After the six friends sat in the suburban restaurant to have a Sunday brunch, the hostess was prompt in providing them with menus. They decided on what they are going to have and closed their menus. Matt Robinson and his friends sat having a casual talk thinking that the waitress will be serving them shortly. However, they became remarkably impatient after twenty minutes, looking at their watches and trying to get the attention of any other waitress. At long last, Matt decided to leave the table to look for someone to serve them. He met with Cindy, a waitress, who informed him that she would take their orders although she was not assigned to that section. Matt noticed that Cindy was somehow nervous. In other words, she seemed not comfortable in serving a group of six young men. Thinking that their problem had been solved, to their shock, Cindy returned with the wrong order after having them wait for quite a long time. In the report at hand, I will examine the entire ordeal that happened to Matt Robinson and five of his friends in the restaurant on that material day, determine if Cindy was at fault, develop the best advice for Matt and that of the manager.
I think this situation happened because the restaurant had done a poor job as far as employees’ training is concerned. Being a new employee, Cindy ought to be taken through practical training that will help her serve clients on time without necessarily showing them some of the faults in the business system. The restaurant had divided the waitresses between operating in different sections. As Cindy tells the six customers that she was not assigned to serve in the area they were seated in; they had instructions from the management to be operating on the section they are given only. This fault is also noted when Cindy comes back to confirm to Matt and his friends that it is now confirmed that she will be the one who will be serving them. It seems that Cindy had gone maybe to the manager to ultimately seek permission to serve the clients since they were not seated in the section she had been assigned to, which does not show a good picture for the restaurant to the customers.
Training employees before being allowed to handle clients is essential as it will ultimately help them reduce nervousness at the end of the day (Afthanorhan et al., 2019). If Cindy had been trained effectively, she would not have been nervous when serving young men in the restaurant. Her nervousness made her reluctant at first to serve Matt and his friends. On top of that, training new employees make the management look better in the clients’ eyes by bringing their staff up to speed. The clients in the case at hand took about three hours in the restaurant, which is uncalled for because they had not planned to take that long. Thus, their time was wasted by the waitresses for keeping them longer than they had planned. Keeping them prompted them to ask for compensation from the management. The hotel owner claimed that nothing could be done since Cindy, the new employee, was not conversant with attending to clients without keeping them waiting for their food and drinks unnecessarily.
To make matters worse, the hotel owner asks the clients to understand the new waitress rather than having disciplinary action against the worker to make the clients not to be satisfied with the restaurant’s services at the end of the day. The management has to train their employees that they should aim to satisfy the clients’ requirements ultimately since it will not just retain the existing clients but will also increase the clientele base. El-Adly (2019) claims that prior training of the employees will help reduce questions and trouble and increase confidence when they start working. Cindy did not have enough faith when she began working in the restaurant, and that is why she found herself being nervous when it came to serving Matt and his friends. The management should also train their employees to confirm the customer’s orders before leaving their tables to avoid bringing the foods and drinks that the client(s) had not ordered (Nunkoo et al., 2020). Cindy brought what Matt and his friends had not requested, and they engaged in an argument which prompted Matt to show her the tab she had brought to them before delivering the order. She was not confident with what she was doing since Cindy proceeded to the next table, asking them if they were the ones who had ordered the food she had on the tray before returning to Matt’s table, insisting they are the ones who had asked for that food.
I think Cindy was at fault since, on top of keeping Matt and his friends waiting for long to be served, she brought what they had not ordered and tried to insist that they are the ones who had ordered what she was carrying on the tray. She should have confirmed the customer’s order before delivering. On top of that, she is not supposed to argue with the clients. In other words, she does not have to insist that they are the ones who had ordered what she has brought on the table. She is at fault since even when she goes back to get what they had asked for, Cindy comes with an order with some items missing, thus wasting their time which heightens their dissatisfaction with the services provided in due course. It is the management’s work to ensure that the objective of the employees and the entire restaurant is to meet the clients’ requirements ultimately (Leninkumar, 2017). As a result, they have to train their employees on serving the clients without unnecessary wastage of time. It is the restaurant’s responsibility to formulate strategies of ensuring that the customer’s satisfaction is observed in due course if they want to increase the number of clients for an ultimate increase in profitability and maximization of revenue.
Matt and his six friends were subjected to when they visited a suburban restaurant cannot be entirely blamed on Cindy. Although she was at fault for keeping the customers for long, bringing the wrong order, and omitting some items when the order is finally brought on the table, the blame is mostly on the management. The notion is attributable to the observation that the management seems to have failed when it comes to how their employees are serving the clients. Managers and business owners in the hotel sector and all industries should know that the client should be given priority when it comes to the business’s day-to-day operations. However, this notion does not imply that other stakeholders are not necessary. Everyone who takes part in the business’s daily operations is essential, but the clients are more important since the business cannot survive without them. A company can have all the products and services required by the clients but still find themselves not celebrating the fifth birthday as it has been the norm of many businesses across the globe in today’s world. Most companies are being closed because of not accomplishing their goals and objectives in terms of profitability and revenue maximization. One of the significant reasons companies ultimately fail is their failure to offer quality services to the client for their ultimate satisfaction. It has been noted that when a client is satisfied by the services of a particular business, they are expected to come back tomorrow and most probably with a friend or a relative, thus increasing the clientele base at the end of the day.
