Chronic attitude issues, rudeness and disrespect to the customers by most of the employees at this particular Arby's is quite telling. I find it fascinating that this long-standing, long-term situation is still occurring to this date. Perhaps, it's difficult to eradicate it due to the way management handles their affairs. In any event, it is NOT acceptable to me any longer. There are a few simple rules in the restaurant industry; acknowledge the customer; welcome the customer; take their order with a wide-open ear; thank the customer when the transaction is completed. Simple rules like that are rarely used at this establishment. There seems to be no accountability at this location. Would this even fly at a bona fide restaurant?
In the past, when I caught an attitude from their employees or experienced their rude, unwelcoming behavior, I would just sucked it in and do my best to keep it cool. How I retaliated was to not frequent their establishment. Well, after staying away from their restaurant for over three months, I figured I'd give them another shot, so I went in and ordered a chicken sandwich. Just a single chicken sandwich, no sides, no drink, no special order requests. I waited a seriously longtime for that sandwich. When I noticed that the two other customers after me, with their large order were taken care of before me, I asked the person that took my order, (as polite as I could be) what the status of my order was. She replied in a rude tone, "It hasn't come out yet." She never bothered to look into it, or even be apologetic about it. The fact that she could care less was very telling to me. Same ol', same ol' attitude this location is infamous about. At that point, I asked her for a refund. She threw up her hands and screamed, "somebody give him his money back." The manager stepped in and took care of it. She kept apologizing, but it was too little too late for me. The crazy thing is, my chicken sandwich (remember that?) never made the pass or was even cooked.
This unabated mindset and established set of attitudes are held by most if not all of their employees. IMHO, you have to look at their management team and how corporate handles things when it comes to the comfort of the customers and their employees...
This long-lasting rude and unfriendly work environment is toxic not only to the customers, but to the corporate brand. This grossly managed location
should be on the front burner with corporate, yet corporate hasn't done a thing about this for at least a decade. It seems to be all about the crew and what they want to do behind the counter, instead of the the customer and their satisfaction on the other side of that counter.
Don't even think about arriving at the drive-thru at about a half hour before they close, because more times than not they say they're already "closed." This Arby's drive-thru states it closes at 2:00 A.M., I've been there at 1:30 A.M. and they have said "they're close." Perhaps, their needs outweigh the customer's "wants." I get it, they want to get home sooner than later. I'm okay with that, just change the sign to read, "Close at 1:30 A.M."
I'm not sure if firing the entire crew will work. I feel you have to start with the management team. What in the world is going on there to allow the crew to become this harmful and destructive to the brand? I have expressed my utter disgust with their service on site and here on Yelp, yet I don't see things changing anytime soon. The fact that it's not about fixing the product and just about fixing the employee to customer dynamic would seem to be a no-brainer and a simple fix. Seems like there's a lot more to it, since nothing has been done to remedy this an insane amount of years.
Good riddance Arby's at 175-14 Horace Harding Expressway, Fresh Meadows, NY 11365! read more