5/18 Famous Dave's Horror Story

BUT: to suggest that his behavior justifies the staff's is like saying the staff's behavior justifies his, which is preciosly the implication KevinJ is made.

Actually in my first post I am in 100% agreeance with you that FD's handled the situation poorly. In fact, it sounds like they were not even ready to be open, which is almost a park-wide problem when it comes to food service. There is, however, the little issue of intent. The staff was trying to make things better, while your party (yes, it was your dad, but in the perspective of Famous Dave's, you are a collective whole as a party) was just being belligerent.

KevinJ, let me tell you what I know about you: you are a current or former park employee

Nope, never. But I thank you for making me smile.

(or an employee of some other food service, tourist attraction, store, telemarketing firm, etc etc) who has (probably numerous) bad expiriences with disgruntled (and often unreasonable) customers.

Well now they're your right. And yes, I have dealt with customers just like your father before.

And it suck... but you know what? I put up with it, did my time and moved on. If you can't do that, you'll be doing these kind of crudy jobs your entire life

Which is exactly what the staff at Famous Dave's was trying to do. Poorly. Your party just didn't like how it was doing so. They failed.

I'll see you the next time I need groceries bagged.

Ah, now you're getting cold. Never worked at a Supermarket.

That said, your taking your frustrations at your own job(s) out on me is no diffrent than my father taking his frustration over a ruined dinner (and rather expensive family vacation for that matter) out on staff that didn't deserve it.

I'm not frustrated at all. I simply commented on your post from my perspective. Actually, I personally hate it when someone has a bad experience with anything connected to Cedar Point, because I love the place, and I wish every visitor could have a wonderful time. It actually makes me sad, as it sounds like there were a number of people affected.

If it makes you feel any better, we had a horrible experience at Cameo Pizza on Opening Night too. It was 20 minutes before someone acknowledged we were there, over 40 minutes until we ordered and over an hour and a half until we got our food. We asked to speak to the manager and he came out and apologized, saying it was prom night in Sandusky so he had no staff, our waitress was pregnant, they had a big party downstairs, etc and comped our entire meal - 3 or 4 different pizzas and about 7 pops. I don't know if I'll ever try that place again, but at least he did his best to make it right. I'm not sure managers at CP are even empowered to do that.

I heard another story that annoyed me - a season pass/parking pass fiasco. I think the pass was from Cedar Point and then the All Ohio parking pass was bought at Kings Island. Kings Island said, you have to get this processed at Cedar Point. A week or two later at Cedar Point, they said, this needs to be done at Kings Island. Someone (John McClure or the appropriate person at KI maybe?) has to be empowered to make situations like this right. It is one company now, the guy had his paid for Cedar Fair parking voucher in hand. CF already had their money so let's just empower some people to make these types of things right and not turn everything in to a big clusterf^&* because you are so hung up on your own rules.

John McClure had to go through a bunch of other people to make ours right, so he doesn't have the power to do that really.

In the end we're still unhappy but we're dealing with it for this year.

I really feel shafted by Cedar Fair. It seems that everyone has their heads up their proverbial asses. Here's hoping next year will be better.

I think when someone that high up in Park Operations can not make a decision on his own, something is wrong with the structure of management.

Why have all these directors, managers, area managers, supervisors if they aren't allowed to do anything on their own without calling for (whoever) to ask about it? I know supervisors felt like this, but I didn't think it extended up the chain this high.

It's called micromanaging.

I guess I'll take this opportunity to relate a situation that was handled nicely at Friday's at the Beach. My son and I dropped in for lunch on opening day, and were seated immediately. Our friendly server took our order within a few minutes, and brought our drinks a few minutes after that. We probably waited about 20-25 minutes for our food, a little on the lengthy side, but not too bad, when our server came back and apologized, explaining that they had many employees just starting and things were running a little behind. I understood, and didn't mind chilling for a bit. Well, about 5 minutes later, a manager walked up to me and said "Sir, I'm so sorry for the wait. Your food will be here really soon." He was right. The food was literally right behind him as he was speaking to us.

