RAE'S RANTS
I am not going to beat around the bush on this one because it makes me so entirely annoyed, I honestly do not believe I could find anything too witty to say about it. So, I promise this will be short and sweet.
Why do restaurant owners/ managers, insist on making their employees sing Happy Birthday to people when they come to their establishment to celebrate?
Sure it might make one or two ridiculously attention-starved patrons happy, but what about the other 75 patrons who are held hostage to the off tempo, off toned, incantation of Happy Birthday rendered by a group of 10 overworked, underpaid employees that would like nothing more than to grab the brownie sundae from the "Birthday Boy" and dump it on their head for making them commit this outrageously silly act.
The other day a friend of mine went in to a restaurant with his girlfriend. They were tired, it was late, all they wanted to do was enjoy an evening alone in a relaxing atmosphere without a lot of drama. Imagine their surprise when they discovered that 4 other patrons in the restaurant decided to celebrate their birthdays on that specific day and in that specific restaurant. Throughout the meal, they were interrupted by stomping, clapping, and someone yelling muttered celebratory phrases to the entire restaurant. Needless to say, they considered their meal ruined, but how could they complain? Isn't this what all the restaurants are doing these days?
It is to the point now where it is expected. You have a birthday? Go to a restaurant and destroy the atmosphere. Sounds terrific doesn't it?
You know, I am not the type of person that complains however without giving a solution. So, I thought long and hard about what could be done to change the situation and here it is:
Restaurant owners/managers - cut out the singing, muttered phrases, and the forced joy of disgruntled employees and please just give me the brownie sundae and my peace of mind back.
Thanks.
RYAN'S REBUTTAL
Ok, here's the deal. As a patron to many restaurants, I actually agree with Rae on this matter. I'll admit, I get pretty annoyed when a meal, accompanied by some nice conversation, is rudely interrupted with a song that is usually sung more off-key than when I belt out lyrics in the shower.
However, as a business guy, who understands the value of marketing and customer relationship management, singing Happy Birthday to your customers is a no-cost, somewhat effective marketing tactic used to get patrons to pass on good word-of-mouth to their family and friends. When this first began, companies used this song-singing ritual to differentiate themselves from their competitors. However, a strategy as easy to mimic as this becomes stale and not as glamorous when every restaurant has the ability to offer the same cheesy, "forced" celebration.
So, I can only offer two solutions to this:
1.)
Patrons: If you are that easily annoyed by a minute-long song, I recommend you don't go to restaurants that sing the Happy Birthday song to every patron who walks in the door with a birthday twinkle in their eye. The pain is only temporary, you'll survive.
2.)
Restaurant owners: There's other ways to get us to come back to your restaurants besides the song. How about you give us excellent service, a free piece of pie and a 10% discount off our bill. That seems to be a little more effective than a bunch of pimply-faced teenagers pretending to care about me and my birthday.
So, as you ponder our thoughts about the Birthday song being sung in restaurants, just remember, everyone has a birthday and how you choose to celebrate it is up to YOU, not the wait staff.
Next Week's Topic:
Driving