Why do customers put up with bad service? At Ed Debevic's, a national chain of 50s-style diners, the waitstaff insults customers with gum-cracking, hand-on-hip glee, just like Polly Holliday on the '70s sitcom Alice. ("Kiss my grits!") But this is intentionally bad service, and the customers are in on the joke. Although not for much longer, apparently—the Illinois-based company has fallen on hard times, and is unlikely to open a Houston outpost any time soon.
Bad service can also be organic—part of a restaurant's rough-hewn charm, when other qualities make up for it. Consider Kanomwan, the Thai restaurant in the East End, whose owner is known popularly as the "Thai Soup Nazi." Customers tolerate his surliness because, they claim, the food is just that good. This probably says more about the quality of inside-the-loop Thai food than anything else.
Most of the time bad service is just, well, bad. Although not ordinarily given to schadenfreude, we couldn't help ourselves upon learning that The Cookie Jar, a Montrose-area dessert shop, had closed two months ago. Houstonist had a miserable experience there earlier this year. We hadn't planned to write about it, but a similar encounter at another restaurant last week, followed by a drive past The Cookie Jar's vacant storefront, brought it all back.
Let's make one thing clear: this is not a story about the worst service of all time. We have endured far worse. This is a story about how little it takes to secure good will and loyalty, and how establishments regularly squander opportunities to do so.
Back in May, Houstonist was in the market for a dozen high-end cupcakes to bring to a birthday party. On previous occasions, we had provisioned ourselves from Sugarbaby's and Dessert Gallery, with fine results, but we had heard good things about The Cookie Jar and wanted to give it a try.
According to its website, The Cookie Jar was open until 5pm. We left our downtown office early and arrived with minutes to spare. As we exited our car, we could see that the lights were already off. Inside, a young man slouched by the counter, chattering on his cellphone. We knocked on the door. He ignored us. We knocked again. He ignored us again. We knocked a third time, pointing to our watch. He pointed to the clock inside, mouthing the words, "We're closed." By this time, of course, it was a minute past 5pm. A bit frustrated, we knocked on the door, loudly, until the guy came over. We explained that we had arrived before 5pm, we only wanted to buy some cupcakes, and if he would let us in we would really, really appreciate it. He shrugged, shook his head, and walked away.
Houstonist about lost it. It would have been so simple for this guy to make us happy—by doing his job. Even if we had arrived five minutes after closing, opening the door would still have been the right move. Especially for a struggling business, anxious to create goodwill and positive word-of-mouth. Instead, he lost not just a sale, but also a customer. Do you think Houstonist told friends and coworkers about our experience? You better believe it. It's called karma, and as Earl Hickey can testify, it'll get you in the end.
We ended up going to Dessert Gallery. Open until 9pm, incidentally. The cupcakes were delicious.
Houstonist has worked in food service before. We recognize that the hours are long and the pay is low, and every place and every employee has bad days. But with most first-time customers, you only get one chance. We bear no ill will toward David Gerst and Robin Pacholder, the husband-and-wife team that owns both the Cookie Jar and Be-Wiched Bistro, its neighboring cafe. Indeed, Be-Wiched Express, Be-Wiched's downtown outpost, is one of the few palatable options in the tunnels. And in an ambitious double-down strategy, the original Be-Wiched will be expanding into the Cookie Jar's former space. We wish Gerst and Pacholder well. We may even visit. But we won't bemoan the loss of a place that took customer service so lightly.
For those cupcake fans left adrift by the loss of The Cookie Jar, in addition to Sugarbaby's and Dessert Gallery, Crave Cupcakes opened in June in Uptown Park, and—carpetbagger alert!—Beverly Hills-based chain Sprinkles Cupcakes will open this coming February in Highland Village, near the Crate & Barrel on Westheimer.
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