The food was good. My son got a sirloin, and I got the double-stack quesadillas.

The bill was around $35. I had $15 munch money left from our package deal at Breakers, and paid with that along with my Visa. The server came back a minute later with my Visa and said "Sorry again for the wait. I took care of it without charging your Visa." Woot! $15 in munch money paid the bill. Needless to say, she got a fat tip... I can only assume that they were getting alot of complaints that day, and assumed we were unhappy as well...

We also visited Chick-Fil-A opening weekend. We got our food less than a minute after ordering. It was fresh and greasy, just the way fast food is supposed to be. I hope Panda's will be just as efficient when they open. These chains are gonna put CP's other food stalls to shame. Maybe having the chains will prove to be a good thing, as it may raise the bar for what's expected from the other CP food stalls.

It baffles me as to why someone would wait two hours for their food... AFTER they've been seated? I understand the pain of having to wait to get served, and fear leaving and having to possibly do the process ALL over again!

I see Cable's dad and the restaurant's management equally at fault here, with several people here raising good points. To recap:

Employees/management:
- Only seat the tables you can serve in a timely manner.
- Offer free appetizers, drinks, desserts* Hell, even a free meal!

Guests:
- DON'T go into the kitchen, the staff knows what they need to do
- DON'T get overly pissy. Complaining and asking that the restaurant make things right is a necessary and rightful move. Getting into a loud, foul tirade and making threats is just wrong.
- Don't feel that you're getting fast enough service or help? LEAVE.

* I went to a nearby Chili's with friends late December. We waited 15-20 minutes before getting waited on (after complaining to a manager). He got us free nachos to appetize on, and after our meals, free desserts. I wanted to bail, but my friends' insistence at least got us something for free. Needless to say, Chili's isn't high on my list, but I'd go back if forced to.

Wow Cable, it looks like your father's anger issues are about as bad as your grammar issues. Take it out on the innocent hostess? Call another manager a dumbass for showing his enthusiasm and doing what a Cedar Point employee SHOULD be doing? Wow... I sure as hell hope I never run into you or any of your family at the park.

Has anyone read beyond the first post where Cable states (after my query) that his Dad didn't rail on the hostess but rather was just generally ranting on the way to the car?

Ooooh ooooooh, I did! :)

Loopy said:
It's called micromanaging.

Aha...we have an epiphany! The way one leads is generally by the direction/latitude/empowerment that is given to you by your supervisor.

I can recount numerous stories where I had a guest in Accommodations that was unhappy with something. If it was something of significance...particularly where we were at fault...the obvious answer is some form of compensation. Sometimes that could take the form of a discount on the room, free tickets to the park, free upgrade to a suite, etc.

More often than not I would go to my superior and be told there was nothing we could do for the guest. So I'd go out and tell the guest. They would not be satisfied, it would linger throughout their stay (so other minor things became major) and then when they would get home they would write a letter to the CEO.

At that point, the CEO often would offer some type of compensation. Why put the guest through all of that if you are just going to do the right thing several months later? From his perspective I suppose that gives some guests the time to forget about it, giving up on pursuing compensation, which saves the company a few bucks. But, what is the long term damage?

Where I work now I would be fired if my City Manager or Mayor had to deal with some of those types of things. Their position? Fix it the right way the first time. This is more respectful of the customer and it keeps those people from having to deal with items that really are beneath them.

Now, that lack of empowerment comes from somewhere. And, where does the buck stop?

Providing good customer service is so easy. How companies can continually foul it up is beyond me.

My take on the situation: if you are already mad- leave. Don't cuss out the employees, don't rant and rave and sit there getting more and more steamed. Just leave. You already knew that people were not getting their food in a timely fashion. You already knew there were kitchen problems. You had no reason to sit there and wait, knowing food was not going to be out any time soon.

