We ALL Know One...

We all know one, that middle-aged woman with a chip on her shoulder that complains about absolutely everything, you know the one I mean, often trailed by a poor downtrodden long-suffering husband. There's one on every street and one in every family... That's right I'm talking about a "Karen". The worst type of "Karen" is the repeat "Karen" You know the one who came into your place of work, nothing was right for her, she complained about everything, didn't like the table, didn't like the food, didn't like the noise, didn't like the drinks but yet miraculously she comes back, time and time again when you truly wish she wouldn't. Well, this comes down to one thing, financial gain... Let me Explain.

According to a quick google search of the phrase "The customer is always right," we apparently have three wealthy men to blame, all from the early 1900's Marshall Field, Harry Gordon Selfridge, and John Wanamaker... Thanks, guys, you've been ruining people's lives for over 100 years now. The truth is the customer - as everyone and anyone who has ever worked in any kind of customer-facing role in any industry can vociferously attest, the customer IS NOT always right... In fact, sometimes they could not be MORE WRONG.

Now, as this particular middle-aged woman of privilege in my next story realised, she could basically dine for free every time she came in and so despite once branding us "awful" she kept returning over and over again, each time dragging her embarrassed and often apologetic (behind her back of course) husband with her. This woman who I will call, yes you've guessed it "Karen" took a particular dislike to me and for a good six months or more made my life a living hell every single week. She always chose a table in the section where I was working, and this seemed to be personal. Week after week this lady would come in, complain about her salad, complain about her chips, complain about her wine, and week after week she would come in brandishing vouchers in her hand, which she would proudly waft at me like a badge of honour. This for me is where that theory falls down, if it's a genuine complaint I am, as a manager now myself totally behind putting the customer experience right. But women like this don't have a genuine argument, they are victimizing a business and abusing the system. One day she had been particularly nasty to me, I was serving someone else and she shouted at me across a full section of people, it was near Christmas and we were very busy, she demanded to know why her food was "taking so long", I apologised to her and went to check, the kitchen was busy but her food hadn't taken a long time according to the time-stamped check that prints out of the machine when her order is sent through on the order system. I made my way back to her and apologised, telling her that her food would be out soon and that she had been waiting for a total of fourteen minutes, "Karen" seemed as though she had perhaps been drinking before she had even arrived at our venue that night, her long-suffering husband apologised over her rambling and said they hadn't waited long and that he could see we were busy. No longer had her food touched her table a short while later she started, she complained about her steak topper that adorned her salad, she said it was tough, this can be a genuine issue if you get a bad cut of meat so I took it back to the kitchen and another came out quickly. She called me over again, this time it was cold - side note it wasn't how do I know because I had seen the chef temperature probe it before it had left the kitchen... I smiled politely and returned to the kitchen again, the chef went bananas and bellowed "did you tell her you watched me probe it!? How is it cold?" He picked up the steak and dug his fingers into it, it was still hot to the touch he hurled the steak at the bin, missing it and causing the steak to ricochet and almost take out an innocent pot washer! The entire meal including the salad was remade, when I returned a third time with her new steak salad she immediately erupted "You've given me the same steak!" she screamed causing people to fall silent and all look my way, "we haven't, madam" I tried but she carried on her tirade "You think you can give me the same steak and I won't notice! That's it I'm not paying for this" she bellowed. "We wouldn't do that, madam I saw them cook you a fresh steak" I reasoned but she wouldn't listen. "There are no knife marks in your steak, you cut the other steak madam it can't be the same steak" Even Mr Karen tried negotiating with her but she wouldn't listen, telling him to be quiet. I pictured her steak still lying in a pool of cooling blood and cooking juices underneath the pot wash area, I wanted to say that I knew it wasn't the same steak because her other steak was almost the primary focus of the young pot washers murder trial, and was still lay in the position it had landed in the kitchen... But of course, I couldn't. I went to the duty manager, explained the situation and he went over to speak to her, I heard her immediately start on him, she had a voice that cackled like a witch and when irate I almost swear it was capable of breaking glass. This time however I couldn't take it anymore, this lady had pushed me to the point that I no longer wanted to work on a Tuesday night, and I began to get a sick feeling in my stomach before my shifts on that day. I broke down in tears and told boss man, I never complained and to quote boss man "Always saw the good in everybody" but she seemed to target me, always sitting in my section and demanding to move if she wasn't, she was intimidating me and she seemed to enjoy it. Boss Man listened and then made a phone call, she had so many head office compensation vouchers I knew her name off by heart, and Boss Man requested an investigation. It turned out that this particular "Karen" not only had vouchers every week from complaining in our restaurant, but she also habitually visited two of our other restaurants and in each place had compensation vouchers issued regularly for those too. Boss Man was furious, he promised me that next Tuesday he would deal with her, sure enough, the next Tuesday rolled around, and in she bounded with her latest set of vouchers, this time Boss Man was on shift waiting, and when she complained she didn't get me, she got him. Boss Man heard her complaint and simply said "Every week you come here and complain about your food, and yet every week you return. On this occasion, I'm afraid there is nothing more we can do for you and I suggest you leave" "Karen" was absolutely dumbfounded, she ranted and raved at Boss Man who simply told her this was not the place for her and not to return. Sure enough, she complained only this time head office I was told informed her that seeing as she had tried "several" of our locations and found none of them to be satisfactory perhaps it truly would be better if she found alternative places to dine. Karen tried to fight the outcome, enraged that she wouldn't be getting more of the standard complimentary vouchers she was so accustomed to brandishing and using as her weapon, but her reign of terror was over. I never saw her again.

Things I learned from these experiences:

1. Absolutely everyone knows a "Karen"

2. While it's important to ensure your customers are happy, it's important to identify when someone is trying to scam you.

3. Eventually, Karma will catch up with you