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Enjoy Your Dinner, Dammit!!!
By: Patrick Maguire
Book Chapter: Rules of Engagement
Posted: 04/11/2013
My blog posting sabbatical is over. Lots more to follow soon.
I posted something similar to the following on Yelp Talk Boston yesterday:
I cringe when restaurateurs say, “I hate Yelp,” but I get it. They really hate the members of the community who don’t take their responsibility seriously. Yelpers who are uninformed and unfair give the powerful medium a bad name. Many posters exaggerate, embellish and lie, with no regard for their impact on the livelihoods of hard-working people. And unfortunately, the administration and moderation of many amateur sites, especially Yelp, is inept at weeding out the garbage.
The ubiquitous Boston restaurant critic, and Yelp regular, Mc Slim Jb, recently published the attached blog post aimed at errant posters on amateur review sites.
11 Reasons Your Yelp Reviews Suck, and 11 Things You Can Do About It.
[Yes, it’s long, but please read the entire piece before joining the conversation below. It’s great commentary.]
My favorite quote from Mc Slim’s post is included on his list of, “Common problems with amateur reviews,” where the reviewer:
“Betrays a lack of human empathy, often expressed by a condescending tone toward the staff. The reviewer doesn’t appear to have ever considered what it would be like to have strangers rating him on his annual job performance based on a single 90-minute meeting.” Touché.
Unless we continue to initiate, support, and contribute to these conversations, the proliferation of cowardly and irresponsible amateur reviews will continue. It’s worth the fight.
There are some thoughtful comments in response to Mc Slim’s piece on a separate Chowhound thread.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
In related amateur restaurant reviewer news, I came across a comical post in the Chowhound “Not About Food” category.
The Chowhound poster, ‘Tiamat’, decries the use of, ‘Enjoy!’, when a server delivers a dish. Here’s an excerpt:
“Don’t serve me a plate and smile then order me to ‘Enjoy!’ You can tell me you hope that I enjoy it, You can ask if it appears to my liking. Better, you can come back three or four minutes later and ask if I am enjoying the dish. Please DON’T command me to like it.”
Fuck off, Tiamat.
I posted Tiamat’s rant on Server Not Servant Facebook Page, and added the following comment:
I think you’re being a nitpicking asshole if you take issue with someone saying, ‘Enjoy.’ I agree with the poster who called the OP (Tiamat) out on Chowhound and said, “I see the ‘Enjoy’ as the shortened, ‘I wish you enjoyment’, not as a commend. I read it in the same vein as, ‘Bon appetite’ or ‘buen provencho’.” — Exactly!!!
Yes, these people are easy to hate, and stop smiling…
[Join the Server Not Servant conversation on Twitter @PatrickMBoston]
3 Responses to “Enjoy Your Dinner, Dammit!!!”
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Permalink | Posted in Rules of Engagement | 3 Comments »
I said it elsewhere before, I wonder how Tiamat feels about being told to have a nice day….
Good to see another post, Patrick. Hopefully, there really will be many more to come since I enjoy reading your blog.
I’m 100% in agreement that we all need to treat each other with respect and empathy, and this extends to online review sites like Yelp too.
There’s also a danger in dismissing negative reviews outright. Even caustic and misinformed reviewers might shed some light on ways to improve service. This is especially true when their is a consistent pattern in negative reviews.
I work corporate, and corporate HQ has somebody always patrolling Yelp. Anytime there’s a bad review, the Yelper is asked to contact corporate so they can receive a free gift card to come back. It matters not one bit to them if the reviewer is lying or just an all around jerk.
The simple truth is the service industry has overempowered customers. It used to be you wouldn’t dare go out to eat without being properly dressed, now patrons appear in sweats and think nothing of resting their feet on nearby chairs. Dining out used to be a privilege, now the restaurant staff is expected to think they’re lucky you showed up.
It’s really not good for anyone to create a culture where being an asshole gets you any sort of benefit.