BIRDHOUSE - WORST customer care I have EVER experienced ! Post Reply

[supergirl]

OMG

This area is sooo full of entitled people... I live there, i have children therefore i get...

I disagree. Regular or not, they are giving you a favour and therefore you need to ask as a favour politely and modestly.

End of...

(I am a customer and like to find clean toilets. Therefore having a struct customer make sense. Starbuck is awful because their toilets are so public that they are always disgusting).

But each to their own

[Claire M]

"Do you mind if she quickly nips to the loo" sounds polite and modest to me.

Just mean not to allow a 3 year old to use a loo in my opinion.

[windmill26]

Regular or not,entitled or not...can we please remember that we are talking about a small child needing the loo?
If I was you I would have contacted the owner,seem to me that the staff doesn't know what good customer service is.
I am aware that it is not a public toilet but with everything in life you have to use common sense!

[sezwedz]

Seriously how could anyone turn away a child who is bursting for a wee, I don't care where it is it's just down right rude. I often head into Gails when my kids need a wee and they are so lovely about it, yes it's not a public toilet but it's just the decent thing to do. I would never support a cafe that wouldn't allow this.

[kiwimummy]

i agree with discodolly, that's a horrible and shortsighted way to treat a customer.

as for the posts about "entitled" attitude - pffft. What rot. A 3 year old needed a wee. it's not a massive thing to ask, whether you are a regular or not.

[supergirl]

Well i am obviously not the only one in thinking that the OP dealt with the situation in an entitled manner...

Here is the link on a post she wrote on mumsbet AIBU?
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_ ... g=2&order=

You judge

[kiwimummy]

What because mumsnet opinions are worth more than ours?

Super girl, perhaps you should stay on mumsnet. Or find some other site where you can satisfy your need to be always "right".

[supergirl]

No but because i find really annoying that as soon as one doesnt get his/her way one feels he/she has a right to name and shame...

I am not always right but i would have purchased smthg in this situation abd if i hadnt had enough cash that day then i would have spent £5 to pay by card or i would have gone outside like the OP did in the end.

Also i am not a mumsnetter but do have time to kill tonight in Terminal 5 so am faffing on the internet and do find AIBU entertaining when (rarely) i have time to kill.

Like i say each to their own but you may found it hard to find a place to drink a decent cup of coffee if you behave like that...

[Raines]

In our house we refer to that cafe as "you know, the yellow one up the hill, with the good coffee and the guy who hates children"...!

Not surprised to hear your story as I've had the manager be quite rude about my baby.... But... The coffee is really good!!

[SoConfused!]

Well said kiwimummy. What an unnecessary post supergirl. And very Mumsnet response which is why by the way I stay well clear of Mumsnet!

Absolutely nothing wrong with asking to use the loo in a restaurant/bar / coffee shop ! I do it all the time (mainly for me....not just my kids!!! Although sometimes I might use my kids as a cover up!)

[papinian]

A relief for me not to be the one stirring up heated debate for once.

My thoughts on this:

- Appreciate the McDonalds / old man pubs of this world where nobody will challenge you if you just go in, use the bathroom and come out again. Having travelled I can forgive McDonalds the evil unhealthy food that they serve because they are the one place that I can reliably find reasonably clean bathroom facilities (e.g. in China - I shudder just thinking about some of the facilities in other places there). We all like the chi-chi cafes but they are pretty mean when it comes to bathroom facilities. A place down the road from me closed them altogether a few weeks ago (not sure if legal - I know there are some rules on it).

- I understand why the original poster is aggrieved but a business can choose to be child unfriendly if it wants and take the balance between losing out on some customers but retaining others. I have no problem with the original poster telling her experience and broadcasting here experience that the cafe isn't child friendly (or friendly full stop) but maybe the cafe doesn't need to be. Some of you may have heard of the famous New York soup nazi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soup_Nazi) - not just a fictional character from Seinfeld - the attitude is terrible but the soup is good so people keep going back.

- I agree with supergirl re the attitude of some parents in this neck of the woods. Sometimes the customer IS wrong. I don't think any of us would want to work for employers that always took customers/clients side against us.

- I think there's a tendency among all of us to label other people rude or aggressive just because they disagree with us. The staff member was pretty firm with the original poster and the original poster got upset about that (which I can understand) and things got a bit heated. It's good to take a step back and accept that even if you KNOW you are right, other people can disagree and if they do you just accept it and not go on a rant at them about it. Bringing this back to our children, I do think that in this country there is way too much emphasis on conflict avoidance and way too little on conflict management.

[kcai]

It was a TODDLER who needed the loo. It isn't "entitled" to ask for a basic human facility nor to be upset when a jobsworth causes a child discomfort by denying loo access for the sake of... what, 2-3 quid?

I'd be upset too. It wasn't a big thing to ask.

[littlebitloopy]

I'd be very annoyed too. As somebody said before, customer service and manners cost nothing. We should be showing our children what essentially comes down to demonstrating common sense and basic manners in society, not throwing money at a situation to get our own way.

[Pinkfishblues]

I think that the birdhouse could have handled the situation a bit better, and I understand it was a stressful situation - I would probably have felt as upset especially if I had no cash to buy loo time... On the other hand it is a great little independent cafe, and I would really be sad to see it go just because of this incident. Maybe it is worth forwarding them the link so they can see how people feel and they might change or soften their policies. Because at the moment I just see a lose-lose situation, unhappy parents and a cafe loosing customers!

[BFW]

SERIOUSLY supergirl ? A child needing the loo... and you think this was "entitled"?