Where Have All of the Good (Customer Service) Guys Gone?
Posted on: Oct 23, 2009
I have high standards.
I expect good customer service. A welcoming smile. A polite thank you.
Even in the US, I get riled up with businesses who lack accountability, who take their customers for granted, who act like they don’t give a damn. Here in Italy, I get riled rather often.
This really could be an (insert large number here) series on Customer Service in Calabria, but since I like to keep things bella here at My Bella Vita, we’ll keep this short and sweet.
I am heartbroken.
Our former favorite pizzeria, which I have written about both here and for my new gig at EasyJet Airlines wielded the blow and I just can’t, for the life of me, understand why businesses don’t care about their customers.
A few weeks ago my husband and I gathered a group of friends and asked them to join us at our favorite pizza place, da Ciro, in Catanzaro Lido. Our American friends were in town, we had another expat in tow, and a few of my husband’s cousins who hate this pizzeria.
Waiting is to be expected on a Saturday night, so we weren’t surprised when we arrived and found a crowded restaurant.
“We’ll wait outside so we don’t disturb you and your other clients,” my husband told them.
And we did.
We waited. And waited. And waited.
We watched while they seated another group-who had arrived after us-and we waited some more.
After an hour and a half, a large group of teenagers arrived and stood in the middle of the restaurant until they were seated.
My husband asked the waiter, the owner’s son-in-law, about the table.
“They were here before you,” the man told him.
“No, they weren’t,” my husband told him. “We’ve been waiting outside.”
“Well,” the man said, becoming defensive, “I’m working here. I can’t keep up with who gets here first.”
The owner walked by to listen to their conversation and continued to her seat without intervening.
There were small tables vacant and we assumed they’d push them together and offer us a seat.
We waited five more minutes. When no tables were combined or apologizes offered, we left.
And I won’t go back.
The worst part of this is that da Ciro Pizzeria isn’t alone.
Our B&B guests report incidents that are almost impossible to believe.
Apparently, there is a bed and breakfast in Catanzaro Lido that refused to serve breakfast to their guests because they were only staying one night. Another nearby bed and breakfast doesn’t offer breakfast at all. Another one charges guests for water.
Will someone explain this to me, in basic terms, as if I was a child? How do businesses operate with such lousy service and live to tell the tales?
Photo courtesy of Matchstic Blog
Hi Cherrye, I’m Italian (expat in Asia) and I can easily explain how it works: “no country for old men”. That’s it.
You have to be smart to survive in Italy, e.g. have a look at people skilled in cheating the long queues.
In the restaurant, they don’t care about clients: since the great majority of the clients are Italians, they assume the clients are smart enough to be able to get a table. You’ve behaved silly choosing to wait outside. I bet no one else did that ~I mean: everyone knows that standing outside you wouldn’t be noticed. You have to wait inside and maybe ask the owner many times to get a table. That’s not polite nor easy, but again: no country for old men. That’s the way it work, and I’m sincerely sorry about my country.
Furthermore, specially in Southern Italy, people don’t realize that tourists are an important resource for their economy, thus they should be respected and encouraged to stay more and/or come back again. Too many times tourists are just considered as no more than walking wallets.
Hopefully things may change in the future, but so far, if you want to deal with polite people, you may consider to visit Holland or Denmark ^_^
Thank you for explaining this from an Italian’s perspective. It is definitely a hard concept to grasp, but you do see it, not just in restaurants, but when driving, in lines, etc. I am hopeful things are changing, though, because my husband’s cousins admitted the reason they didn’t like this pizzeria was because of their poor service. I am hoping more Italians will start to expect better.
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As a frequent visitor and now resident of Calabria, I don’t put a lot of weight into generalizations of Italians and, especially, Southerners. Counterexamples abound!!
We frequently eat out and know of establishments where service and professionalism are ottimo! If not, we don’t return. Off the top of my head, I can’t recall one instance where I was expected to wait in the dining room with the rest of my party and nag the wait staff.
I wouldn’t pack your bags for Holland or Denmark just yet. Maybe this is the universe’s way of pushing you out to discover the next best pizzeria in the bel paese… one that takes reservations!
I told P the same thing! This is a great excuse to try other pizzerias-like the one you told us about in downtown!
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What a terrible experience. I am also one whose pet peeve is bad customer service. Unfortunately, we have experienced plenty of it since our return to the US. I agree with Karen about generalization, and don’t think that service is worse in southern Italy. From our experiences, we have found people to be more willing to help and have been more hospitable to us there. In fact, the worse service experiences we have encountered were in Firenze.