Your father made it worse with the ranting and raving, and the attitude that he DESERVED better than the other customers, or that he was entitled to it. He wasn't. If he was mad, he should have just left and found a new place to eat, rather than being verbally abusive to the employees. Verbal abuse IS a cop-calling offense. In some states, cussing in public is a jailing offense (though not always upheld), and if the cops had been called, you can be assured, your father would have been the one in trouble. Even more so if there were ANY children in range of his voice at the time.

Next- the staff should have handled it better, certainly. For starters, the restaurants should be open a good 2 weeks before the park to get a handle on how to operate. That gives them hands on training before the park and restaurant is packed.

They should also have warned people ahead of time when arriving that it would be a LONG wait, and had at least one waiter circulating with a tray of free appitizers through out the wait. I've seen that done at many restaurants before. Fry up some cheese sticks, or hot wings, or what ever, put them on some trays with some plates, and stop at the tables to inquire if anyone would like a complimentary appitizer while they wait.

At the very least, the head manager should have circulated the room with cards for a free appitizer or drink on the return visit, and personally apologized at each table. He should also have looked into how long of a wait it would really be, and let each table know.

At the front door, the hostess was doing her job. Her job is to greet people, and to wish them a nice day when they leave. Regardless of the situation, that is what they are trained to say. They are not trained to say, "Sorry your experiance was crappy, this place blows!" She wasn't going to tell you that. She was doing her job when she wished you a nice night, and hoped you'd come back again.

She should have been made aware at the front to seat people slower from the get go, instead of letting tables stack. Wait 2-3 minutes in between each seating, so that the wait staff has time to greet their new table and get drink orders before a new table is sat. Wait 5-7 minutes to make sure they have time to place an order before a new table is sat.

Had that been done, the kitchen staff would not have been slammed with orders at the same time. There should have been two experianced cooks doing the majority of the work on the food while training employees did the smaller things- make the appitizers, make the desserts, make the salads, etc.

The way the staff handled it was not right at all. However, as customers, you were alerted to the fact after an hour of sitting there. You should have just left at that point instead of waiting longer, then being verbally abusive.

Verbal abuse is NEVER acceptable, nor blamless.

Gilly - while opening 2 weeks early so that they can be trained would be nice, who is going to eat there? The audience for these restaurants is 99% based on people at the park (I'm leaving 1% for those at the Marina who apparently don't realize there is an amusement park 50 feet away). There would be no one to serve during that two weeks and so there would be no training for the employees.

Really, what they need is 2-3 (per shift) experienced kitchen staff from a year round restaurant to come and work the first 6 weeks of the season to get the cooks going. 2-3 experienced wait-staff to come in and get the wait-staff going. And 1-2 bartenders to get them going. This shouldn't be a bring them in before the place opens to do training, but rather an OTJ routine that lasts until mid June (at the earliest).

Lastly, they need a manager who is willing to comp meals when a night goes to hell. However, if you are giving your workers the support and training they need to succeed, this won't happen. Heck, it wouldn't even have to be the same guys doing the entire 6 weeks. Work with a local Friday's and FD's to get people to pick up an extra shift a week at the park for a .50 premium. Or heck, give them free tickets to the park or something (on top of their regular pay). The experienced imparted on the new workers is much more valuable than sitting through some BS video's and 8 hours worth of "watch me do it" training.

I realize the crowds won't be huge opening early, but you still have people who work there, the office guys & ride op's alike, as well as locals who might enjoy going without battling the park crowds. Run low price specials advertised in the papers, and free parking for those two weeks, and you WILL draw a crowd.

There are also the people stopping by to grab their season passes, as well. It won't train them on how to handle big crowds, but it will give them time to learn the procedures first hand without upsetting the customers at the same time.

It's completely do-able.

If i stay at lighthouse point i dont eat in the park,because of the lousy service,i walk back to my cabin or cottage and eat,then i walk back in the park,very simple,i avoid cp food service,its not worth it to me.

