Laughter Lounge RUDE management staff!!

Lis9

Hi, I have decided to post my experience on here in an effort to vent my frustrations.
I was at the laughter lounge last night with friend early so that we could get good seats (close enough to see what was going on but not too close to the stage to avoid being picked on!). We got to our seats at about half 7 & the show wasn’t supposed to start until half 8. Just before the show was about to start a male member of staff brusquely asked us how many were in our party. We replied just two of us, when he said ‘Right so, I’m bringing two other people over to share your table as four people can fit here’. We were a bit shocked where upon we said we wouldn’t be comfortable with that. He said ‘What?’ I’m not joking he literally bent down to my level where I was sitting, put his hands on his knees, put his face close to mine, and spoke to me like you would a bold child. He said with raised eyebrows ‘Well you can either pay an extra fiver each to sit at the two seater tables, or I’m bringing over two other people to share your table. Now what will it be?’. I was absolutely shocked and dumbfounded. I couldn’t even look at him. I had to take a sip of my drink and look away I was so uncomfortable. We didn’t answer him, I didn’t know what to say to this rude intimidating man. So he just stared at us for awhile longer and then went off in exasperation. I was so angry at being talked to like that. We are two 29yo females, who just paid €50 for admission and were looking forward to a good night and should not have been spoken to like that.
Nothing happened for awhile and then he sent over this abrupt, abrasive Spanish lady who obviously was told to put us in our place or something as she came over on the offensive straight away ready to have an argument with us. Omg I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. She brought over a couple first who were so embarrassed at the exchange that they decided to sit elsewhere (which turned out to be right behind us & they then thought the problem was with them). Then she brought over two other girls & they sat down with us. Don’t get me wrong – I actually had no problem with people sitting there once I knew what was going on. The issue I had - and still have is the manner in which we were told somebody’s going to be sitting there – or else. What has happened to customer service in Ireland nowadays? I was so mortified and angry at how we were spoken to that I had thoughts of getting my hard earned money back and walking out. I couldn’t relax for the rest of the show and felt like everybody around us thought we were the argumentative ones when we were only standing up for ourselves. Anybody would when treated like second class citizens.

Initially I was going to do the usual ‘Irish’ thing – by shutting up and getting over it. But I woke up this morning still angry and embarrassed and decided to put it out there to see what other people think.
Maybe this will get no replies and maybe people will tell me to shut up lol but at least I put it out there that the management in that place is appalling. (The waiting staff on the floor are simply lovely though!).
Verdict: LL good for a night out but €25 a bit steep for what it was.

biko

Go back today and speak to management? See what they have to say.
If you don't make you complaint to the right people nothing will happen.

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

keithclancy

Staff were complete knobs, go back and speak to the management directly.

On the other side, it sounds like open seating so you don't have the right to hold a table.

schemingbohemia

I think they handled this badly, BUT, it does seem to be open seating and perhaps your "refusal" to share a 4 seater could be viewed by the management as being troublesome which then sparked their reaction. Would you insist on others standing even though there were free seats beside you?

omega666

I go to the laughter lounge quite a bit so i'm familiar with the seating.
There's two types, unreserved seating around the floor and reserved tables
around the edges which cost a bit more. I persume because you said you paid 50 euro then you were in the unreserved seating. In which case i'm afraid you have no right to stop anyone sharing your table. It's unusual for the staff to even ask, you usually just walk in and grab what ever seats are free yourself.

You did come across as being a bit awkard but Fair enough if it's your first time there maybe your not familiar with the setup and you though you had the table to yourselves. Maybe the staff could have explained it better as well.

elfy4eva

I've never been to the laughter lounge so if it's
the norm for people to be seated with other
groups thats fair enough. I don't feel thats the
here issue though.

I really don't understand how somebody can be such a
poor communicator. It doesn't take a lot of effort to explain
how a seating arrangement works. It should be his duty
to make your experiance as enjoyable as possible.

When you said you felt uncomfortable with people sitting with you he
should have been reassuring something along the lines of

"Oh don't feel uncomfortable about it, many of the tables in
this area will have shared seating! It's totally normal."

It's a piss poor experiance that you went through
I bet it put a damper on the whole night
I certainly wouldnt give them the
business again had it happened to me.

omega666

elfy4eva wrote: »

Seating issues aside, the staff member had no right to touch you.
On it's own you should to give out stink about that.

I've never been to the laughter lounge so if it's
the norm for people to be seated with other
groups thats fair enough. I don't feel thats the
here issue though.

I really don't understand how somebody can be such a
poor communicator. It doesn't take a lot of effort to explain
how a seating arrangement works, The male member of staff
crossed the line by touching you at all. It should be his duty
to make your experiance as enjoyable as possible.

When you said you felt uncomfortable with people sitting with you he
should have been reassuring something along the lines of

"Oh don't feel uncomfortable about it, many of the tables in
this area will have shared seating! It's totally normal."

It's a piss poor experiance that you went through
I bet it put a damper on the whole night
I certainly wouldnt give them the
business again had it happened to me.

