Sloooow service (and the reply)
No relation to the post, we just want to see the Spam sketch.
Consolata and I had a very late lunch at Toast Box in Greenbelt 5. They were all out of pork floss so instead of my usual floss toast, soft-boiled eggs and coffee with condensed milk I had the Hainanese chicken rice. Consolata had the same and pronounced it good, then proceeded to go into raptures over Tai Yuan’s Hainanese chicken. (Kermit had Hainanese chicken rice in Hainan. It was awful. Because Hainanese chicken rice is really Singaporean.)
We like Toast Box with its delicious reasonably-priced food and shiny white interiors, but their system for taking orders is terrible. You fall in line and give your orders to the cashier. Say you’re ordering Hainanese chicken, a floss toast set, kaya toast and Horlick’s. You say “Hainanese chicken” and she punches it into the register, then before you can give the rest of your order she moves away from the register to start preparing the Hainanese chicken. When it is half-done she goes back to the register and hears the next item on your list—floss toast set—then she moves aside again to start making the kopi for your order. Why she has to do it herself we have no idea, there are two other people behind the counter with her. And so on for each item, so it takes them thrice as long just to take your order.
This plus the fact that the Pinoy diner will stand in line for ten minutes or more but until he’s actually speaking to the cashier he won’t know what he wants to order. (The same thing happens at the movies.) That’s the only time he considers the menu. Then he turns to the table full of his companions, they get up and join him at the counter and they all have their crisis of indecision together. After they’ve all given their orders and paid, you step to the counter and recite your order. Before you can complete your order the previous customer cuts in to say he forgot to give the cashier his senior citizen ID.
Of course cashiers at food establishments should probably ask the customers if they have senior citizen IDs before their bills are computed, but this being Manila you never know if the customers will take offense.
This is why I only eat at Toast Box at odd hours, and only when I’m not in a hurry. Also, the floor is slippery especially when it has just been mopped.
* * * * *
Good day from Toast Box Philippines!
We wanted to inform you that we read your blog entry posted last July 21, 2011 regarding our service. We do apologize for the inconvenience and rest assured that we are taking measures to improve our procedures to better serve our customers. Our current procedures were based on our training in Singapore and we have learned that it is not applicable for our market here in the Philippines.
Again, we appreciate your input as our customer and we do hope we can serve you again in any of our branches.
Best Regards,
Johanna Lee
Marketing Manager, Toast Box Philippines
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 21st, 2011 at 15:58
Oo nga ba’t nga ba ang mga Pinoy tinanong mo “san mo gustong kumain” ang kadalasang sagot “kahit saan!”. Tapos kapag tinanong mo, “o, sa KFC gusto mo?” “Ay ayoko, oily yung pagkain, masisira diyeta ko”.
Pagdating sa kainan “O anong kakainin mo?” “Ah, ewan, ikaw anong sayo?”
Aaaagh.
July 21st, 2011 at 21:04
Oh yeah. Toast Box really has bad service and slippery floors. Odd hours are the best time to go if there’s no other place. Speaking of service, here’s my share.
A few days ago, it took Noel to pay for something at the PowerMac Greenbelt because the four or five people at the counter were busy indulging this chatty customer.
Today, I requested a MACEA security guy to tell the driver in front of me to move because he was blocking traffic while waiting for his “amo” on the corner of Tordesillas and Buendia. MACEA guy hesitates but asks driver anyway to drive around and come back. Driver ignores him, MACEA guy’s life goes on, and I scream at driver. Driver threatens me with a lame “Babarilin kita.”
I’d like to believe that these are the exceptions in our culture of “hospitality,” but it’s just too bad that I’m quite sane and aware.
July 22nd, 2011 at 02:30
I love Toast Box, but they have the most awful service ever. They’ll bring you each one of your orders piece by piece. I had a serious craving for kaya toast one day and the people brought me my coffee first, which I don’t want to drink without the toast. Then they brought me the toast without the eggs. I had to wait for three minutes for the eggs. There weren’t many people then, it was 2.30 PM on a weekday. It was so frustrating.