Situation:
A takeout place opened in 2017. It was a single-location, family owned place, and you gave it a shot from almost day one.
Originally, the owners themselves worked there. When you found that one of the "plates" you liked had side items which didn't appeal to you, you asked if you could substitute it for fries. The owner said that it's normally against the policy, but he'd do it for you. You clarified that he would also do it going forward, and he said yes. You placed a fairly expensive takeout order (almost $60 each time), so the substitution was inconsequential, and he was happy to have the regular business.
The owners worked there through early 2020, when the pandemic hit. You were still a regular customer by that point, still with the same substitution "exception" allowed by the owner. You had no issues there and never complained or asked for anything free. However, once COVID hit, you stopped doing takeout for 15 months. They were also closed for a short time, as well.
By the time you went back in 2021, things had changed. They had a second location, and the owner worked at neither anymore. Of course, none of the employees there knew you, so you were told you couldn't substitute anything. Upon telling them about the deal from the owner, they would call the owner to check, who would say yes, and that would be that.
Or so you thought. Every month or so, this would happen again. You'd be told that "the owner said not to do it anymore", but then they'd call him to double-check, and he'd always say to go ahead and do it. This has happened like 5 times since May.
The workers there can't rationally explain how this keeps happening. If the owner is telling them to stop allowing it for you, why does he change his mind every time he gets a call asking if it's okay? Why isn't it a hard yes or hard no going forward?
There is no longer a manager at this location. It's all low-end workers who are not empowered to make decisions, and the owner directs them remotely.
The normal upcharge for the fries is otherwise $4, and it's done on two of the plates, for a total of $8 + tax. Not a huge amount of money, but it's the principle of the matter of being allowed to do it for over 3 years, and then suddenly being told you can't anymore, for no good reason. This would be understandable if it were a rule handed down by big corporate, but in a mom-and-pop place, it smacks of not appreciating the customer's business.
Once again, keep in mind that you've never had any incidents demanding free or replaced food in all the years going there. The only anomaly is this substitution, which isn't hard to do.
It should also be noted that this place isn't that busy, and there's never a line behind you when you order, so it's not a matter of holding up the line when explaining the substitution, or anything like that.
You do like the food a lot, but you feel that a takeout place with mediocre foot traffic shouldn't be acting all Soup Nazi on you, especially after having agreed to something for so long.
What would you do here?
JEW make the call!
Please no trolling or junk posts in this thead.
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Originally Posted by Dan Druff
