On Thanksgiving day, mother and I considered looking for something “different” to eat. The idea of dining at Chili’s suddenly seemed like a great idea. I didn’t know if they were open so I thought I’d check.

I went to the Chili’s website at http://www.Chilis.com. There was nothing there to indicate they’d be closed on Thanksgiving. But neither was there anything there to indicate they’d be open. While this oversight bothered me, I needed an answer. So, I looked up the phone number of the local restaurant on their site and called that number. The phone answered as normal. It had the long list of options and numbers to press, as normal. It did not say anything about being closed, or being open.

So I pressed a number and waited for an answer. No answer. I tried another number. No answer. Based on that I presumed they were closed even though the system implied they were open. Sure enough, as we drove by, the parking lot was empty.

So my questions are:

1. Why didn’t their website tell me they’d be closed?

2. Why didn’t their answering system tell me they were closed?

For me, the website failure is bad enough. But if I’d called and nothing had answered I’d have known they were closed. But instead of nothing, their automatic system answered and implied they were open. It gave me options to get to different people. I was able to figure out they were closed only by the failure of the system to work.

How hard would it have been to put a new splash page on their site telling the world that they valued their employees enough to close for the day to let them be with family. They could have used their closing as positive PR, but instead, they did nothing.

How hard would it have been to have a new telephone answering message that said they were closed because they wanted their employees to have the day for family. Each caller could have learned of this decision in a positive way. Instead, it offered options that did not work.

One of the awesome powers of the web is the ability to quickly respond. And to do it cheaply. Not only that, they didn’t even need “quickly”. They had a whole year to get ready for that day, and they missed it. Here were two opportunities to promote their closure as a positive thing. Instead they failed to do that and let me wonder … at least till I drove by … whether they were open or closed.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ll be back. For one thing, their Awesome Blossom is awesome and now that I’ve thought about it, I want one, but in my opinion, Chili’s fumbled this one.