When Ad-dressing The Problem Backfires

A customer comes in with a takeout bag, and I can already tell without talking to her that she’s pissed. I leave my trainee at the register to ask the customer if she’s all set.

Customer: “No! They gave me [dressing #1] when I asked for [dressing #2]!”

Me: “Sure, I’ll go grab you some [dressing #2].”

I ask my coworker working the line for the correct dressing, and I hand it to the customer with an obnoxiously polite smile. As I am about to say sorry for the inconvenience, she interrupts me.

Customer: “What? Not even an apology?!”

I am already shaking because of her rude tone and body language, and I decide that now I’m not going to apologize. I offer her a free cookie and send her on her way.

She’s back less than ten minutes later.

Customer: “This is ridiculous. Get me a manager! I asked for [dressing #2] and got [dressing #1] again!”

I verified with my coworker that it was the right dressing (it was), and then I went to grab my manager, who I had already made aware of the situation because the customer was so rude. I left him with the customer to go have a panic attack in back. Most people don’t get to me, but this lady was something else.

When I came back and asked my boss what the problem was, all he said was, “It was the wrong dressing.” But I know the coworker I got the dressing from wouldn’t make that mistake, especially not twice.

Talking to my coworker, I figured out what had happened. The two dressings look alike. The first time, the customer was given [dressing #1] and thought that was [dressing #2], so now the right dressing was “wrong”, and of course, it was all my fault.