Why did I go there tonight? If only I didn't listen to my friends mentioning it... if only I didn't respond to them with "Let's go there!", I wouldn't be this pissed off and furious.
We arrived at princess coco at 9 (158-166 Day St Sydney). A guy asked us how many people, which we replied 4. He then said, there is a table at the back, they have finished and will be leaving soon. Maybe 10 minutes. So we said, yeah, that's fine, we'll wait. He then suggested us to browse their display of chocolates and cakes. We followed his suggestion. That actually will be used against us at the end...
We waited and waited. The same guy kept coming to us saying sorry, they will leave soon, which we always replied with smiles and "It's okay". We meant it. We didn't mind. The 4 of us were chatting happily and we didn't even feel it was that long. He kept coming and coming and said same thing, which we always replied with smiles and same respond. More and more customers coming in and queued.
At 9:45 finally the customers on that back table left. But then that same guy came to us saying "The table is available, but did you guys arrive first or those guys came first?" while pointing to some customers behind us. We said we came first, which was the truth. When we came, there were nobody waiting. We were the only ones standing in that place. Other customers were already sitting down. Then he said "Because those guys said you guys came after them, and I couldn't remember who came first.". We said, "No, we arrived first. There were nobody queuing when we came.", He then said, "But those guys said they came first, and nobody was queuing too, and they are 5 people. So is it okay if they sit on that back table and you guys sit over there?" He pointed to the window which has some pots or decorations, I can't remember, and a table next to it with a stool. I looked at it and said "There's only a chair there". He said "We'll move the stuffs and add chairs. We'll be adding more seatings too soon.". For your information guys, the so called table next to the window was not actually a table. It was just like a stool having a table height. Seriously, we were a group of 4, that table did not look like it could fit 4 cups of coffee. We kept saying we came first, and then he said that those guys came from Brisbane. Do you guys live in Sydney?
My blood was pretty much boiling. IF I was with my bestfriends only, and not with one of my best friend's boyfriend, I would have exploded there and then. It was very very very unacceptable!
1. He wasted my 45 minutes waiting for nothing.
2. He was the one who greeted us and came saying sorry every few minutes, and he dared to say he forgot who came first? In a restaurant/cafe, the order of customers coming is crucial and they have to remember it. It's not my job to fight for what is actually my right!
3. He said he forgot, but when we said we came first, he said "But those guys said they came first". Didn't he already make his decision on who to believe? What's the point of asking which one came first? Remember I said his suggestion to browse the chocolates would be used against us? Well this is it, there was possibility when those guys came, they didn't see us because we were looking at the cakes. But hey, that guy should have known that. And we're further inside the restaurant anyway.
4. He said "They are from Brisbane. Do you guys live in Sydney?" HELLO????????? What do you mean by asking us if we live in Sydney??? Are you telling me you would only give seats to people NOT FROM SYDNEY????? What kind of logic is that? Did he think I would pity them and then let them have it? I'm sorry, NOT EVEN THE SLIGHTEST. It just made me even more PISSED OFF! Since when you serve customers based on WHERE THEY LIVE????????? For godsakes, if you serve people outside Sydney all the time, by the time it is Sydneysiders turn, who knows your business might already been closed!!!!!!!!! What if I said No, we're from Japan, China, America, England or whatever country, would you kick those guys and said sorry, these people came further, so you can't get the seats?????????????
4. When we said that window is small and won't fit, he then said he'd try to move the people sitting in front of us to that window area instead. First, those people were already sitting there since we arrived, that table is that right and we didn't want to take what other people have. Second, how can you just for the sake of 5 people who were obviously wrong, then went through all those trouble to move 4 of us who came first, and then move another 3 people who came even earlier to the window? Let me remind you again, that window was really unseatable. It was small. Even for 1 person, it was pretty much just a stool squeezed in between 2 tables.
5. When I heard that guy said he wanted to move those other people to the window, I straight away said to my friends "So do you guys want to find other place?". Seriously I couldn't be there any longer. The guy kept smiling, no flinch or any sign that he actually felt bad for making us wait 45 minutes and then still had to leave.
6. We then decided to go, and on our way out, he kept smiling and said sorry repeatedly and said next time you guys come, you guys will be VVIP. For god sake, STOP BULLSHITTING! I'm not stupid and I wasn't flattered! If they really felt bad, then don't give us fake promises! Now tell me, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO REMEMBER US? When I come tomorrow, I bet you money, you won't even remember! If he really meant it, get our name down, or give us his name card or whatever. JUST STOP those sweet talk! I'm not a kid, and that kind of thing would only add sin to yourself.
7. When we left, those Brisbane customers said thank you to us, that they appreciated it bla bla bla bla.. seriously I didn't blame them, though I wasn't in the slightest pitying them either, but since they said thank you, well, isn't it obvious that they came AFTER us? and that we GAVE them our place?
Really, I regretted going to princess coco tonight. If I didn't go, I wouldn't have wasted my 45 minutes waiting for nothing, I wouldn't have been wasting my 30 minutes writing this on my blog but instead would have finished watching another episode of drama. And surely I wouldn't have wasted my energy being furious over it. It might have cost me a wrinkly, who knows? And I can't even sue them for all of this lost.
princess coco really does not deserve any respect from me. The name doesn't even deserve an uppercase from me. It will really get me thinking many many many and MANY times just to go back there. I so hate the service, smiles everywhere, but just smile, no ethics.
