Oklahoma Skies & Interstate Travel

This has been a tough week for me at work; lots of highs and lots of lows. I just started vacation today and I am very glad. I am ready for some down time. I'm doing something I've never attempted to do before which is to take two weeks off in a row. We'll see, but so far so good. Our family is traveling back to Kansas City for a couple of weeks and everyone is excited about it. We have lots of plans to do some fun things that center around friends and family. We have a trip to Branson, MO planned in there as well, which we used to do every year with my in-law's. That will be a lot of fun, and a lot of work since we have 5 kids! I also reconnected with a couple of old friends I haven't seen for years and I am planning on seeing them over the next couple of weeks and it feels good to have set that up. I value friendship very much and I am looking to re-establish some connections. I need that in my life. I also hope to see two of my best friends that live in KC. They are a couple of reasons I really miss home.

I am also excited to be away from work and with my family. I have been very blessed with a great job with a great company but my family pays the price without question. This is something I continually work on and will probably always have to; how to balance home and work. Both are important and both are necessary for complete living but obviously relationships at home need to take precedence. I hope to re-establish those relationships this last two weeks of July.

We drove into Oklahoma tonight on our way home and it is the halfway point for us. On our way Joey and I saw a beautiful sunset and I shot it with my iPhone. It was very peaceful and serene and it felt right. Hopefully it was a preview of things to come on this vacation. I love driving the highways. There is something therapeutic about it. The sound of the wheels on the road, some great driving music, and time to think about your life; those moments are hard to beat. It was great having Joey sitting next to me for part of it. (We took two cars home this trip because of luggage issues) I'm reminded of a great song by Satellite Soul which is called "Interstate Travel". This song is just amazing. It really does speak to the fact that life is indeed a highway with various roadblocks and exit signs along the way and the chance to listen to God and stay on course, no matter what is going on around you. I find myself pulling off on exits that I probably should not be taking rather than staying on the open road. At least I'm more conscious of that now and I'm working on it.

Good night.

Bobby

Disappointing Dave's

As a post script to my blog on Customer Service yesterday here is one more great example of the declining level of customer service in our world. Once again I will not just offer gripes but I will offer a solution. Since moving to Texas 3 years ago we have been a fan of the pizza at Double Dave's (which will be mentioned from hereon out as Disappointing Dave's) mainly because of the whole wheat crust. We love the crust.

However that is where the experience goes south. No matter how good the pizza is if the service is not where it should be than the entire experience is damaged and my friends that is exactly what has happened here, time and time again. So much so that I am just going to write about it and tell everyone I know not to go to Disappointing Dave's anymore. They simply can't handle it. Take for instance the picture in this blog. This is the buffet today on Sunday July 6th at 1:20 p.m. It's the same story every time we go. I've even talked to the manager which I hate to do because I try and show compassion for folks in the restaurant industry since that has been my field of employment since I was 16 years old but I can no longer hold this in.

How in the world could a pizza company not be prepared for a buffet rush any day of the week, let alone Sundays when they know they are going to get rocked from churchgoers. Are you kidding me? Come on. That is worse than unacceptable performance. Worse yet there are two Disappointing Dave's in the Austin/Cedar Park area and they are both equally bad. Today there were literally 10-15 people waiting on pizza. Instead of putting what they KNOW people are going to eat they put out SPECIALTY stuff no one cares about. Again I ask the question, why in the world would you do that? Pepperoni, Cheese, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough dessert pizza...is that too much to ask? Clearly it is and it has been for a long time. Our kids and the kids of many others waited entirely too long today for pizza. When I asked about Pepperoni I was told there was no more in the oven but they had a Pepperoni/Mushroom coming out. What? On what planet would you not have a string of cheese and pepperoni pizzas coming out during the buffet?

I've done pizza before when I worked for Godfather's and there is an easy fix here. LOAD THE OVENS BEFORE YOUR RUSH AND HAVE PIZZA BACKUPS DURING YOUR PEAK TIMES. That isn't too much to ask is it? I don't think so. There is also a lack of management of this restaurant. We have high school kids who couldn't give a flip making the pies and let you know they don't give a flip by their attitude. Worse than that I can never find or SEE A MANAGER to save my life. In the numerous times we've gone there I can count on one hand when I have seen a manager. Typically the manager is either not there, nowhere near the front or just hiding out. This is such an easy problem to fix. Hire great people, train them, and ensure that you plan for your rush by having the appropriate amount of food ready to go for your rush. Timing is key and someone needs to be running the ovens who knows what is going on. I am about two seconds away from jumping back there to show them how to do it.

There are many elements to running a great restaurant. Proper sales projections, ordering, prepping, and cooking are key to the operation and that is all driven by the manager and what that manager does to set the restaurant, day, and shift up for success...and again it starts with hiring the right people.

These are basic concepts that unfortunately Disappointing Dave's has not figured out. At least not this franchisee...but that's another story for another blog.