On a busy Christmas Day, as the night was winding down, I was waved over by some customers in a corner. It was an older couple who were done with their meal. They had a little doggie bag for their leftovers and the man was intensely concentrating on the bill he was holding.
"How much does you the spinach dish cost?" The lady is asking me. I don't know the price off the top of my head.
"Hold on a second, let me get a menu." I go and get a menu and flip to the "Vegetables" section. "It's $12.95."
"Why is it $12.95? I can go and get a bag of spinach at the store for $2 or $3," she retorted. "I have been a loyal customer and always bring new friends. If you value my business, you'd lower the price of the spinach."
"I'll take that under consideration, but I don't think we're going to lower the price."
"I can go down the street to Panda and probably get the spinach for much cheaper."
"I recommend that you go down the street to Panda for your next dining experience if we're not satisfying your dining needs."
"Well, I might do that. Your prices are too high and there's too much food. My husband and I can't finish this much food."
"I am sorry about that. Have a good evening and Happy Holidays!"
"I'm never coming back."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Happy Holidays!"
The lady comes back after a couple of months.
Her husband waves me over, "Is there any way we can get half orders of this dish?" Wife waves to shut him up. "I'm sorry, we don't do half orders."
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Friday, April 5, 2019
My Love/Hate Relationship with Yelp
Everyone knows Yelp! and have used to look for new places to eat at least once.
Having worked at a restaurant, I can see how businesses are at the mercy of sites like Yelp! This is more true for new businesses just starting out. If you're not pandering to the customers, they can make business life tough with threats to give your business a bad review. Some customers will ask for free stuff and threaten to write a bad review if you don't acquiesce to their wishes.
Here's a scenario that totally happened.
This is at a Chinese restaurant. Customer orders takeout. Our takeout containers have a clear plastic lid, so you can see the food that you ordered. Customer orders a bunch of things, picks up the box of 6 orders, pays for their food, and leave. They come back 20 minutes later claiming their "Orange Chicken" is missing. Our staff points out that the container at the top with the chicken is the "Orange Chicken."
"Oh, the one with the broccoli?"
"Yes, that's the one."
"Okay, then we have it."
30 seconds later, the wife or girlfriend of the first person comes back in demanding that we give her an "Orange Chicken" that was ordered, but "missing" in the box of food that they picked up.
"Are you going to give me another Orange Chicken or not?"
"Nope."
"Then you're going to get a bad review."
"Okay."
She storms off. Her friend already confirmed that they have the dish, but she was determined to get another free dish out of it.
I use Yelp! to find businesses for services, like barbers or painters or whatever. I don't really trust the reviews on restaurants quite as much because you have to really sift through the reviews to see whether they are reviewing the restaurant based on food or service or a combination of both or sometimes on something completely arbitrary.
Yelp! is a site that also has run into legal troubles with lawsuits from businesses claiming that they are semi-extorting them for ad revenue. The way it works is like this. You either pay for additional services so they hide the bad reviews or you don't and the bad reviews magically float to the top. It's quite a good racket. I am not sure they do that any more, but that's something to chew on.
Having worked at a restaurant, I can see how businesses are at the mercy of sites like Yelp! This is more true for new businesses just starting out. If you're not pandering to the customers, they can make business life tough with threats to give your business a bad review. Some customers will ask for free stuff and threaten to write a bad review if you don't acquiesce to their wishes.
Here's a scenario that totally happened.
This is at a Chinese restaurant. Customer orders takeout. Our takeout containers have a clear plastic lid, so you can see the food that you ordered. Customer orders a bunch of things, picks up the box of 6 orders, pays for their food, and leave. They come back 20 minutes later claiming their "Orange Chicken" is missing. Our staff points out that the container at the top with the chicken is the "Orange Chicken."
"Oh, the one with the broccoli?"
"Yes, that's the one."
"Okay, then we have it."
30 seconds later, the wife or girlfriend of the first person comes back in demanding that we give her an "Orange Chicken" that was ordered, but "missing" in the box of food that they picked up.
"Are you going to give me another Orange Chicken or not?"
"Nope."
"Then you're going to get a bad review."
"Okay."
She storms off. Her friend already confirmed that they have the dish, but she was determined to get another free dish out of it.
I use Yelp! to find businesses for services, like barbers or painters or whatever. I don't really trust the reviews on restaurants quite as much because you have to really sift through the reviews to see whether they are reviewing the restaurant based on food or service or a combination of both or sometimes on something completely arbitrary.
