Sonic Drive-In on Corner of HG Mosley and 1845

This location here in Longview has only been open for a couple of months at best. I understand they are still new, but there has to be a point when they reach normal right? Well, if and when that day comes I will never know. Myself and others have talked about the poor quality of service there and have had an underdstanding that it is a new location. However, it is time to stop letting them get away with this as an excuse.

Most times I am there to enjoy a cold beverage during happy hour, half-price drinks from 2pm to 4pm. I love this. My usual drink is a diet-vanilla Dr. Pepper, ez ice. Not difficult really. This has seemed to cause a bit of confusion, so I have adjusted to a Diet Dr. Pepper, add vanilla, ez ice. Still there is something missing in the communication pathways.

I am sure that new employees learning a new computer system can get flustered, but really you just need to calm down, listen to the customer, and git-r-done!

Last night, around 10:30 I drove to this location to grab a bite to eat. Bite to eat, bite to eat, bite to eat...sorry, had a moment from The Terminal with Tom Hanks! :) It is summer time and they are open late! I got two chicken strip dinners. The lady gave me my total and I pulled up to the window. I handed her my card and away she went. After a song or two on the radio, she returned to the window with the dinners and said that they were making some gravy for us. She once again disappeared. A few minutes later, she returned to the front of the store with an empty bucket, a bag of gravy mix, and some hot water. She struggled with this for a few minutes and disappeared again. About 3 minutes later, the manager came to the window and asked me if there was anything else I needed. I still had not gotten my debit card back or the extra gravy I had ordered. These being given, I drove off and headed home...a short distance. Settling in on the couch, my hubby opens his practically empty box and discovers 3 out of 4 pieces of chicken, about ten french fries that were not even cooked, and a side of old gravy with the lid practically melted to the styrofoam. I opened my box and it was the same. I then opened the extra gravy containers and noticed that the outisde was not even warm. The mass of goop that emerged while taking the lid off was the consistency of mashed potatoes, not the smooth, creamy gravy that one might expect. Needless to say, I grabbed all the items, hopped back in the car, and headed for Sonic. I made the mistake of commenting to my husband when I left the first time around that this could end up being another post to my brand new blog...boy was I right!

I head straight for the drive-up window. I was greeted by the manager and I explain to him the contents of my box and tell him to just give me money back and that I will go elsewhere. He doesn't apologize until later. He asks for my debit card and the receipt. I hand him the receipt he gave me about 15 minutes earlier. It was, of course, not my receipt, but someonelse's. Great! He did say he could look the order up..so he returned the money to my card and aplogized, but not without laying the blame on a new employee. He informed me they had a new cook and he hoped I would return again.

As a manager, you should be keeping an eye on your new employees and helping them out so that they are providing what the customer desires. So shame on you Mr. Manager! As close as this location is, I will be avoiding it like the plague! There are too many other locations that are not much further and it WILL be most worth my time!

Until next time...