and in sight)? If so, the restaurant absolutely deserve a negative review for being so stupid.

@Ladybyrd

Don't turn up at a restaurant and order and eat a meal, without a guaranteed means of paying for it.

How do you go on when you're buying petrol? If you can't pay, garages file a police report.

You honestly feel hard-done-by?

Ahh pack it in. I took the wrong card to pay for petrol once and didn't realise until afterwards, I filled in a quick details form and they said as long as I came back within 24 hours and paid it was fine. The world didn't end, people make mistakes.

How do you go on when you're buying petrol? If you can't pay, garages file a police report.

Had this a couple of years ago - they don't call the police, there seemed to be an organised system where I filled in a form, and had to return and pay within 7 days. I think there was an admin fee if I wanted to pay by phone - fortunately it was only a few miles away.

Maybe the restaurant had had people do a runner before - but they could have accompanied you to your car, or let you leave the children as "security" that you'd be back - or made a phone call for you.