No one has a more considerable influence on how new employees perform their assigned duties than those who employed them (Hamzah & Shamsudin, 2020). This observation is attributable to the fact that the management understands what its subordinates have to accomplish more than anyone else. On top of that, the management understands the connections, resources, and skills required for the new employee to become completely effective. They have the largest stake in ensuring that the new employees have understood what is needed for the restaurant from them (Oh & Kim, 2017). One of the essential requirements is to offer the best quality service in due course. Research has revealed that being organized in onboarding makes the management bring their new hires up to speed fifty percent faster than imply they are more effectively and rapidly able to contribute as far as achieving short fruitfully- and long-term goals and objectives business is concerned.
Additionally, efficient onboarding lessens the rates of failures and increases the engagement of the employee. The earlier the management begins to support their new employees, the better (Wikhamn, 2019). The period between when an individual accepts an employment offer and the time they report for their first shift is a vital resource that should be effectively utilized to jump-start the procedure. In this case, the time should be used to train the employee, especially on how to handle the clients to be satisfied at the end of the day. However, there are other approaches to ensuring the employee’s effectiveness even if they have already started working.
As a result, I would advise the restaurant manager to utilize the time taken when a person is offered a job opportunity and report for their first shift to treat the new hires, especially on serving clients promptly. Additionally, the manager should assign a supervisor who should be held responsible when the new employee is at fault. In other words, the supervisor should be on the lookout for how the new employee is carrying out their assigned duties. Cindy should be given somebody who has been in the job for some time to guide her until she becomes conversant with the restaurant’s work and culture. I would also advise the manager to always listen to the customers’ complaints and take the necessary action rather than telling them that nothing can be done because the one who was serving them is not conversant with the assigned task. The manager ought to know that it is not the customer’s responsibility to see that a new hire serves them. The management should be the one who should come up with ways of letting the customers know that the one who is serving them is new for the customer to understand them.
On the other hand, Matt and his friends had their time wasted in the restaurant unnecessarily. As mentioned earlier, we should not blame Cindy for what happened to the clients. Although she is in one instance seen arguing with Matt on the food that they had ordered, the largest part of the entire situation is blamed on the management since they are the ones who are responsible for ensuring that their new hires are treating the customers as required by the restaurant. As a result, I would advise Matt to be patient with the new hire. It would also not be wrong by recommending Matt to go to a place where he is comfortable with services being provided since it seems that the management of the restaurant at hand has significantly failed in guiding their new employees on serving the clients quickly and effectively to satisfy their requirements in due course.
In summing up, the restaurant was at fault for not giving prior training to the new employee before interacting with the clients. In other words, it is unfair to blame Cindy for what happened to Matt and his friends on that material day. Cindy was still new in the restaurant, and she was still being acquainted with how to offer quality services to the customers. It is important to note that business owners and managers are messing up with the training stage when it comes to the restaurant business. As a result, many companies are losing their clients since no one will be willing to come back to a restaurant that offers low services at the end of the day. Cindy should have been taught the precautions that have to be observed when serving clients before proceeding for her first shift. The management ought to have assigned somebody to guide the new employee on top of creating awareness on the customers to be patient with her after learning that she is a new employee. The above ideology is attributable to the fact that her supervisor would have guided her to avoid making the customers’ mistakes for long, bringing the wrong order, and omitting some items when the order is finally brought on the table.
References
Afthanorhan, A., Awang, Z., Rashid, N., Foziah, H., & Ghazali, P. (2019). Assessing the effects of service quality on customer satisfaction. Management Science Letters, 9(1), 13-24.
El-Adly, M. I. (2019). Modeling the relationship between hotel perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 50, 322-332.
Hamzah, A. A., & Shamsudin, M. F. (2020). Why is customer satisfaction important to business?. Journal of Undergraduate Social Science and Technology, 1(1).
Leninkumar, V. (2017). The relationship between customer satisfaction and customer trust on customer loyalty. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(4), 450-465.
Nunkoo, R., Teeroovengadum, V., Ringle, C. M., & Sunnassee, V. (2020). Service quality and customer satisfaction: The moderating effects of hotel star rating. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 91, 102414.
Oh, H., & Kim, K. (2017). Customer satisfaction, service quality, and customer value: years 2000-2015. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Wikhamn, W. (2019). Innovation, sustainable HRM, and customer satisfaction. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 76, 102-110.
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