Gutbuster - I will never eat at the Greenhouse / NOTU Navy MWR again.
It pains me to write this because I've built such a rapport with the front counter women who work hard in taking orders, organizing foods, and generally bringing some brightness to a workday for the people who come there to eat.
2/21/2023 - I ordered my food on the NOTU Cape Canaveral ChowNow app like I usually do. It saves time rather than going to the counter and ordering and waiting. This was a busy day, so ordered early hoping that it will be done right after my meeting, and I can go pick it up. I ordered at 10:30am with the intent to pick up at 10:45am. As things go, my meeting ran over, and I didn't get to the Greenhouse until 11:00 am. Once I got there, I walked up to the from counter. The lady handed me my container of food with my last name on it and asked if I wanted a bag. I replied "yes, ma'am" as I opened my to-go plate and noticed that my food was incorrectly prepared. Specifically speaking, a Gutbuster comes with a Hebrew National all beef ¼ lb hot dog, grilled, served on a warm bun topped with chili, nacho cheese, diced onions and Jalapenos, served with a choice of side and a drink. I ordered the hot dog to be well done and I ordered fries for context.
I looked at my order, there were no toppings on the hot dog at all, just a plain, well done hot dog on a bun. When I notified the ladies at the counter that my order was wrong, one of them exclaimed "Well people need to come pick up their food when it's ready", as I was asking the other woman why it wasn't prepared properly. The lady on the right expressed that it doesn't come with toppings and that I had to put that on myself. Then she was corrected by the cook in the back. They both argued that the back cooks will put the toppings on right now if I want and I told them that I didn't want that anymore because it wasn't properly prepared in the first place. Both the woman on the left and right cashier machine started to get angry and argumentative with me because I wanted to change my order, not a refund, but just to change it to something else.
The back cook kept agreeing with me saying that "he's right, it's not what he ordered". I gave the lady on my right the new order and she angrily took the order and gave it to the back cooks. While I'm waiting, the two ladies are still making comments and remarks about my order and I stepped back up to the counter and said "I am not dissatisfied because the hot dog is well done, I asked for that. I am dissatisfied because I ordered a prepared Gutbuster and I wasn't given that. I didn't want my food sent to the back and slapped together to make up for a mistake in attention to detail in my order. The lady on the right continued to argue at me saying "Sir, there is no difference, they would have put the toppings on it in a few seconds" "I don't know what the big deal is", as she walked back to the other lady for confirmation that my concerns were invalid. At that point I asked her "So, why was it made incorrectly in the first place"? Irritably she says, "I don't know, maybe they didn't take it to the other side to get it done, it takes but a second to get it on there". Then the lady on the left says, "Just stop, don't even worry about it", and the lady on the right goes back to her cash register and I step to the side.
I moved over to the side as they continued to take orders and wait for my new order. While waiting, a base police officer pulled me to the side and said "Hey, for what it's worth, I think you handled that pretty well. It seemed like they both were in a bad mood and nothing you said would make it right". I expressed to him, "Well yeah, it's the principle, I am sure if they are at a restaurant and their food comes out incorrect, they will make a comment about it and ask for some remedy". All in all, my new order came out and I hastily walked out in order to remove myself from the whole situation.
Lastly, the ladies at the front counter don't always provide friendly customer service. read more