Perhaps the “upside” of the other B&Bs ridiculous service will be a boost for your business. How could a bed and breakfast refuse to serve breakfast? Unbelievable!
Isn’t it though? Apparently he didn’t even tell them until the next morning when they were waiting for breakfast. He walked in late and said, “Since you are just here one night, I didn’t do breakfast.” Ha. It really is kinda funny in an absurd kind of way.
.-= Valerie´s last blog ..The Last Mule of Anzi =-.
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I find it hard to believe that word of mouth have not closed some of these places down. I guess people don’t mind being abused. I know I wouldn’t run a business like that.
I think if there was another good Naples-style pizzeria in the area, they would close down.
.-= Nadine´s last blog ..My Nemesis =-.
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I think all the above points are true. I have had both great and mediocre restaurant experiences in Italy, but even in the US competition seems to raise the quality of food and service when there are a group of restaurants close together.
I’ve been told that service in restaurants in Italy tends to be slow because Italians consider going to eat at a restaurant the evenings entertainment. Is that true or is that just an excuse for poor service?
I’d definitely agree with that, J. It seems like in America we would go out to dinner and a movie, here in Calabria, we go out to dinner and it takes hours. I love that. I wasn’t actually upset about the wait, more the lack of respect that followed.
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How can one have a B&B and not serve one of the “B”s? That is crazy? Well that means more business for you.
Like I told Peter, I am pretty sure one of them at least doesn’t know what the word breakfast means in English. He called P once to translate an email he had received in English and he didn’t seem to know many words.
.-= nyc/caribbean ragazza´s last blog ..Flashback Friday – Hey Ya/Peanuts Smashup =-.
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Hi i just found you blog and I love it, …Im coming back for more soon
Thanks, Anna. I’m glad to have you here!
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Are you kidding?
“Apparently, there is a bed and breakfast in Catanzaro Lido that refused to serve breakfast to their guests because they were only staying one night. Another nearby bed and breakfast doesn’t offer breakfast at all.”
What are the names of their business-types… “Beds” (seems inappropriate to put “Breakfast” in their, no?)
No, Peter. No joke. I honestly don’t think they know what “breakfast” means.
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I had a similar experience this summer while in Stresa. Granted it was a pretty new establishment and the staff seemed to be young and inexperienced but they lost my business after one night. I asked for a table and then said I would wait outside so that I would not be in the way. I can’t say how much was ignoring me or just aggressive tourists grabbing tables while I was obviously already there waiting but there should have been some sort of waiting list set up. I had to ask over and over for my bottled water, even after my food was served. No apologies either when they finally brought me my water. I guess since tourists come and go, their lack of organization probably won’t hurt their business too much but it’s not a place I would recommend.
Boo. I am sorry to hear that.
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Ha ha! Those B&Bs that don’t serve breakfast should re-name themselves as “bed”.
Unfortunately it doesn’t surprise me – we hear some horrible stories from our B&B guests here in Rome as well.
We judge a place by it’s customer service as well. We only eat at places where the owners/staff and nice and friendly. Cuts down on our options there are some great places near us in Rome where the owners treat us like family since we eat there so often.
Ha! I thought the same thing about the B&Bs with no second B.
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I think there needs to be a web-site for people to post reviews of restaurants/B&Bs, etc. for Italy. There is a B&B website hosted by the National organization for B&Bs. B&Bs that belong to this organization have info on their establishments (with a link to their web-site) and a place for reviews, either good or bad. Does Italy have such a web-site? Maybe someone should start one if not. I’d loved to know the B&Bs who don’t know what the second B is all about – but then I wouldn’t have put up with the inn-keeper who didn’t do breakfast since they were only there one night – I would have marched into the kitchen and fixed my own breakfast and left him the mess to clean up. I’ve traveled to France and England and hope to go to Italy within the next couple of years – I’m glad to know I will have to be at my assertive best for that adventure!
Well hopefully you can find GOOD B&Bs to do busy with. There isn’t a site like this that focuses on Italy that I know of. TripAdvisor has Italy hotels/B&Bs, but they are getting so diluted now with people either 1) pumping themselves up or 2) trashing the competition that it is hard to know who to trust.
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[...] few weeks ago I asked where all of the good customer service guys had gone? I lamented the lack of a customer-service oriented mentality in south Italy and wondered how [...]