Yelp! is a site that also has run into legal troubles with lawsuits from businesses claiming that they are semi-extorting them for ad revenue. The way it works is like this. You either pay for additional services so they hide the bad reviews or you don't and the bad reviews magically float to the top. It's quite a good racket. I am not sure they do that any more, but that's something to chew on.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Online dating
This whole idea of online dating takes the worst parts of real life dating/approaching and brings it to an extreme.
In real life, you see a girl you are attracted to, screw up the courage, then ask her out. You have to come up with something witty for your icebreaker, then keep her entertained. If things go well, you get her number and go out on a date.
With match.com (the most popular one out there), you write a profile, post some pictures, your likes and dislikes, along with your beliefs, salary, and your job. You basically lay out everything out in your resume and then have to put on a profile that is interesting that engages any readers. You have to be witty in your email, witty in your profile, and have the right credentials.
It used to be touted as a way to get to know someone for their personality first, above the superficiality. No longer true, it's all about superficiality. People don't even hide it. They specify the ethnicity of their ideal match, along with body type, height, hair length, hair color, eye color, etc. Then it goes and asks about someone's job and salary range. Yeah, not superficial at all.
To be continued...
In real life, you see a girl you are attracted to, screw up the courage, then ask her out. You have to come up with something witty for your icebreaker, then keep her entertained. If things go well, you get her number and go out on a date.
With match.com (the most popular one out there), you write a profile, post some pictures, your likes and dislikes, along with your beliefs, salary, and your job. You basically lay out everything out in your resume and then have to put on a profile that is interesting that engages any readers. You have to be witty in your email, witty in your profile, and have the right credentials.
It used to be touted as a way to get to know someone for their personality first, above the superficiality. No longer true, it's all about superficiality. People don't even hide it. They specify the ethnicity of their ideal match, along with body type, height, hair length, hair color, eye color, etc. Then it goes and asks about someone's job and salary range. Yeah, not superficial at all.
To be continued...
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Discrimination
There is a bit of discrimination at this job. It's not the normal discrimination based on sex or race or religion, but something wholly created within the company itself. Everyone is given a security badge for different clearances. It doesn't stop there though, they are color coded to delineate your status.
Green is for contractors. Yellow is for union (that's a guess). Red is for hourly employees. Blue is for regular employees. After blue, there are stripes on badges to show that you're a director and above.
Green are the lowest of low. No benefits of any kind. No free tickets into the theme park. Nothing. Underneath our picture is an expiration date, an exact date as to when our affiliation with the organization ends.
The yellow guys are possibly union people. I have to go track one of them down to find out for sure.
Red are hourly and some are paid interns. They can be full time works and still be on the clock. Not sure how that works.
Blue people are fully recognized employees of the company. They get all the benefits.
On the main campus, there are even parking spaces sectioned off for each colored employee.
There is no equality.
It's not easy being green.
Green is for contractors. Yellow is for union (that's a guess). Red is for hourly employees. Blue is for regular employees. After blue, there are stripes on badges to show that you're a director and above.
Green are the lowest of low. No benefits of any kind. No free tickets into the theme park. Nothing. Underneath our picture is an expiration date, an exact date as to when our affiliation with the organization ends.
The yellow guys are possibly union people. I have to go track one of them down to find out for sure.
Red are hourly and some are paid interns. They can be full time works and still be on the clock. Not sure how that works.
Blue people are fully recognized employees of the company. They get all the benefits.
On the main campus, there are even parking spaces sectioned off for each colored employee.
There is no equality.
It's not easy being green.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Play Now
I worry about my job security at this place. After all, I am a contractor. You know what though? It would be tough for them to find someone with so little time left before the deadline. I've basically locked myself in, just like Costanza. I guess it was when he was working at Play Now. I only vaguely remember that episode, but my friend mentioned it to me.
The job is challenging, but staring at a document that was created so many years ago as a collaboration with many people smarter than myself with the idea that I can parse out relevant sections, edit them, and tailor it to my project is going to make my head explode. I've been staring at the document and rewriting parts and decided that there's no easy way to do it. I started on one aspect, sent it off to the experts, and got a bunch of redlines through it. He basically said that it's not feasible and that I was probably going about it all wrong.
Lo and behold, there's an initiative to rewrite the thing and make it more user friendly. Good thing I didn't delete it.
The job is challenging, but staring at a document that was created so many years ago as a collaboration with many people smarter than myself with the idea that I can parse out relevant sections, edit them, and tailor it to my project is going to make my head explode. I've been staring at the document and rewriting parts and decided that there's no easy way to do it. I started on one aspect, sent it off to the experts, and got a bunch of redlines through it. He basically said that it's not feasible and that I was probably going about it all wrong.