I think you read the problem wrong. She didn't say anywhere that the staff member touched her.

elfy4eva

omega666 wrote: »

I think you read the problem wrong. She didn't say anywhere that the staff member touched her.

Right you are. I misread it Apolagies!

Thought it said

"Put his hands on My knees!"

That woudl have been Crazy! :P

Sofiztikated

You read it wrong.

Sounds to me like the OP was in the wrong here. If she was self-aware she would have realised that the tables around her were filling up and sharing was inevitable. LL are a business and their business includes selling seats. If only two seats were sold per table then profits would be halved and ticket prices would go up or the LL would go bust.
The member of the staff didn't ask your permission. When you said you would not be comfortable he offered you the only other alternative. Your response was not exactly polite.
Ultimately, your selfish presumption to sit alone wasn't worth the extra €10 and your actions made yourself and probably two other couples embarrassed. Wouldn't put me off going to LL at all

Polar101

Deleted User wrote: »

Ultimately, your selfish presumption to sit alone wasn't worth the extra €10 and your actions made yourself and probably two other couples embarrassed. Wouldn't put me off going to LL at all

It's still rubbish customer service, assuming the OP's description is accurate. They could have explained the situation to the OP and her friend politely.

Del2005

Polar101 wrote: »

It's still rubbish customer service, assuming the OP's description is accurate. They could have explained the situation to the OP and her friend politely.

It all depends on what was written on the ticket. The OP by entering the premisses agreed to whatever was on the ticket, if it said unreserved seating then it's not the staff members job to explain what that means.

keithclancy

Del2005 wrote: »

It all depends on what was written on the ticket. The OP by entering the premisses agreed to whatever was on the ticket, if it said unreserved seating then it's not the staff members job to explain what that means.

True, but it in no way excuses the staffs attitude.

Classic Example I've seen.

On Dutch Trains you have 1st class and 2nd class.

First time I saw was an Irish group of lads sitting in First class from Schiphol to Amsterdam. They had a second class ticket and were sitting in first class. In fairness if you didn't know it would be hard to tell as the seating is just a different configuration.

The ticket inspector was a complete a$$hole to them, just told them to move carriages, didn't explain why, just kept saying "You move now, you're in the wrong carriage"

Saw the exact same thing happen a few months later down further south in Brabant, Eindhoven - Amsterdam Train.

Ticket Inspector asked,
"hey you guys on Holidays ? Where are you from etc"
"Just to let you know that you're in the first class carriage, so you need to move to second class, you guys bought a second class ticket"
They had more general chit chat and then he said
"Hey thanks, guys hope you guys enjoy your time in the Netherlands"

In both cases the Customer was wrong.
In one case the guy representing the business was acting like a normal human being.

Costs the staff nothing to be nice.

In any case, there is absolutely no reason to be an a$$hole.

reprazant

Del2005 wrote: »

It all depends on what was written on the ticket. The OP by entering the premisses agreed to whatever was on the ticket, if it said unreserved seating then it's not the staff members job to explain what that means.

That does not allow the staff to be rude. It is not difficult to say that it is open seating and that people needed seats when she said she was not comfortable with it.

There is absolutely no need for him to be condescending and rude and I am somewhat surprised to see people defend that.

hollster2

omega666 wrote: »

I think you read the problem wrong. She didn't say anywhere that the staff member touched her.

I’m not joking he literally bent down to my level where I was sitting, put his hands on his knees, put his face close to mine, and spoke to me like you would a bold child.

I think you read it wrong!

elfy4eva

hollster2 wrote: »

I’m not joking he literally bent down to my level where I was sitting, put his hands on his knees, put his face close to mine, and spoke to me like you would a bold child.

I think you read it wrong!

Yea if you had read the subsequent post I apolagised for
mis-reading and Edited my original post as such. :rolleyes:

hollster2

elfy4eva wrote: »

Yea if you had read the subsequent post I apolagised for
mis-reading and Edited my original post as such. :rolleyes:

i did you were right he did touch her i was refering to omega now im confused lol;)

elfy4eva

hollster2 wrote: »

i did you were right he did touch her i was refering to omega now im confused lol;)

Nah Omega was dead right he didn't touch her.
He just knelt down to her level and got a bit up in her face.

hollster2

elfy4eva wrote: »

Nah Omega was dead right he didn't touch her.
He just knelt down to her level and got a bit up in her face.

right maybe i should have read it properly too just the way she wrote it

Mr E

elfy4eva wrote: »

... got a bit up in her face.

HE BIT HER FACE?? :eek:

(See what happens when you don't read properly?)

Sounds like they could have handled the situation better, to be honest. A lesson in how not to deal with paying customers.

hollster2

Mr E wrote: »

HE BIT HER FACE?? :eek:

(See what happens when you don't read properly?)

.

thank you for clearing that up hehe:cool:

noodler

I agree there can hardly be a situation where two people hog an entire table but the staff explained the reasoning behind it in an extremely rude manner.