How to lose my business and get me to encourage a boycott of your establishment
So last night I went to my local Pluto's restaurant here in Davis. (Pluto's is a chain of 8 restaurants in Central California and the San Francisco Bay Area.) I took my friend cowgirlknits so she could taste their delicious delicious food. Sadly, it was not to be, and here's why:
We dithered over what food to get while standing in line, as we were both feeling indecisive. We settled on sharing a salad, but hadn't decided what to have with it, when we saw a sign advertising the 'Specials of the Week' in front of the "Meat" area of the restaurant. It mentioned a sandwich and something else, and at the bottom was "Crater of Orbital Soup - Tomato Basil - $3.65". Sounded good, and less than the $4.00 that a bowl of soup normally is.
Once we had our salad in hand, we dutifully waited at the 'Veggies and Spuds' sign to be served - had to wait a couple minutes since there was no one serving the area, or at least the Meat guy was doing double-duty. Got the bowl, went to pay. Here's where things got hairy.
We were rung up for $4.00. I asked for the advertised special price of $3.65. The cashier asked, "What special?" I said, "On the sign over there." "What sign?" Already annoyed, I walked over, picked up the sign, and showed it to him. He looked at it, gestured helplessly at the cash register, and said, "It's four dollars." I argued with him and he offered to get the manager, or perhaps supervisor. I said, "Sure," expecting a quick resolution to the problem. Boy, was I wrong.
The manager comes over. He looks at the register, looks at the sign, and says, "The sign is wrong." At this point, my dander, if not entirely up, is certainly elevated. I said, "That's the price you advertised." He says, "No, it's wrong," and moved the sign to the counter behind the cash register. I said, "It's your advertised price, and that is what I'll pay." He counters, "That price doesn't include tax. With tax, it's four-something." Well, of course that price doesn't include tax. No price on the ticket includes tax. I ask him then if there will be any tax applied on the $5.90 that the salad costs, or the $4.00 that a bowl of soup not on special costs. He has no answer, merely pointing to the cash register's readout of $10.67, saying "That's the price." I am now angry because he is lying to me rather than owning up to his mistakes.
(It may be worth noting here that, as tax is 7.75%, a $3.65 bowl of soup works out to $3.93, not 'four-something'.)
We argue a bit over the nature of tax, where I try to get him to recognise the ridiculousness of his statement, and of course he doesn't back down. I finally ask him if he ever wants my business again. He has no answer. He advances the ticket so I can see the prices of the foods as they have been entered into the cash register. I make one more effort, noting that if the prices elsewhere include tax, I should only be charged $9.90, not $10.67, and he again lamely offers, "That's the price," indicating the $10.67. Exasperated, I turn to cowgirlknits. "Do you want to eat somewhere else?" She says "Yes," and we leave.
We instead had a delicious dinner at Thai Nakorn, where, I might add, we ended up spending more than $10.67.
I encourage all of my friends to not eat at the Davis Pluto's restaurant. Pending the result of a complaint I'm sending to the Pluto's corporate website, I may be encouraging people to boycott Pluto's in general. Stay tuned.
We dithered over what food to get while standing in line, as we were both feeling indecisive. We settled on sharing a salad, but hadn't decided what to have with it, when we saw a sign advertising the 'Specials of the Week' in front of the "Meat" area of the restaurant. It mentioned a sandwich and something else, and at the bottom was "Crater of Orbital Soup - Tomato Basil - $3.65". Sounded good, and less than the $4.00 that a bowl of soup normally is.
Once we had our salad in hand, we dutifully waited at the 'Veggies and Spuds' sign to be served - had to wait a couple minutes since there was no one serving the area, or at least the Meat guy was doing double-duty. Got the bowl, went to pay. Here's where things got hairy.
We were rung up for $4.00. I asked for the advertised special price of $3.65. The cashier asked, "What special?" I said, "On the sign over there." "What sign?" Already annoyed, I walked over, picked up the sign, and showed it to him. He looked at it, gestured helplessly at the cash register, and said, "It's four dollars." I argued with him and he offered to get the manager, or perhaps supervisor. I said, "Sure," expecting a quick resolution to the problem. Boy, was I wrong.
The manager comes over. He looks at the register, looks at the sign, and says, "The sign is wrong." At this point, my dander, if not entirely up, is certainly elevated. I said, "That's the price you advertised." He says, "No, it's wrong," and moved the sign to the counter behind the cash register. I said, "It's your advertised price, and that is what I'll pay." He counters, "That price doesn't include tax. With tax, it's four-something." Well, of course that price doesn't include tax. No price on the ticket includes tax. I ask him then if there will be any tax applied on the $5.90 that the salad costs, or the $4.00 that a bowl of soup not on special costs. He has no answer, merely pointing to the cash register's readout of $10.67, saying "That's the price." I am now angry because he is lying to me rather than owning up to his mistakes.
(It may be worth noting here that, as tax is 7.75%, a $3.65 bowl of soup works out to $3.93, not 'four-something'.)
We argue a bit over the nature of tax, where I try to get him to recognise the ridiculousness of his statement, and of course he doesn't back down. I finally ask him if he ever wants my business again. He has no answer. He advances the ticket so I can see the prices of the foods as they have been entered into the cash register. I make one more effort, noting that if the prices elsewhere include tax, I should only be charged $9.90, not $10.67, and he again lamely offers, "That's the price," indicating the $10.67. Exasperated, I turn to cowgirlknits. "Do you want to eat somewhere else?" She says "Yes," and we leave.
We instead had a delicious dinner at Thai Nakorn, where, I might add, we ended up spending more than $10.67.
I encourage all of my friends to not eat at the Davis Pluto's restaurant. Pending the result of a complaint I'm sending to the Pluto's corporate website, I may be encouraging people to boycott Pluto's in general. Stay tuned.