BJ
Bradwell Jackson
Jan 16, 2022
I came to this Subway quite a long time ago (easily more than a year ago) and was treated rudely by a staff member who curtly and abruptly told me to take off my mask. I made it known that I did not wish to be spoken to in that tone, and he simply became defensive and more argumentative. This in itself is not a major incident, and not something I would normally comment on, except that, since then, I encountered two other Subway restaurants that featured staff who were very similarly rude.
This is especially distressing as I, at that time, had just come back from being overseas for an extended amount of time, and the glaring difference between Subway restaurants in other countries, versus those of my own country, struck me as being something very much worth commenting on. If Subway restaurants feature such polite staff overseas, then why can't they be that way in the very country where it was founded? Does Subway not believe in customer service in the same way that other countries do?
It is even more remarkable that, after I returned to the USA, I still have yet to eat any food from Subway, since, in the three times I attempted to do so, the staff were always rude, and almost always in exactly the same way. The manager of this particular Subway, Afir, offered some sort of apology for the way I was treated such a long time before, but then again, he was also lacking in social skills (stating, for example, "get to the point..." in a dismissive manner) and he even hesitated to grant me the simple request of wanting to use the restroom, giving a sort of lecture before he agreed to do so. I have got to say that I was really experiencing an emergency at that point and I certainly did not appreciate a didactic tone, especially as he knew very well that this was a customer that he should be trying to encourage to return to the store after being treated badly before.
As I explained to Afir, I was communicating to him the very real concern I had over why so many Subway restaurants seemed to have rude staff. I also explained to him that the corporate office of Subway is not responsive to complaints buy only bounces the complaints back to the franchises (all Subways are franchises). Therefore, a customer is left with no option but to go back to the original stores.
I myself am of the opinion that Subway restaurants in general should be aware of the fact that they are in the customer service industry and, as such, they should be polite to the very people who are keeping them in business.