Things That Annoy Me Thursday: Not Opening

The sign on the doors of Panda Express said it opened at 1030. Awesome. It was 1032 and I was starving and could use some Chinese food. I walked in and…nothing was ready! There was a guy waiting at the front of the line rolling his eyes.

“The sign on the door did say it opened at 1030, right?” he asked.

I nodded.

It looked like the worker in charge of making everything JUST arrived. He was slowly tying on an apron and shooting us annoyed looks. Hey, don’t blame us for coming in. The sign said 1030!

Another worker, a female, smiled at us and said, “It’ll be a few.”

“Then why,” the guy said, “does your sign say that you’re open at 1030? Doesn’t that mean the food should be ready at 1030?”

She looked a little nervous. I felt bad for her because really, she’s not the cook. “Yes but…well, it depends on when the cook shows up.”

I didn’t want the man to keep whining about it because hello, the cook could SPIT into the food. You never know these days. Did he not see the video taken at Dominos where the workers spit in a sub? And didn’t one guy wipe his ass on the toppings?

Another guy walked in the store and sighed. “Not again!” he grumbled.

The guy at the front of the line went, “Oh, this happens a lot?”

“Yup. I should know by now that nothing is ready until 11. They need to change the sign!”

I did agree with that. If you aren’t going to be ready to serve customers by the time it says on the door, move up the opening time.

We waited in line until 1050, maybe longer. The cook was slowly getting everything out. And even by 1050, everything wasn’t there. I wanted chow mein but was told it would be “another ten minutes,” so I got the rice.

Grrr.

I’m finding that businesses need to figure out their REAL opening times.

For instance, I took the kids to the book fair at the school Monday. They got fliers saying that it would be open on the 15th at 835. We showed up at 840 and…there was hardly anything set up! Why say you’re going to be ready and then not be? Some other parents had showed up with their kids and they were like, “Uh? I thought it said it would be open at 835?”

Natalie found a book and I went to pay and the register wasn’t even set up yet.

I would think that if the flier said 835, that people would start setting up an hour before—not when it said it was meant to open.

So yes. If you own a business, make sure that things are ready to go at the said opening time. Don’t annoy customers.

And please don’t spit into the food.