as Speak would say, "business"

[thisgirl_jo]

i've boycott a few businesses sorta unintentionally over the years. either because they have extremely bad service or business ethics. i remember having a really bad experience at 'perfectly sweet' in highschool. it was jon's birthday one year, and a bunch of friends went to perfectly sweet to get like cake or something. we were just settling down and taking seats when i went over to the counter and bought jon an indivdiual cake. about a couple minutes pass and a lady waves at me to tell us that we have to leave because we can't have a bunch of people sitting there and buying just one thing. normally i would understand if the place was crowded with people and they desperately needed the seats. but it wasn't anywhere near crowded. in fact, no one else was there except us and if you've ever been inside perfectly sweet, most people get their stuff to go. it's not really a classy sit down place. the second thing wrong about this is that she didn't even give us enough time to order AND the manner in which she made her request was completely unprofessional. i came in, ordered something, two minutes later you ask me to leave? wtf. what she SHOULD'VE done is ask us if she could get us anything else, situate us, make us feel completely comfortable and indebted to her, and possibly introduce some special desserts they have so we would be psychologically coerced to order. i dont know what she was thinking when she asked that question. did she expect our business after that bitching? so, as any insulted high school kid would do, we left in a hurry and jon ran back to give them the trash that was their cake. i've never gone back to perfectly sweet ever since. i don't know why i'm bringing this up all of a sudden but i guess its because i want to open a restaurant someday and these are the mistakes i'll never want to make. i think i finally understand the meaning behind why 'the customer is always right'. the phrase doesnt just mean sucking up to customers and letting them have their way all the time but its always finding an alternative way of approaching the situation that doesnt humiliate him or her. for example, at charlies trio this one time, jon and i witnessed one of the truest acts of professionalism from a waiter. the situation wasn't that bad but it could've been exacerbated if handled improperly. there was a drunk who walked around the restaurant and decided to sit in a random table and put his arms around this woman. obviously the two women at the table were freaked out, but luckily no one over reacted. the waiter headed over and very casually tapped the guy on the shoulder and said "sir, your order's comin up real soon so if you could please have a seat at your table". the drunk guy responded and quietly went back to his table. i dont think his food came for a while but the anticipation kept him at his table. i'm sure situations like this happen all the time and are probably quite common but the moral of the story is that no one felt disrespected or humiliated. i think beyond the service industry, this type of non-confrontational attitude is just a really good value to possess. I know that in common stereotypes, chinese people are quite loud and obnoxious. but one of the most important aspect of chinese culture is 'saving face', this idea stems from the non confrontational values of the chinese culture as a whole. generally speaking, chinese people just don't like to confront unless they absolutely have to. no meddling, no confronting. and i think this is also an underlining aspect of professionalism.
i'm just exerting my chinese pride and my *still* dislike of perfectly sweet. oh yeah, i also boycott circuit city. they are just a bad company, unless you go there to rip them off, don't give them business.

meanwhile, please enjoy this serious video about war from a hungarian rapper. his name is Speak.