Below is the body of a letter I mailed to the principle owners and GM. I have not heard one word from any. Despite all the Customer Service cards and mandatory 15% tip, their inaction makes me wonder why do they bother spending $$ on all that ink and paper:
My dining experience at Guppy’s on the evening of Wednesday, June 25th was very disappointing. Part was due to the loud and inebriated patron, and most was due to the unprofessional attitude of the manager, [omit name].
I had heard good things about Guppy’s excellent food and finally decided to try it with two other friends.
When I asked our server, [omit name], to see the manager because of the loud drunk diner in our patio area I had expected to see him appear in a timely fashion. The other tables looked uncomfortable and I had locked eyes with the ladies at the next table over. We decided the unbearable situation had continued long enough and warranted the attention of management.
While waiting for the manager, my table noted that the drunken woman and her companions were still being served beers despite making [server's name] aware of how obtrusive the woman was.
Finally, I decided if the manager wasn’t going to come to our table I would seek him out. Once he came out of the kitchen his unprovoked rude attitude was unexpected. I thought I was talking to a professional restaurateur who would understand the situation: I had convinced my friends to try out this great restaurant I had never been to despite my 10 years of vacationing in the area, and we were all expecting a nice dining experience to match its reputation.
His response was that he couldn’t tell a diner that another diner “doesn’t like them” and that they are “being obnoxious”. This certainly wouldn’t have been my tact; I suggested that he just ask her to please be a little quieter. I was joined by one of the ladies from the nearby table and he was just as rude. Out of exasperation I asked [omit manager's name] how long has he been in this business. His insulting attitude continued with, “Why are you being so confrontational?”
I decided I didn’t deserve his harangue and returned to the table to pay the bill, leaving behind my barely-touched glass of wine (which I rarely order but thought this would be the right atmosphere to enjoy it).
It got uglier in the dining area when another lady was driven to the point to tell the drunk woman to “shush, shush, shush!”; the drunk leaned over with a pointed finger and told her where she could “eff…. shove it”.
Lovely…………we couldn’t wait to get out of there!
As a side note, [mgr's name] did say he could move us to another table but at that point it was too little too late, and his attitude certainly did not make me feel I would want to stay. (When I first thought about moving the dining area was full – where would we have moved to?)
This letter is more about the unprofessional attitude I was met with when I brought an uncomfortable situation to your manager. Instead of addressing the situation in a professional demeanor he chose to use an insulting attitude and seemed to prefer that a half a dozen people be upset rather than one inebriated person.
