I went out to eat with friends and one order of French toast was cooked poorly. It’s hard to ruin a breakfast but a piece of the entree appeared to be just plain toast — not coated or cooked in the egg.
When the waitress came by, she asked: “Is everything ok?” We told her it wasn’t and explained the situation. “So sorry. I’ll let them know,” she said. The same conversation happened when she came by a second time. “So sorry,” she said again.
When we left, the cashier asked: “Was everything ok?” No, it wasn’t so we explained the situation again, including that the waitress did not offer to replace the meal, discount the price, or make any amends. “So sorry,” said the cashier, and rang through the meal at full price with no further action.
“So sorry” isn’t a satisfactory response to a problem. It might be an opening line but by ending it there, you fail to effectively address the issue. If asking questions about service has become so rote for you or your team that you don’t really mean them, everyone is better off if you stop asking them. A hollow “so sorry” is worse than silent indifference.