Wow! I thought my family was the only one with food horror stories from this season! We went to Friday's at the Breakers on the 15th, as well, and it was awful! First, myself and our neighbor both ordered the pulled pork sandwich. Ten minutes later, the waitress comes out and says they are out of pulled pork (empty dining room and it's only 11:30-how are you out of something that early?). OK, not a big deal. I order the Cajun chix and our neighbor orders the club. It didn't take food long to come out, but when the waitress brought out our order, it was completely wrong. We ate it anyway, but later our neighbor wasn't feeling very well the rest of the afternoon. Also, I can relate to whoever posted about the Dippin Dots girl. It took her 15 minutes to wait on 3 people and she looked OUT OF IT (if you catch my drift!). I hope things get better soon! We've always gone to Max and Erma's on 250 and never had bad service or bad food there. Should've stuck with that, I guess!

Food service at CP is the one thing that does frustrate me almost every time I try it, which is why I almost always leave the park to get something to eat. I love Donut Time and Game Day Grill, and Midway Market when I can afford it. Outside of that, nothing really interests me. I figure as long as they're turning a good profit, and there's no way that they aren't, they won't have much incentive to overhaul the system.

I've been wanting to try Famous Dave's, but after reading this story there's no way I will. Sadly, and this is purely speculation on my behalf, I suspect that the so-called "head managers" at these chain places are working for the chain and not CP. Therefore, when people like Danny suck royally at being in charge, CP isn't able to touch them, and it's all the "underlings" that take the heat.

Top Thrill Dragster Said:

Wow Cable, it looks like your father's anger issues are about as bad as your grammar issues. Take it out on the innocent hostess? Call another manager a dumbass for showing his enthusiasm and doing what a Cedar Point employee SHOULD be doing? Wow... I sure as hell hope I never run into you or any of your family at the park.

You probably did if you where working on MF that weekend, and if you where working at MF we where nothing but pleasent to you.

Thanks for the useless bashing though, that's really helpful.

Seriously though, while not at all unexpected since this is after all the internet, a lot of the critism I've been getting here has been seriosuly misdirected (this is is not all to say that I have gotten plenty of constructive feedback, even from Mr. KevinJ in his most recent post). Some of this is my fault. There are as has often been pointed out two sides to every story, and I wanted to be sure to include as much of what what I feel my party did wrong that evening as possible so as not to misrepresent my party as perfract angels. I may have, if anything, over stated this aspect. First of all, my father's behavior in the resturant was NOTHING but supportive and patient, to the point of giving our watier a pep-talk while he was having an emotional break-down at our table. The "break-down" did not occur until we had phyically left the restaraunt, no employee of the restaturant was around to hear it, though I'd imagine those at the hostess desk might have seen it through the door. That said: it was completely innapropriate, and from my perspective having to deal with my father losing his mind had more of a negative impact on the vacation that the Famous Dave's Disaster that lead to it.

That said, while I relise that this is the internet, and therefore a haven for people who like to anonomously kick dirt at people they don't know including picking on people who have better-paying jobs than they do for spelling and grammer... the only people who would have any legitimate cause to criticise anything I have to say here would be someone who was working at FD's that night who had another side of the story to tell, and thus far I've seen none of that.

For the record: Once again, I agree with basically nothing my father did. My choice was to just leave, not even say anything to anyone, just walk out, obviously they knew there was a problem and this couldn't possibly have surprised them too much, and there potential altercations would have been avoided. Obviously my father felt otherwise, I have no control over this. To be as clear as I can possibly be: I agree with everyone who says my father should not have gone to the kitchen or lost his temper, and criticising me for him having done that is a complete waste of time.

Truthfully, all I was really trying to do here is share my story about a bad situation cause by a complete breakdown in operations at Famous Dave's on the night of 19 May 2007 that was likely no individual person's fault, and to which no individual reacted appropriately.
*** Edited 5/24/2007 7:19:07 PM UTC by Cable***
*** Edited 5/24/2007 7:20:16 PM UTC by Cable***

Next time, pee in the lobster bisque. That'll show 'em.

I like Lobster Bisque... I wouldn't want to pee in it.