We had a bad experience at our local Ruby Tuesday's, where we waited for over half an hour to receive our food. People who'd been seated after us had received their food and left before we saw our food. We then had to flag down another server to ask for a manager. The "manager" was about the same age as the server, and apologized, checked on the food, then brought it out to us, cold by that point. I told the "manager" we weren't going to pay for the meal, and he agreed, then came back a few minutes later and said, "If I comp your visit, the server could get in trouble, and possibly fired. Do you really want me to do that?" How is that my problem? I said that I didn't care, he comped the meal, and before we left, we took note of a little sign on the tables. The GM had a little sign on each table with her name and a phone number, asking for comments.

I called the next day and told her what happened. She apologized profusely, and sent us coupons for free meals for both of us. She did ask why I didn't call while we were at the restaurant, and I explained that I figured it was the restaurant number. It was her cell phone, and she said that in the future, I should just call that from the restaurant, if there was a problem, and that she'd be happy to come up there at any time if a customer called.

We don't go much, since it's so similar to Fridays, Applebees, etc., and we have other local places we would prefer to go. But, the incident does stick in my mind as a manager who really was concerned with customer satisfaction.