No Soup For You

Last week I visited a new coffee shop in Carlsbad called It's A Grind.  The coffee shop faces the ocean, has plenty of tables and bar seating, and is clean.

I wrote a review of It's A Grind for Yelp, and now I regret what I wrote.  Not in a bad way, but in a good way.  I think I shortchanged the review--all for what is good about the business.

*****

In San Francisco the funkier a place is, the more likely it is to have a following.  Sometimes staff at these places can get away with bloody murder because their place is the most popular place to be--I'm distinctly remembering The Grove in Hayes Valley (and it was only moderately funky) and the Berry street location of Philz Coffee in China Basin.  San Franciscans learn quickly to judge a book by its used and abused cover, and not for its comforts.

When I visited Its A Grind last Friday, the first thing that struck me is how clean and new the place is.  It had been a while since I had experienced clean and new, even in new restaurants in San Francisco.  Most restaurants there are the lucky inheritance of someone else going under.  But Its A Grind looked like it had been built new from the foundation.  And it was CLEAN.  What gives?

As an added bonus to a new cafe, the place was staffed with friendly people.  The coffee was inventive, the cafe well-designed, and the people didn't care if this was the hip place to be--they were going to treat me like they wanted to make me happy.

I classified this sum total in my review as "characterless," as though in order to be a good cafe or restaurant the patrons had to experience the equivalent of Seinfeld's "No soup for you."  I forgot what character was for a moment--to treat others as you would like to be treated--in exchange for being at a place that made me comfortable instead of making me compete.

You can bet that will get changed.

Finds: Senor Grubby’s and Shakespeare’s Pub & Grill, San Diego County, CA

Yelp hasn’t actually found all of San Diego County yet, not like it’s found it’s parent city of San Francisco.  Still, folks still utilize it, even if they are utilizing it in smaller numbers.

You would think that the smaller numbers would make business owners less likely to address their customers’ concerns, but that hasn’t been my experience here.  In the short nine weeks that I’ve been in San Diego County, two proprietors have sent me a personalized message for my feedback on Yelp, and both businesses don’t have a tremendous reporting volume on Yelp.  When I lived in San Francisco, only one manager reached out to me for my review, as though everyone else is too busy to listen to the voice of their customer.  Maybe customers were getting read in San Francisco, but they weren’t being acknowledged for their efforts.

Find: SFMTA Transit Police, Market & 9th, San Francisco, CA

Sometimes the epitome of customer service doesn't show up from being warm and cuddly.  Sometimes it shows up from cracking down on people.

Indulge me...

Ask a San Francisco resident (or even some visitors to the City) what their thoughts are on Muni, the City's primary transit system, and you are bound to get a strong opinion.  There have been a couple of times when I have deeply considered putting them in the "Fail" category instead "Find," but today I got the chance to be optimistic.  It's just about every day that I see one or more people get on a Muni bus for free through the back door or through some story at the front door.  If people do this on the trains, sometimes they get caught in the tunnel through downtown, but I've never seen transit fare checks on a bus--until this afternoon.

I was riding a number 6 bus outbound when we pulled up to the stop at 9th and I saw transit police checking fares at the sidewalk for those boarding the incoming buses.  When the bus stopped, three officers got on and checked everyone's id, and had to remove two people for not paying.  One man pointed out that he was disabled, but apparently you can carry a card that makes you exempt from fare payment if you just carry the card, and he left his at home, so off he went.  Only after offenders had been removed were new riders allowed on.

Why do I not feel sorry for those removed?

• Muni is in the red right now financially, and constantly threatening cutbacks;
• There's usually a fare hike, either at the transit or on the Clipper card, at least once a year.

If you put two and two together, you are exceeding paying customers' expectations if you remove folks who don't pay their fair share to ride and support the transit system.  Paying customers are rewarded for paying their fares, and removing the offenders helps to take some of the sting out of the occasional rate hike--it shows you value the folks who pay.

Thanks, Muni fare checkers.  I know that's not an easy job, and I appreciate your desire to keep Muni accountable.

Find: Brickhouse Cafe, San Francisco, CA

Behold, my review on Yelp of Brickhouse Cafe in November:

About seven years ago I started coming to the City on Caltrain from Sunnyvale on the weekends, sampling cafes.  This one became a favorite, enough so that the wait staff knew me.

Then the food started to slide a little and I wasn't in the neighborhood much, so I didn't go back.  Today I was in the neighborhood, in desperate need of a cheeseburger, and sat down to wax nostalgia with the ambiance.  The onion rings were good, and I didn't even have to ask for ranch dressing--it just came with them (yum!).  The burger was good, but the gentleman behind the counter who took my order asked me how I wanted it cooked, to which I gave my stock answer of "medium rare."  If that burger was medium rare, next time I'm asking for tartar.

Last week, I received an email from the manager of Brickhouse, apologizing for the burger and past wrongs, and asking me to come in and try again, on the house.  That shocked and delighted me.  Even without going back, I'm already impressed that the manager is willing to put their money where their mouth is.  Or put their money where my mouth is.  Or something like that.

Thanks to the manager of Brickhouse Cafe for your passion for your customers.

Find: Bank of America Customer Service Representative (Phone)

Yes, yes, I know--I'm bucking Occupy Wall Street with this one, but follow me here for just a moment.

I hate the automated phone message that comes up when you call a big conglomerate.  Some of them will let you bypass all of the "Press this" garbage with tapping "0," and others won't.  (NetZero, I should say, does not.  So they don't get paid, and...the reason for my call to Bank of America.)  Bank of America asks for account information, which I had available anyway, but I still didn't enjoy it.

But...

Kim, the person who answered my call after the account prompting, was wonderful.  Here's why:

• She personalized the call--we both had October birthdays;
• She was sympathetic to why I was putting a stop payment on a vendor;
• She was confident in her execution of what was needed to make the action happen (you won't believe how often someone sounds like they are lost in this department);
• She gave me information that assisted me in next steps.

Thanks, Kim, for being agile in your conversation and treating me with sympathy and respect.