Mugg & Bean staff urgently requires people s****s training

On Tuesday December 10 at approximately 14H15, my family and I decided to have a light meal at Mugg and Bean at Makro Cornubia in Durban.

Being a vegetarian, I inquired at the cashier what vegetarian offerings were on the menu and then reported back to my daughter who was at the table while my sister and mum were at the restroom. It was decided that we were going to settle for four toasted cheese sandwiches with mushrooms on white bread and four cappuccinos, I returned to the cashier to place this order. After having done so, I asked the cashier how long would it take to have my order and I was duly informed by her that it would take approximately 8 minutes. I then asked what the time was so that I would know at what time to return as I had to do some shopping. At that moment another young Caucasian female behind the counter interjects and remarks that it takes 8 minutes just to make the cappuccino. I rep**** that the cashier should then also be fami**** with how long it would take as she is working in the hospitality industry.

After paying a sum of R365.10 for my order, I returned to my table with my receipt and my daughter looked at the receipt and asked me why would I order chicken and mayo sandwiches when we being vegetarians do not consume meat. Not only were there 4 chicken and mayo sandwiches but also 4 cheese and tomato sandwiches and the cappuccinos. I immediately returned to the cashier to have this rectified.

Whilst in the process of doing so, the very same Caucasian lady yet again interrupts, challenging me that she heard me say chicken and mayo sandwiches. I informed her that I would not have said what she claims she heard as we are vegetarians. She continued to maintain that is what I ordered when she herself was not taking my order. From this point on I realized that her attitude and raised tone of voice was going to make me upset. She in turn accuses me of speaking to her harshly by saying “…do not speak like that.”, when she had nothing to do with the problem which was in the process of being rectified. Her intervention regarding a minor mishap just aggravated the situation. I then requested the refund of R365.10, at which point she started to order the lady attending to me to process my refund.

Instead of apologizing for her challenging me, the customer as she could have mistakenly heard incorrectly because she had no part involving my transaction, she then remarks: “And you do have a wonderful day now, Sir” in a very mocking manner to which I rep****: “I will, after me complaining on Hello Peter”. She then replies: “You do that, Sir”. Her ****y behaviour infuriated me.

Such ill-mannered staff with no people s****s should not be allowed to interact with customers as this reflects negatively on Mugg & Bean itself. I find this type of behaviour totally unacceptable as I have heard and read about similar experiences from customers in the hospitality industry. I will maintain that she was not involved in this transaction and it could have been resolved without her input and sarcasm. I must state that also having been a franchise owner I would never allow my staff to treat or challenge customers in such a manner.

I would think it should be part of standard training procedure that when an order is placed, the order needs to be read out again to the customer before final processing or is this not so with Mugg & Bean. I sincerely hope that Mugg & Bean head office re-train this young lady in people s****s as she urgently requires some intervention in this regard.

With such an attitude of this staff member, I will advise people to stay away from this Mugg & Bean at Makro Cornubia.