Lo and behold, there's an initiative to rewrite the thing and make it more user friendly. Good thing I didn't delete it.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
A New Job
Costanza was unemployed for the longest time and there was an episode where he sort of discusses job ideas with Jerome. Being a sportscaster was one of the jobs he wanted. Somehow, he was able to get a job with the Yankees and even scored a spacious office that was huge in The Opposite.
Now, I can't say that I scored a job as nice as his, but I did get a job that purports to be the happiest place on earth. I'm not at the actual happiest place, but at a division and so far everyone seems genuinely happy to be there. I haven't started work yet, but after an interview and a meet and greet, people still seem genuinely happy. It's a vast turnaround from my last job, where few people seemed happy at any given time, including my manager who was known to go on tirades. In fact, he went a bit nuts on some things like Costanza and I had a VP who talked just like Steinbrenner. The VP could never ever sit still. Always moving and asking a bunch of questions. He even had the salt and pepper hair.
Anyway, the work seems a bit complex to me and I'll definitely be learning as I go. I am sure I can do the job, but I hope I don't truly pull a Costanza and screw it all up somehow, like get traded to Paramount for some South Park huggable dolls or some such.
Now, I can't say that I scored a job as nice as his, but I did get a job that purports to be the happiest place on earth. I'm not at the actual happiest place, but at a division and so far everyone seems genuinely happy to be there. I haven't started work yet, but after an interview and a meet and greet, people still seem genuinely happy. It's a vast turnaround from my last job, where few people seemed happy at any given time, including my manager who was known to go on tirades. In fact, he went a bit nuts on some things like Costanza and I had a VP who talked just like Steinbrenner. The VP could never ever sit still. Always moving and asking a bunch of questions. He even had the salt and pepper hair.
Anyway, the work seems a bit complex to me and I'll definitely be learning as I go. I am sure I can do the job, but I hope I don't truly pull a Costanza and screw it all up somehow, like get traded to Paramount for some South Park huggable dolls or some such.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Gambling
I have a cousin (Gwen) who's married to a poker player, we'll call him Ray. She gambles herself and I'm not sure how good she is, but I do know her husband isn't. We also have an aunt (we'll call her Quatro) who is an addict and never, ever wins. She's lost hundreds of thousands.
Anyway, I got into it with Gwen about Ray's gambling and that he should go out and get a job because he sucks at gambling. Her argument? "He's a really good poker player. Ask anyone who he's ever played with and they'll all agree that he makes all the right decisions."
You know who else made all the right decisions but still got shot down? Iceman. "It's the way he flies, ice cold, no mistakes. He wears you down, you get bored--frustrated--do something stupid and he's got ya." He still got shot down flying with no mistakes.
Also, asking the guys he always loses to whether Ray is good at gambling is dumb. If they see him as an easy kill, wouldn't they just say whatever is necessary so that he keeps feeding their kids?
Now, Gwen says that Ray is no Quatro. To me, he's worse. Quatro loses and loses all the time, and loses big all the time. We know she sucks and she should give it up. Ray may win a grand one day and drop 5 large the next. He is getting teased, giving him an idea that he may win. I liken this to being led on by a girl or guy. They never let you get to first, but may put a hand on your arm or flick their hair or something to give you the idea they may be interested. In the end, you just go home with blue balls.
Ray just needs to give it up.
Anyway, I got into it with Gwen about Ray's gambling and that he should go out and get a job because he sucks at gambling. Her argument? "He's a really good poker player. Ask anyone who he's ever played with and they'll all agree that he makes all the right decisions."
You know who else made all the right decisions but still got shot down? Iceman. "It's the way he flies, ice cold, no mistakes. He wears you down, you get bored--frustrated--do something stupid and he's got ya." He still got shot down flying with no mistakes.
Also, asking the guys he always loses to whether Ray is good at gambling is dumb. If they see him as an easy kill, wouldn't they just say whatever is necessary so that he keeps feeding their kids?
Now, Gwen says that Ray is no Quatro. To me, he's worse. Quatro loses and loses all the time, and loses big all the time. We know she sucks and she should give it up. Ray may win a grand one day and drop 5 large the next. He is getting teased, giving him an idea that he may win. I liken this to being led on by a girl or guy. They never let you get to first, but may put a hand on your arm or flick their hair or something to give you the idea they may be interested. In the end, you just go home with blue balls.
Ray just needs to give it up.
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