The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

phenomenon

SYLLABICATION: phe·nom·e·non
PRONUNCIATION: f-nm-nn, -nn
NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. phe·nom·e·na (-n)
1. An occurrence, circumstance, or fact that is perceptible by the senses. 2. Inflected forms: pl. phe·nom·e·nons
a. An unusual, significant, or unaccountable fact or occurrence; a marvel. b. A remarkable or outstanding person; a paragon. See synonyms at wonder. 3. Philosophy In the philosophy of Kant, an object as it is perceived by the senses, as opposed to a noumenon. 4. Physics An observable event.
ETYMOLOGY: Late Latin phaenomenon, from Greek phainomenon, from neuter present participle of phainesthai, to appear. See bh-1 in Appendix I.
USAGE NOTE: Phenomenon is the only singular form of this noun; phenomena is the usual plural. Phenomenons may also be used as the plural in nonscientific writing when the meaning is "extraordinary things, occurrences, or persons": They were phenomenons in the history of music.


The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

I always think 'bear' is plural for 'bear', too ;]

Nope.
When we lived in New Orleans, BK, we learned what restaurant service should be. Anything less, we walk out.
Astute owners in olde NOLA cared and would question anyone leaving as to the quality of the dining experience. They appreciated candid answers.
But re your pork dish, it may have been cooked after it was ordered and that does take time. And if you love the restaurant ask to have a pitcher of Iced Tea, water, whatever left at the table. If you're in a rush, ask them what dishes do they have that can be out of the kitchen in five/ten/fifteen minutes. Talk to the server about the food. Your interest sometimes can lead to their taking good care of you, especially if you remember the servers' names.
Ann

Nope, there is no place that I "love" enough to put up with bad service. I agree with Ann, if you go in and let them know that you are a "regular" maybe you'll get better service. Or, maybe not... I'm immensely sensitive to "unequal" service. If everyone is receiving bad service that's one thing. But still, bad service, selective or not, is not worth me spending any more of my time or money.

Yes, we frequent a place with terrible service.

It is a corner pub with great beer, and food. We go there because they have live entertainment Sunday evenings. I don't know where they get the people they do but they are extremely talented musicians.

The atmosphere is warm and cozy.

There is only one waitress since it is a smaller pub and she is the meanest, coldest, thing. She acts like she is always mad even though we tip her well. We are super nice to her so we cannot figure out her attitude.

Maybe this is why the term "bar-wench" was invented.

We will keep going though, with great fear, and trepidation.

We used to live right across the street from a brew-pub. They had great beer, good food, and a wide variety on the menu so you could go there no matter what you were in the mood for. We went there rather often but the service would vary widely from one visit to the next. Sometimes we would have the best attention in the world, once we waited almost a half hour for our waitress but she apologized and gave us free beer, once we waited that long and didn't get an apology (she didn't get much of a tip), but most of the time the service was just average. Normally we would stop coming after having a bad experience but this place was so close that it was easy to justify going back. We don't get there that often anymore due to budget contraints and we live further away now. I have blacklisted a lot of restaurants though where I didn't get good service when I was there and never went back no matter how good the food was.

There is a little organic mexican place I go to infrequently. The atmosphere is great, the food ranges from delicious to lousy, depending on what you order, and they have a beautiful vine-covered, flower-filled outdoor terrace with tables. So you can guess part of the attraction. The service is s-l-o-w, but friendly, so you go in knowing it's going to be s-l-o-w. I'm usually time-constrained, so it's an infrequent choice.

In our area,Daytona Beach,feeding,housing and caring for the retirees and tourists is the main business.Anyone that has poor service or bad food quickly becomes history.Even places like Dennys and Sonnys close their doors when they don't measure up.That means we also get low prices and big portions.Can't believe what they charge in other areas.

I used to stay away from a great nursery with a mean old parrot of a woman running the front desk. Now she's gone and I go there all the time !!!!!!!

you just have to keep checking back.......you might get lucky like I did..

There used to be a great bunch of waiters/waitresses at a spot we loved. We got so spoiled by the great service. But bad service is something I do not tolerate. There are too many choices out there.

Why do these "wenches" and so forth work with the public if they're so cranky.
If it is a place I really like I'll try not to get the bad waiter.

Carla

We had a favorite little cafe that had the world's best all-you-can-eat fish fries. Great cole slaw and choice of potatoes, great prices. Went there once with MIL and FIL. There were packed to the gills but had several waitresses. For one of them, it was her very first night. She got someone's order messed up, wrong kind of potatoes, I think, at a large table of people. The owner came out to the table and berated her loudly in front of everyone. Totally uncalled for IMHO. He could have called her to the back rooms, at least. I haven't been back.

I confess, I will wait in a longer line at the store to check out with a checker who actually looks at me instead of gabbing with the checker in the next lane. And especially I avoid the ones who throw my food or squash my produce/ bread. The best service is from the manager or assistant manager. I always try to say hi when I see them and tell them how great the store looks. You should see their faces - like an instant stress relief. One time I was in a market dressed in a pressed white shirt and black trousers. Somebody came up and started complaining loudly to me about really petty small things. Then I said I didn't work there and gave some positive comments about the store. Turns out this person just was having a bad day and wanted to vent. I worked retail for years....people know they can be horrible to you and you can't do anything about it. A kind person to wait on makes your whole day.

Yeah, my place.

No way! I work too hard for my $$$ to pay for bad service. I expect to be treated decently when I go anywhere, if not, I leave. Of course there are exceptions I allow for(new staff, unusually large crowd, etc...) I worked retail for many years and bent over backwards to make sure my regulars felt "at home" ~ not because I was "sucking up" to anybody, but because I loved doing my job.

Hi Nay,

Sure is nice to hear from you. Are you back in Texas? (Duh)

You provided good service because you believed that was what was appropriate. Its called character.

thanks, Harry! "backatcha"!
I came to North Carolina a couple of months ago. I keep forgetting to type that in...For some reason, I'm unable to update my information page on the GW.

No. There is so much competition here, places with lousy service don't last long. There was a small chain of coffee places that had superb coffee, but the service was just dreadful--you know the TV commercial cliche of the teen with nose and tongue studs who doesn't want you to interrupt their cel-phone call to their boyfriend--well that was what would actually happen. All their stores are closed now.

Interesting question.

A family member is the CEO of a fast food franchise. He turned it around from bankrupt--to consistently #1 in the nation.

It's all about service.

MichaelAT

Great responses; thanks!

I was a waitress at fine dining places for years in college, so I know when a waiter is just goofing off or really slammed, etc.

We had the pork tonight and the owner was there... excellent service, lol. He seemed very attentive himself, so I know who to talk to if lunch service still sucks.

Great service is one thing. Have you ever wondered what the kitchen was really like? How clean? Did workers wash their hands as often as they should?

If you go to a new place, after you order drinks excuse yourself and Step into the bathroom for a look around. Usually the cleanliness of the bathroom reflects the kitchen too.

Scary thought?? I think so too and I've left a few restaurants after speaking with management about why we were leaving.