A warning to all who plan on baying a TGI Fridays gift card.
I bought a $50 TGI Friday’s gift card, when I went to use it I was told it was already spent and another TGI Friday’s location in Florida. After contacting TGI Fridays several times and providing them with personal information for the supposed investigation they were going to perform, I was promised a replacement card in 7-14days. After the maximum wait time passed and not reciving my card I started contacting TGI Friday’s again to find out why I did not get my card. I was totally ignored which means they never planned on investigating my case (They never provided me with any evidence that they did), or replacing my card. The runaround, false promises I got, and now ignoring me is just their why to make me go away.
My friend and I ate different foods because I have Celiac and cannot eat breaded food. He ate the breaded sampler appetizer items and I ate ribs and nachos. I was fine. He became suddenly violently ill.
I have known this friend for over 40 years and he never gets sick to his stomach, while I easily become ill if exposed to wheat products such as breading, which I am very careful to avoid because it is never worth it.
He ran to the bathroom and stayed there for over 15 minutes, maybe 20. When he returned, he was white as a sheet and dripping sweat. He reported that he had been vomiting and experienced severe diarrhea at the same time, hardly able to keep the right end over the toilet. He said there was another guy in a stall who also seemed ill with diarrhea, but he wasn't able to ask him what he ate because the guy left while my friend was still too ill to speak.
Before my friend returned, I had already asked for our bill and had my credit card ready and waiting for some time. Now I decided to go to the hostess so I could pay and get my friend home as quickly as possible. I literally wondered if he was going to croak! He waited for me outside.
I waited about 10 minutes before the receipt finally came back with my credit card. While I waited, I told the hostess and another gal that my friend had become violently ill. I feel very strongly they should have comped the bill, in which case I would have given them a 50% tip. This is the first time I have ever given less than a 20% tip, knowing how much work the servers do, but because they didn't bother to report this to a manager, I gave her $5, which was just a little over 10%. They don't deserve to be docked for company policy, which I couldn't know if they were following or if they are just stupid.
On the way home my friend said while eating, he suddenly felt a sharp pain and the sudden need to get to the bathroom. At home, he got into the shower and I called and spoke with a manager named Ebony. She did not express any care that the servers didn't report this. She only said if he needs medical attention to call back. She did say she was sorry, and I told her I don't know their protocol, but I think the servers need to let managers know when a report of sudden vomiting and diarrhea occurs after a few bites of their food. Ebony had no comment about this. Her omission, to me, means "I don't care if such things go unreported. I don't care if other people who also order and eat that food might also get sick. The show must go on." Now I know this is a protocol of the TGI Fridays chain, or at least this particular store.
This is a case of "Follow the money." At least this store, and possibly all TGI FRidays, are more concerned with taking in money than serving safe food.
My friend is worn out from the experience, but doing okay since he purged the food that made him sick. The offer for me to call back if he needs medical attention is shallow, given that he has, like just about everyone these days, medical insurance, and the violent episode from food poisoning is over. Medical attention is a moot point with food poisoning unless severe dehydration occurs, which we will be careful to not allow. I taught medical billing for years and know a little bit about when medical attention is needed, and it is a very small percentage when it comes to food poisoning.
PS. He will be fine and we will never be customers at TGI Fridays again!
This is the worst Friday's in the country. DO NOT APPLY HERE. I got hired on the spot but it took them two days to call me back and let me know what's going on. On my first day of training, the GM barely acknowledges me, even acts like he wishes I wasn't there, I was scheduled to come in at 9 am every day and the store doesn't even open till 10:45. The GM, Mike, did not even want to take two seconds from his busy "cigarrette breaks" or "paperwork" to even follow the LAW and clock me in. For my "training" he told me to just stand next to the computer and watch people ring up stuff for 2 hours.
EVERY "trainer" I had there would complain about training. No one taught me anything. One trainer literally ran around like a chicken with his head cut off the entire time, leaving me, when it wasn't even busy. He had three tables and was running around like a lunatic. And that was one of their "A1 servers". One trainer even neglected her section and had me do all her work, even sweeping her section. The trainers would rather text on their phones the whole time than actually try to train me. And would make up things to the managers about the trainees even though they weren't teaching us anything. Honestly, if a trainee "fails" (which honestly I think I was doing aa decent job), I truly believe that 9 out of 10 times it is the fault of the trainer. Many restaurants actually heed to that philosophy. This one didn't. Even when I tried to explain what the trainers were doing, the service manager, Charlie, would try to defend the trainers and tell me that he's not "hearing it", that they were great servers because they got high grades on the secret shoppers. I found that hard to believe, if theyre always on their cell phones. One trainer didn't even know her menu. The other, he didn't even know the right greet to use with his tables.
I have never trained at a restaurant where the managers were so uneducated and closed-minded. It didn't seem like they even cared to invest in their new hires. Yet when their existing employees get fired, they hire them back within a day. TGI Fridays is franchised now and so there's no "corporate head" ahead of them. This leads to the store management thinking they can do whatever they please, so they only train servers to be able to know how to pass the inspections from the franchise owner's "secret shoppers".
I wasn't fired but I told the service manager that this job was just not working out when he constantly tried to say that I wasn't " getting it down". Right after I had to take care of my trainer's entire section on my third day of training because she would rather talk on her phone. She wouldnt even let me use her card, I would have to constantly try to find her so I could ring up orders. But he failed to listen to my side of the story.
I think this is an awful store as most restaurants are at Opry Mills mall. I really wish they were still corporate so I could just contact the HR and let them know what's going on in their restaurant. Hopefully the franchise owner or someone of importance reads this. It's the week before holiday season. If they would invest time and ACTUAL TRAINING to their new hires, maybe they wouldn't be so overstaffed. Instead, they're just letting people they fired in the past come back. They would rather hire back bad employees than take the time to TRAIN new servers. Two thumbs down!
TGI Fridays Reviews
A warning to all who plan on baying a TGI Fridays gift card.
I bought a $50 TGI Friday’s gift card, when I went to use it I was told it was already spent and another TGI Friday’s location in Florida. After contacting TGI Fridays several times and providing them with personal information for the supposed investigation they were going to perform, I was promised a replacement card in 7-14days. After the maximum wait time passed and not reciving my card I started contacting TGI Friday’s again to find out why I did not get my card. I was totally ignored which means they never planned on investigating my case (They never provided me with any evidence that they did), or replacing my card. The runaround, false promises I got, and now ignoring me is just their why to make me go away.
My friend and I ate different foods because I have Celiac and cannot eat breaded food. He ate the breaded sampler appetizer items and I ate ribs and nachos. I was fine. He became suddenly violently ill.
I have known this friend for over 40 years and he never gets sick to his stomach, while I easily become ill if exposed to wheat products such as breading, which I am very careful to avoid because it is never worth it.
He ran to the bathroom and stayed there for over 15 minutes, maybe 20. When he returned, he was white as a sheet and dripping sweat. He reported that he had been vomiting and experienced severe diarrhea at the same time, hardly able to keep the right end over the toilet. He said there was another guy in a stall who also seemed ill with diarrhea, but he wasn't able to ask him what he ate because the guy left while my friend was still too ill to speak.
Before my friend returned, I had already asked for our bill and had my credit card ready and waiting for some time. Now I decided to go to the hostess so I could pay and get my friend home as quickly as possible. I literally wondered if he was going to croak! He waited for me outside.
I waited about 10 minutes before the receipt finally came back with my credit card. While I waited, I told the hostess and another gal that my friend had become violently ill. I feel very strongly they should have comped the bill, in which case I would have given them a 50% tip. This is the first time I have ever given less than a 20% tip, knowing how much work the servers do, but because they didn't bother to report this to a manager, I gave her $5, which was just a little over 10%. They don't deserve to be docked for company policy, which I couldn't know if they were following or if they are just stupid.
On the way home my friend said while eating, he suddenly felt a sharp pain and the sudden need to get to the bathroom. At home, he got into the shower and I called and spoke with a manager named Ebony. She did not express any care that the servers didn't report this. She only said if he needs medical attention to call back. She did say she was sorry, and I told her I don't know their protocol, but I think the servers need to let managers know when a report of sudden vomiting and diarrhea occurs after a few bites of their food. Ebony had no comment about this. Her omission, to me, means "I don't care if such things go unreported. I don't care if other people who also order and eat that food might also get sick. The show must go on." Now I know this is a protocol of the TGI Fridays chain, or at least this particular store.
This is a case of "Follow the money." At least this store, and possibly all TGI FRidays, are more concerned with taking in money than serving safe food.
My friend is worn out from the experience, but doing okay since he purged the food that made him sick. The offer for me to call back if he needs medical attention is shallow, given that he has, like just about everyone these days, medical insurance, and the violent episode from food poisoning is over. Medical attention is a moot point with food poisoning unless severe dehydration occurs, which we will be careful to not allow. I taught medical billing for years and know a little bit about when medical attention is needed, and it is a very small percentage when it comes to food poisoning.
PS. He will be fine and we will never be customers at TGI Fridays again!
This is the worst Friday's in the country. DO NOT APPLY HERE. I got hired on the spot but it took them two days to call me back and let me know what's going on. On my first day of training, the GM barely acknowledges me, even acts like he wishes I wasn't there, I was scheduled to come in at 9 am every day and the store doesn't even open till 10:45. The GM, Mike, did not even want to take two seconds from his busy "cigarrette breaks" or "paperwork" to even follow the LAW and clock me in. For my "training" he told me to just stand next to the computer and watch people ring up stuff for 2 hours.
EVERY "trainer" I had there would complain about training. No one taught me anything. One trainer literally ran around like a chicken with his head cut off the entire time, leaving me, when it wasn't even busy. He had three tables and was running around like a lunatic. And that was one of their "A1 servers". One trainer even neglected her section and had me do all her work, even sweeping her section. The trainers would rather text on their phones the whole time than actually try to train me. And would make up things to the managers about the trainees even though they weren't teaching us anything. Honestly, if a trainee "fails" (which honestly I think I was doing aa decent job), I truly believe that 9 out of 10 times it is the fault of the trainer. Many restaurants actually heed to that philosophy. This one didn't. Even when I tried to explain what the trainers were doing, the service manager, Charlie, would try to defend the trainers and tell me that he's not "hearing it", that they were great servers because they got high grades on the secret shoppers. I found that hard to believe, if theyre always on their cell phones. One trainer didn't even know her menu. The other, he didn't even know the right greet to use with his tables.
I have never trained at a restaurant where the managers were so uneducated and closed-minded. It didn't seem like they even cared to invest in their new hires. Yet when their existing employees get fired, they hire them back within a day. TGI Fridays is franchised now and so there's no "corporate head" ahead of them. This leads to the store management thinking they can do whatever they please, so they only train servers to be able to know how to pass the inspections from the franchise owner's "secret shoppers".
I wasn't fired but I told the service manager that this job was just not working out when he constantly tried to say that I wasn't " getting it down". Right after I had to take care of my trainer's entire section on my third day of training because she would rather talk on her phone. She wouldnt even let me use her card, I would have to constantly try to find her so I could ring up orders. But he failed to listen to my side of the story.
I think this is an awful store as most restaurants are at Opry Mills mall. I really wish they were still corporate so I could just contact the HR and let them know what's going on in their restaurant. Hopefully the franchise owner or someone of importance reads this. It's the week before holiday season. If they would invest time and ACTUAL TRAINING to their new hires, maybe they wouldn't be so overstaffed. Instead, they're just letting people they fired in the past come back. They would rather hire back bad employees than take the time to TRAIN new servers. Two thumbs down!