waiter spilled a drink on my 3 yo son....WWYD?

[tuckerkeys]

I can't believe i am STILL thinking of this! Yesterday was my husbands 32nd birthday....He loves PF changs, so off we went for a 6:30 reservation in Atlantic City. My father-in-law also came, since we were celebrating his birthday as well....Everything was fine, my son was sitting quietly playing with these pipe cleaner things they give out to the kids. Some of our drinks came out, and our waiter spilled a whole iced tea on my 3 year old sons shirt and jeans. it JUST missed his head.... Cue the crying, and off I go to the bathroom to try to clean him up....I rolled up his sleeves as best i could ( had on a nice polo shirt too) and wiped him up. He was cold & damp. He stopped his crying though. We went back to the table, everything had been cleaned up and we just got an " I'm sorry" only once. and then an "is he mad at me?" to which i said " i don't know, but mommy sure is"....That was it. The manager saw the whole thing & didn't even come over to see if everything was ok....It was a total accident, and i know that these things happen, but i was just a bit disappointed on how our waiter handled the whole thing....Then he AVOIDED us for the rest of our meal, and had a " helper" fill our drinks & bring out the dinner. Only coming over to bring our check. We have dined here a lot of times and never had helpers or runners before. When the check came, it was for the full amount too. I was at least expecting our 7.99 appetizer to have been comped. Nothing. We left him a 5$ tip on a 68.00 bill. I think this got the msg across we were just a bit ticked at what happened & the way he handled it.... My husband and I are the type of people who DO NOT like to complain about things. If this had happened to a perticular set of friends of ours, all heck would have broken loose!! We understand a little too much that mistakes happen, therefore we let things slide a lot...This time though i can't stop thinking about it! Has anything like this ever happened to you & what was the outcome?
Thanks all!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Life is short....forget about it.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

This happened with DD when she was 16. We were in a restaurant where the waiter spilled and entire soda in her lap. It was winter and it was mighty cold walking back to the car in wet jeans. I don't remember exactly how it was handled but he fussed over DD and we left happy.

In your situation, I wouldn't have been upset if the waiter had been more apologetic. Accidents happen. He was probably embarrassed which is why he was scarce, not that that was right.

I agree with Diane.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

The act of spilling a drink on your son is an accident, but how they behaved after was very strange and out of character for a restaurant. Showed poor taste, imo.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

If the shirt is ruined then I would call the management and ask them to fill out a claim so that you can be reimbursed the cost of the shirt. I would also send an email or a letter to the corporate office of PFChangs and let them know what happened. We just complained about a rude manager at O'Charleys with an email to corporate and received a phone call apologizing and 2 $10 gift cards.

 

[CheshireVal]

Accidents happen. Unless the shirt was unusually expensive and wouldn't come clean, then I wouldn't even bother with a claim. That just seems petty.

It would have been nice if the waiter had been more apologetic, but you made your statement with your tip.

I'd let it drop-- the time to complain about these things and ask for a manager is *while* you're still at the restaurant.

This happened to me once at a Pizza Hut-- the waitress spilled Coke all over my white sweater (which never came clean). She was really apologetic, though, and gave us our meal for free.

 

[Griggle]

The act of spilling a drink on your son is an accident, but how they behaved after was very strange and out of character for a restaurant. Showed poor taste, imo.

yeah that

*whew* that is was ICED tea and not hot tea!!!!

 

[pat fan]

He did apologize and then you told him you were mad at him. I'm sure he thought he was doing the right thing by having someone else finish waiting on you since you had just said you were mad at him. I agree that they could have maybe given you an appetizer or something, but they didn't. Get over it.

 

[birdiesunshine]

Was this pf changs in a mall setting?? If so, they should have given you money to run and get him a new outfit, if not,they still should have run over and helped you dry him off, maybe giving you a lot of those cloth napkins. I'm sorry this happened to you. I know I'd be mad if I had to sit somewhere freezing cold and wet. They didn't handle the situation well at all.

 

[tuckerkeys]

that's exactly what my husband says! at least it wasn't a hot drink ( or alcohol) and to get over it!!! i'm just perplexed at his behavior after the accident! i would have apologized over & over...But thats me...i think he was a bit imbarrased. and the mommy is mad comment i don't think he heard.... our shirt is already in the wash. i have a 3 year old son, there have been FAR WORSE things spilled on his good shirts other than iced tea!!! it never even entered my mind for a new shirt.....

 

[Christine]

Several years ago, I was having lunch at a very well-respected Thai restaurant here in the D.C. area (Duangrat's). Excellent food, excellent service (or so I thought). When serving our drinks, the waitress dumped my entire glass of soda on me. I was at work that day and I had a dress on (not that this makes a difference but, really, it couldn't get any worse, ya know?). She said "Oh, I'm sorry" and brought me some napkins. The people I was lunching with were enraged by the end of the meal that more apology or help was not offered. They thought that at least they should have given me $10 for the dry cleaning bill. Nope, nothing.

 

[Sleepy]

He did apologize and then you told him you were mad at him. I'm sure he thought he was doing the right thing by having someone else finish waiting on you since you had just said you were mad at him.

That is what I would have done. I would not want to serve someone who was angry with me over an accident. Given the fact someone else did all the serving, etc, if I was the original server, I would have given the tip to the person who took over. If this is what happened, I pitty the replacement server as the tipper punished the wrong person with reward of a smaller tip. Personally, I don't think anyone should have been punished. It was an accident.

 

[dianeschlicht]

THis thread reminds me of one of our "family stories". You know, the kind that gets repeated for YEARS. It was when DH was my DF, and he was taking a trip with my family to Chicago. We started out from Minneapolis early in the morning, and it was quite chilly. DH had on a dressy pair of linen shorts. We stopped for an early breakfast at a truckstop, and the waitress spilled a very large glass of ice water right on DH's lap! It was quite a wakeup for him! She appologized profusely, but we all laughed so hard about it, she had to laugh as well. It has become a family legend now...

 

[Disney Doll]

Are you kidding me????!!!! This is something that you are actually still even thinking about?????

I am amazed at what people think they are entitled to for the little "oops" things that happen in life.

 

[Marseeya]

Are you kidding me????!!!! This is something that you are actually still even thinking about?????

I am amazed at what people think they are entitled to for the little "oops" things that happen in life.

Yeah, really!

I can't imagine ever, EVER being mad over something like that! It's not like he did it on purpose or spilled something hot that actually hurt your son.

I don't blame the waiter for hiding from you, especially after your "mommy is mad" comment. That's just ridiculous.

 

[birdiesunshine]

We are talking about a 3 yr old. I think the op has every right to be upset tht her little one had to sit at dinner cold and wet. I have a 3yr old and I would be upset too. I also don't think the op was asking for more than someone to come over and offer some assitance cleaning the little one up. JMO. It wouldn't have been hard to bring over a bunch of cloth napkins.

 

[Marseeya]

We are talking about a 3 yr old. I think the op has every right to be upset tht her little one had to sit at dinner cold and wet. I have a 3yr old and I would be upset too. I also don't think the op was asking for more than someone to come over and offer some assitance cleaning the little one up. JMO. It wouldn't have been hard to bring over a bunch of cloth napkins.

I've had two three year olds.

Still wouldn't have made me mad.

Don't cry over spilt milk.

 

[birdiesunshine]

I've had two three year olds.

Still wouldn't have made me mad.

Don't cry over spilt milk.

I said upset. There is a difference between the two.

Oh and it was iced tea, not milk

 

[escape]

I agree with you, tuckerkeys. I would have been puzzled too. A good apology goes a long way. I know you'll get over it. However, I understand your vent.

While I agree it was an accident, I think the restaurant should given you a free appetizer or meal - for PR reasons. Heck, I've been in restaurants where the slightest, little complaint landed me a free meal even though that was not what I was trying to do.

By the way, now that I think about it, I had coke spilled on me once. I remember the manager offering to pay for the dry cleaning but I told him I could wash it with no problem. I thought it was a nice gesture on his part. It made me feel better about the situation. And, now that I'm thinking more clearly, I believe he ended up deducting a little from our bill.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Yeah, really!

I can't imagine ever, EVER being mad over something like that! It's not like he did it on purpose or spilled something hot that actually hurt your son.

I don't blame the waiter for hiding from you, especially after your "mommy is mad" comment. That's just ridiculous.

Yeah, what she said.

Move on, life is too short to worry about such a silly matter.