I recently sat down for lunch at a local restaurant on a beautiful spring day.  Having just completed my workout I was hungry and looking forward to relaxing for a while under the sun on the patio.  It was also after the normal lunch hour so there were only a few other patrons joining me.  After placing my order I set about getting more comfortable and reading a magazine article.  All was well.  Time passed and I noted that others had the same idea and the patio was now a buzz with other customers.  Dogs were now tied to the patio railing and kids meandered about – curious about the animals on the other side of the fence.  Noteworthy as well was the fact that others, who had arrived after me, were now being served their lunch.  After the third such occurrence I politely inquired with my server whether I had ordered something that took longer to prepare than the other meals that had already been served.  She said she would check.  This was the first moment when I felt the restaurant had an opportunity to turn me into a disciple.  There was no apology and no recognition that I had been there longer than the other patrons who were now all eating.  Had this not been obvious I would not have been as frustrated as I was.  But, I had clearly been waiting a long time and not once did my server say, “I notice you’ve been waiting a while.  Let me go check on your order.”.  Such a little thing, but very powerful.  In my translation services business, my point of view is that if I don’t do these things, someone else will and they will have a loyal client…which by the way is very hard to overcome once it’s been acheived.  Whoever was managing that restaurant should have been watching the patio and noticed the problem as well.  Well, long story short, even more orders came out while the server was “checking” on my order and at that point I’d had enough.  I said to another server that I wanted to pay for my drink and go.  I started walking inside to do so and my server caught me and said “don’t worry about it”.  I thought to myself, “Gee thanks…for nothing!”  I had already spent over a half an hour waiting and what was supposed to be a relaxing lunch turned into an exercise in self control.  At that point I became a disgruntled customer, walked next door and ate there.  How can any business that cares about it’s customers let something like this happen.  Had this been my business I would have bent over backwards apologizing and given the party a coupon for a free meal.  Once again, in my translation services business, we will not allow for a dissatisfied customer and we will do whatever it takes to make it right.  We all make mistakes and that will never change.  I’ve made plenty, and I now I welcome them.  Why? Because it is the only way to learn and it creates an opportunity to establish a customer that is more loyal than they would have been had the mistake never happened.  The restaurant in question here failed miserably in handling their mistake and not only will I likely never go back, but as you can see I am telling others of the experience as well…not good for the restaurant.  Let’s hope this was an isolated event and/or they wake up soon.