Lately, Kris and I have been going out every Saturday with the kids and eating out like we used to before we had kids. It's a 'hit or miss' sorta thing. Usually the kids do really well, too - which is surprising seeing how the Cannonball's two and everything.So tonight we once again went out to eat, and this time decided to hit up Downtown Disney since we hadn't been there in awhile and figured one of those restaurants down there would be cool with the girls. We hadn't eaten at Planet Hollywood in probably three years or so, and so we settled on that one.
I'm going to stress 'settled' here.The first red flag we should've picked up on was the fact there was an hour-long wait. That's the sort of thing you're supposed to acknowledge prior to eating out at a sit-down restaurant. I get that. Why we didn't pick up on this, I don't know. Perhaps it had something to do with the two screaming kids we had with us at the time. Who knows.
Anyway, the place was packed full, and our clan was sat next to a large table of tourists, tucked away on the second floor balcony. This was the second red flag. For starters, being significantly off the waiter beaten path almost guarantees that you're going to be getting your food luke-warm at best. Secondofly, being sat next to a large table of tourists both a.) creates an atmosphere that makes you want to kill yourself, and b.) distracts your waiter, who is trying to get the most of his tables as humanly possible.
...and if you're a waiter, who are you going to try and get a bigger tip out of? The two parents ordering entrees and beers, with their kids picking at the side-dishes, or the twenty-person, multiple-course, touristy-souvenier glass-purchasing, booze-flowing, feasting table? Its a no-brainer, and we're not getting on the waiter's case about showing more love to the tourists than us.What did piss us off about this particular dining experience was that we ordered our food, and spoke not a word to our waiter until he picked up our credit card when we paid. He never once asked us how things were, what we needed, if we were finished, etc. I didn't even get the opportunity to order a beer with my meal - me! The waiting itself was almost even worse - it took twenty minutes to get our waters and the kid's chocolate milk, and then an additional hour to get our food.
Well, long story short, it ended up running us something like $25 total... which was pretty cheap, seeing how we didn't get the opportunity to order half the crap we wanted to. And real quick, I'd just like to say that there are very few instances where I tip less than 30%, as I like to think of myself and someone who can truly understand and appreciate just how crappy it can be working for serving the collective stupidity of the United States. Those in service have it rough, and if I see effort I reward it graciously. But when I don't see effort, I'm like Sherman the frickin' Sea.Having said that... what did I leave this particular waiter for his (lack of) services? I gave him $1.
He got a buck from me and he was lucky to get it. After all, he did bring our food to us (eventually). The bottom line is this, though: if you know you're going to be busy, set up a routine beforehand so that you're making sure you're covering your bases... that's your job. Otherwise, be ready to be screwed tip-wise.- Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment