• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Are you a regular?

B

breadnatty08

pain rustique
Anyone else out there a regular patron to a local business?
Do they know your name when you come in, what you like to order or buy?
My local (well local to where I work) liquor store knows exactly what I buy. They often let me know how much is in stock since I'm likely the only person who buys it and apologize if they don't have it in. :)
My local when I lived in Kansas was super sweet AND knowledgeable. He'd steer me in new directions on certain things he liked and often gave me some freebies.

I've also found if you treat and tip your bartenders or servers well, they'll definitely give back. I often get some free drinks at my local watering hole. :)
 
Ah...I'm not sure it's a good thing to be on a first name basis with your liquor supplier... :eek:

These guys know me by my first name, but typically have no idea what I'm there for. :laugh: (I rarely order the same thing twice.)
 
Speed Daemon said:
Ah...I'm not sure it's a good thing to be on a first name basis with your liquor supplier... :eek:
Click to expand...

I don't know. A friend used to be head wine buyer for a chain of liquor stores here in the UK that won best wine mercant 7 years on the trot while he was in charge. I used to call him while I was in one of the shops to find out what wine to buy.

Always used to say I know everything you need to know about wine: I know Steve :D
 
SiempreTuna said:
I don't know. A friend used to be head wine buyer for a chain of liquor stores here in the UK that won best wine mercant 7 years on the trot while he was in charge. I used to call him while I was in one of the shops to find out what wine to buy.

Always used to say I know everything you need to know about wine: I know Steve :D
Click to expand...
That's OK as long as it's wine. You can drink a bottle of wine every day and be healthy. But drinking a bottle of hard liquor every day will get you on a first name basis with: 1.) an undertaker, 2.) transplant surgeon, 3.) Alcoholics Anonymous group. Not necessarily in that order. :p;)
 
I am a regular at the Chinese place near where I work, and the lady knows exactly what I want when I come in. Sometimes I throw her a curveball and order something different.

In general I do prefer small businesses over big corporations, but here recently some of the small businesses have been losing their genuine care for customers, I don't know if its due to the younger generation thats employed by them with not such strict guidelines or what else is causing it, but some places have lost my regularity due to poor service and rudeness
Can't think of anywhere else that I am such a regular though haha, for a while I was seeing a movie at the theaters every week but that got to be not so cheap haha
 
Actually, come to think of it there's a Nepalese resto I've been going to for 20 years, (Monty's in Kingston Upon Thames - best Butter Chicken on the planet bar none) where even after gaps of years between visits (when I've been living abroad), the guy always remembers my order. Amazing, really.

Well, amazing how dull and predictable some of us can be, at least :)
 
Trust me, there used to be a manager at the local Five Guys (fast food chain) and the second he'd see me walk in the door he'd call out my order to the cooks. :)
Ironically, he ended up leaving and (presumably still) working for our restaurant next door. :D
 
I regularly eat breakfast in the cafe next door to my work (if you can call it work) and have been doing so for a number of years. Originally I was building manager of the block of flats next door until the owner of half the flats decided to take over control of the body corporate and get rid of me and the body corporate management company. After fifteen years for them, and twelve and a half for me. But that's another story. It got to the stage that during some down time between tasks in my work (I was unable to vacuum or use any powered machinery before seven A.M. I'd help the cafe setting up to open for trading. It wasn't much, put out seven tables out front and the chairs to go with them, lay out the ashtrays and salt and pepper and sugar bowls. Takes a maximum of ten minutes. They ended up giving me a discount price for my breakfast. When my contract as building manager was terminated I had to fall back on a little cash job I was doing for the newsagent in the building next door, doing a few hand deliveries every morning at various times which was nice cream but not enough to live on (I've had to do so since, as at 54 it becomes difficult to get a job without any qualifications). I told Spiro I'd not be coming in for breakfast and told him why. Five minutes later Deanne came out and told me I wasn't going to stop coming in for breakfast, I just wouldn't have to pay. It's been nine months now.Mind you, I've found more things I can do for them, but I'm getting a far better deal than they are. Wonderful people.
 
I was a regular at a local place. The owners retired and it was taken over by some person who's running it into the ground. :/ The original owners stopped by my graduation party :)

There is another establishment that knows my order. And another that has my drink order down pat. Being a regular is nice. :)
 
I'm very much a creature of habit. I frequent the same restaurants and they know me by name. At a particularly fine Mexican restaurant I love they don't bother to bring a menu for I've ordered the exact same meal for almost 40 years now. And yes, Toby at my liquor store knows me by name. :) There is much to be said for being a faithful patron. The service is always better, the food gets special attention, and so do you.
 
Starbucks here...

Bay Area & Seawolf | Starbucks Coffee Company

Pretty much everyone on the evening shift knows me by name and I get free drinks occasionally (easy for them since I drink black coffee most of the time).

Before that I was a regular at Paradise Coffee and Coffee Oasis. Paradise Coffee sold out when the owner got sick and decided to move on (after which it became a wine bar that was driven straight into the ground by an idiot). Coffee Oasis is still there...sort of...things took a really bad turn when the owner decided to spend the money from the shop on his (failed) election campaign and neglected to pay his employees and the rent. Independent coffee shops are hard to find now. Starbucks is going to rule the world. :(
 
Dunkin Donuts..... everybody knows my name & order. More times than not they're quick to not charge me or will charge for 1/2 of whatever I ordered.

Best Buy..... everybody knows me & thinks I'm an employee. I've lost count of how many times I've been "told" to help a customer; especially in the tablet section.

Fast food/Take out places..... when I call to order, they tell me what I want. LOL!
 
Gojo Ethiopian Restaurant

http://www.gojoethiopianrestaurant.com.

Been going there since I was 10. I'm 30 now. When I walk in now-a-days the owner asks if I want my usual order. I say yes and sit at a table. He asks me how my Wife and Son are and if I'd like coffee and desert (on the house) while I wait (I usually oblige). He serves me coffee from the Harrar Region of Ethiopia (where the world's finest coffee is derived; Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, for those unfamiliar) and a sticky crumbly caramelized pastry his Wife makes to order (all food is to order by the way) for me (can't recall the name of this decadent delight).

I will go there until I don't exist or until they close up shop for good; whichever comes first.

:D
 
olbriar said:
There is much to be said for being a faithful patron. The service is always better, the food gets special attention, and so do you.
Click to expand...

I think you missed the most important thing: if you're buying breakfast, it means you don't need to speak. Never easy that early in the day :D
 
Believe it or not, the produce worker in Walmart knows me on sight. Mainly because she loves my youngest, who I usually have with me. :p
 
There's a Japanese restaurant that I frequent across the street from my office, which the owner of the spot always calls me Mr. Josh when I come in lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom