When I was single, I was not really fond of soup dishes. But when I married a person who always has soup during meals, I found myself loving soup as well. One of my favorite restaurants that has yummy soup is Oody’s, a Thai fusion restaurant. It has two restaurants at Ayala Center—one in Glorietta 2, the other in Greenbelt 3.

My husband and I often go to Oody’s Glorietta 2 for some snacks of a bowl of egg noodle soup. We have come to love their soup dishes, which have a good balance of tanginess and spiciness. Thus, we didn’t expect to be disappointed last Saturday mid-afternoon when we went to the same resto with a couple-friend.

We ordered four bowls of egg noodle soup and two servings of spring rolls. We got engrossed in our talk about the WorldBex International at the World Trade Center, Manila, where we came from, so we didn’t notice right away that our order took longer to be served than the usual. We glanced around the resto and found that it was not crowded. Only four tables were occupied.

My husband called a waiter and reminded him of our order. Two more follow-ups and we were served. We excitedly dipped our soup-spoon into the bowl, expecting to taste that all-too familiar Oody’s brand of tanginess and spiciness.

Arrgghhh! I reacted first, or my tongue did. The soup was devoid of that distinct Thai taste at all! It tasted like any other noodle soup, which ordinary restos can concoct. The others shared my observation. My husband then called out a waiter, who turned out to be the supervisor.

H: Is this egg noodle soup?
S: Yes, Sir.
H: It doesn’t taste like one.
S: Ohh, let me check your order.

The supervisor left us and returned in less than a second.

S: Yes, Sir. You ordered four egg noodle soup.
H: Yes, we remember correctly. But it doesn’t taste like YOUR egg noodle soup. You see, we often dine here and usually order the same dish. So I can very well tell you that this tastes differently.

The supervisor left us again, went to the order counter, and spoke to his kitchen crew loudly, “Hey, you’re soup is tasteless!”

That was it. He didn’t go back to our table and make amends or whatever. He didn’t even get one bowl back, tasted it himself to validate our complaint. Then he avoided us altogether. My husband wanted to have the last word with him, but I stopped him. I was observing the supervisor throughout the whole incident. I knew he didn’t know anything about customer service. To argue with him about it would be pointless. We left our bowls of soup unfinished and left the restaurant.

That was rather sad. Oody’s has been our favorite restaurant. The supervisor knew—because we told him—that we were regular customers there. But he didn’t care at all. He didn’t give us that face-to-face customer service—the kind that he should give from start to finish, from the moment he receives the customer to the time that the customer leaves.

According to Andrew Griffiths (in his 101 Ways to Really Satisfy Your Customers), one of the ways to give a face-to-face customer service is “to talk to the customer, not through the customer.” You stop for a second, make clear eye contact to acknowledge the person, and then answer his questions clearly and concisely. Treat him like the person he is.

During times that the customer complains, a follow-up is necessary. If a customer goes to the trouble of making a complaint, the worst thing that you can do is ignore it. This only adds insult to injury. A lot of the time, complaints are ignored because people don’t know how to handle it. Whatever the reason, customer complaints should not be ignored. I believe the customer, though he got very angry, will appreciate that his complaint hadn’t just been thrown in the bin.