Actually, that's a little unfair. I don't know if Chileans actually like bad customer service, but its certainly a possibility given its prevalence here.
Lets take the dinner I had last night as an example.
We're in a nice restaurant in Bellavista that serves the most awesome sandwiches which, amazingly, are not of the completo style, but rather of the pan-American gourmet style - think sandwich of aji de gallina with salad or lomo saltado complete with tiny potato crispies. Ok, it might sound a little weird but take it from me, these sandwiches are the real deal. As in, delicious, and not at all like a completo.
We sit down (after being told that the table we wanted was for six people and us only being four made us ineligible for it..). So we sit down at a crappier table, for four people. Menus arrive. There are lots of drinks in a big long list headed 'tragos', which oddly enough, means 'drinks'.
O turns to waitress and points to one of the drinks.
O: 'Que es esto?' (what's this one?)
Waitress: "Uh.. Son tragos.' Waitress turns, and walks off.
In case you didn't get that, her response to his question was "They are drinks". That was it. Then she left.
Well, thank you for that. I think that counts as Strike One.
Food arrives. O wants another drink. He asks the price of the beer.
Waitress: 'I don't know'.
Long pause. Waitress stands there.
O: "you don't know the prices?'
Waitress: 'Well, they've just changed them.'
Another long silence. O eventually asks for the menu. Strike Two.
Finally, I order a beer from the tap. It arrives two thirds full.
Me: 'Sorry, but this beer isn't full.'
Waitress: 'Well that's because the foam has gone down.'
Me: 'Erm... well can I have a full one then?'
Waitress makes face and tomps off with the beer. It comes back full. Probably with saliva.
Definitely Strike Three for Chilean Customer Service.
And you know, that interaction wasn't even that unusual.
Oh, and the table we originally wanted and weren't allowed to sit at because we didn't have six people? Yeah, it ended up hosting an enormous party of ... two.
yeah, I think that's the downside to servers not working on tips. they don't give an F...
ReplyDeletehey,
ReplyDeleteyour story is quite funny, although just afterwards;)
sounds like you were staying a long time in Santiago.
I was wondering wheather i might improve my spanish knowlegde in a language school by natvies?
Do you know how much this is?
i'm going to chile in September, is there a cheap and clean hostel you can recommend me?
thank you
yours judith
Hi Kristin - you´re right, they don´t work only for tips but you´re certainly expected to add a tip to the bill here so I would say that's some incentive to at least be nice. I think this girl just misunderstood her job description - she was there to transcribe our order onto a little piece of paper, take that paper to the kitchen, and bring what the kitchen produced in response back to the table. Punto. Ah well, c'est la vie!
ReplyDeleteHi Judith - there are lots of language schools here but I´ve never studied here so can't recommend any personally. Perhaps try googling 'clases de espanol santiago' and see what you find.
ReplyDeleteRe hostels: if you look at http://www.hostelworld.com/findabed.php/ChosenCity.Santiago/ChosenCountry.Chile you can read reviews of loads of hostels here and choose one that suits you. I've heard good things about Casa Roja in Barrio Brasil, but never stayed there myself. Hope that helps and good luck on your travels!
Ahhh! I can't wait... seriously. I wonder how long it will take to get used to that again.
ReplyDeleteI know Annje! It's the dead-pan responses that get me every time. Honestly sometimes I feel like smacking my hand to my forehead during these conversations.
ReplyDeletesometimes I feel like smacking my hand on your forehead too..... teehee
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to catch me first.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your blog and I think you're being a little unfair with chilean people. It seems the highlights of your life here in Santiago are only the bad stuff of us.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me worng, I'm not mad and I don't wanna be rude/mean with you. I'ts only the humble opinion of a chilean guy ;)
I would like to see (or read) what foreigners like about us.
And btw, I'm not used to than crappy kind of customer service...I think it's a funny story, though.
Saludos
I am going to go out on limb here, and hopefully nobody will come out looking for me. I read so many comments about poor customer service in Chile. I was born and raised there but live in North America. Here is the long and the short about bad customer service in Chile.
ReplyDeleteMost people working in service industries come from low income families. They have little education and do not know any better. The REAL culprits are the owners and managers of these places. They DO KNOW better (you hope) but don't bother training their staff. They are the ones you should target.
If I were you, I’d go to them. If they do not solve your problem then they are really stupid!
Don’t waste your time trying to straighten out the waiter/waitress. They do not know! There is a Chilean expression my father used to quote ... ”No trates de sacar peras del olmo” Loosely translated it means “Do not try picking pears from an elm tree”. Elms do not produce pears. In other words, try to get good service from those who are able to give it, not from those who do not know any better.