St. Louis FLJ (I-255, Exit 17a)

I stopped in here one night and regretted it about an hour later. It's a maybe less than average FLJ, but the Denny's experience was probably the worst I've ever had. I don't fool myself with high expectations for Denny's. I can tell you, the way people conduct themselves at Denny's near Rogers, MN is a world different from this experience. The only reason I went in is because it was more than a few days since I'd eaten vegetables. I wanted a salad and something that wasn't a hot dog or sandwich wedge.

I got in after dinner rush, so the wait staff wasn't overwhelmed. I picked a booth toward the back because there was a large family at the front. I didn't want to listen to an hour of parenting. The waitress walked over and looked at me as if I committed a felony for sitting in her station. Through the entire meal, nothing was handed to me or set on the table. The waitress didn't even speak to me in complete sentences. The first thing she barked to me as she walked up was, "Tea or coke?" Successive visits to the table involved slinging things or slamming them down as she flew by. She never paused to set something down. She only had one other table occupied in her section, so she can't hide behind a 'busy' excuse. My behavior didn't warrant it either since I barely had opportunities to say anything to her. She took my dinner order and whirled away before I could even ask for my salad. I watched her treat the couple at the table in front of me the same way. When she left a table, she disappeared into the back for twenty-thirty minutes at a time.

This is by far the absolute rudest I have ever seen a food server act. I gave her the benefit of the doubt on the first offense, but anything after that isn't a slip or accident. It's attitude. Gruff, surly, brusque, snotty attitude. I decided to play dumb because I did actually want what I ordered. Yes, I could've asked for the manager, but all the same, management has multiple opportunities to see this for themselves. I'm sure this has already been mentioned. Who cares if I'm comped at Denny's?

Once the check was slapped onto the table, I didn't walk up to the cashier. Instead, I settled the bill in coins by the plate and left a .17 tip. She needed to see that. I also wrote a note on the back of the receipt explaining the tip and that I didn't deserve the lousy treatment. I hope the couple at the table in front of me did the same. If you want to make money in the service industry, don't treat your customers like that.

 

If you need to be surly to people because of where you work, you deserve a 50 cent tip, or no tip at all. There are better ways of dealing with bad customers.

Why does trip planning even come into it? I planned to stop there. I wasn't there because I was suddenly out of hours or fuel. I go where I'm near to my pick-up/drop and where I can fuel before shutting down. In that day's case, it was the side of town I wanted to be on so I could skip morning traffic.

 

Neither do I. Our company also gets after drivers if they slob it up.