A drive towards Aspen a few Autumns ago...
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Crushing disappointment yesterday as my beloved Packers played horribly and fell to the mediocre NY Giants in the NFC Championship...
I've decided to retroactively add a New Years Resolution and not care so much about the ups and downs of things I cannot control.... I think removing things in my life that increase my anger is a good goal... I was like Bruce Banner yesterday...
So no more giving a shit about overpaid, overpriced, overhyped, overmedicated athletes who clearly don't give a crap themselves... this I vow.
I'll still watch, but I don't need to feed an ulcer doing so...
(as an aside, probably the only other thing that makes me as angry as watching the Packers lose is playing golf. I was going to give that a go this summer (I haven't played 2 rounds in a calendar year since the 90s) but I'm going to shelve that for now as well... sorry Matt....)
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Having said all that, I still can rail on angrily about horrific customer service... and I've had a couple bouts of restaurant incompetence of late...
Date: Saturday, January 19th
Place: Thai Basil
TVGal and I were craving a little Chinese food so we stopped in for lunch at a place we had driven by several times but not stopped at yet... It was quite nice on the inside and as there were just a few diners there we thought we'd be in and out in a jif...
Not so much.
After being seated and given menus and water we perused the tasty menu... and after making our selections carefully we awaited the opportunity to present our choices to the appropriate waitstaff...
5 minutes passed and we joked that we could just go prepare it ourselves... we laughed as our water glasses were refilled and hoped that any moment now we would be detailing our entree thoughts, hopes and dreams...
Again, not so much.
10 minutes came and went and TVGal and I decided that we'd be leaving momentarily as we were both crazily hungry and had no apparent outlet at this dining establishment to quench that feeling....
After 15 minutes we both said we'd wait 1 more minute then we'd skedaddle.. just as time was up, a woman came up and asked if she could take our order...
we both laughed and ordered... she did not write down our order however, just committing it to memory....
As we ordered simply, this shouldn't have been an problem...
Still, not so much.
The good thing about having lunch at a Chinese restaurant is that it is usually ready in 10 minutes or less... and given how uncrowded this particular place was.... well, we'd soon be digging our forks into tasty vittles...
We did receive our appetizer in a somewhat timely manner, but when she delivered it to our table she asked TVGal again what her entree order was... a red flag we should have picked up on but we were so hungry we forgot about it promptly and dove into our wontons quickly...
15 more minutes went by and finally the waiter appeared as sighs of relief escaped TVGal's mouth.. unfortunately the waiter had only one dish.
One.
Mine.
He put my plate down, smiled and left....
TVGal sat there increduously... I offered her some of my food while he obviously was going back for her dish... she politely declined and waited...
and waited...
and waited...
After 7 minutes passed the original waitress dropped by with her entree....
Seven minutes later.
Has this happened to anyone else? I've never, EVER been served separately at a restaurant before... especially not SEVEN minutes apart...
As we paid the waitress (who was now the hostess as well) I asked why the great disparity in being served... she said this...
"Umm.. well, it's the computer...."
I still don't know what that means.... what computer???? Even if one entree was done before the other, don't you wait and serve both at the same time?? I mean, don't you???? Weird..
Date: Sunday, January 20th
Place: Gibby's
Why choose this place over others to watch my Packers fall to the evil Giants?
Simple. They had nice leather couches and chairs to sit in...
I can't even begin to tell you how bad the service was... but I'll try...
Example 1: Twice when one of my friends received a pitcher of beer the waitress set it down and walked away without giving him a glass to drink it in...
Example 2: Burgers served without napkins or condiments.
Example 3: Chili served without a spoon.
Example 4: Soft drinks refilled at the glacial pace of once per 2 hours...
Example 5: After our waitress had to "cash out" because she had to leave, no other waitress or staff "picked up" our table/party for the remainder of the evening. This was nearly a 4 hour period of time.
Let me reiterate that... no service for well over 3 hours... NONE. Zero. Nada. Nil.
And the best part is that when I went up to the bar to refill our colas, because of course we didn't have anyone tending to us, our old waitress was still there ringing up orders Ninety Minutes Later After Cashing Us Out Because She Had To Leave..... when I asked her why she had to cash us out when she was clearly still working, she muttered something under her breath that I couldn't discern... I then asked her if someone could come by our table at some point so we could order.. she said "Sure!"
No one ever did.
I can't state this more clearly... Do Not Patronize This Restaurant. Ever. Got It? Good.
(But if you do, make sure you check out the ads in the men's bathroom for Strippers That Come Right To Your Home!!)
For Classy Restaurant Fun, Stop By Gibby's!! Convienently located off Havana Street in Aurora Colorado!
Self-Service! Indifference! Soft-core Porn! That's today's Gibby's!!
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(getting hit with a baseball bat)
John: Ow! Stop it! It's me. It's John! What are you doing?
Mr. Woodcock: It's dark. Instinct took over.
John: What about when I said "It's Me! It's John!?"
Mr. Woodcock: John is a very common name. You could have been a burglar named John...
--"Mr. Woodcock" (2007)
3 comments:
Greg,
Let me preface this by saying I hate what has become a very common practice among restaurants. One person seats you (a greeter). Then, your waiter/waitress comes. Then, another person (a bus boy or another waiter) refills drinks (no big deal). Then, a parade of other restaurant employees and perhaps people off the street deliver the food. Only after some time does the original waiter come back to 'check on things.' I'm told this promotes the idea of 'team service.' Personally, I see it lead to more mistakes than anything else.
Anyway, I can completely relate to being served seperately. While at a restuarant on a Friday night among a group of 14 people, everyone received their orders...except mine (a salad). Twently minutes later and after everyone else was finished, I received my salad with hardly an apolog...but hey--no big deal, I wasn't upset about a waiter missing only one order out of 14.
Then, three nights later (New Years Eve, no less), I was in a group of six at a different, and MUCH more high-scale restaurant. Everyone received their items...except mine. When our waiter (no, our waiter did not hand out the entrees) checked to see if everything was going well, I stated that I'm sure it was going well, but I must have eaten it so fast, so I didn't remember. Ten minutes later, I received an entree...unfortunately, it wasn't what I ordered. Then, 15 minutes later, I received my entree. Again, everyone had finished, so they had nothing else to do but stare at me finish.
Management at neither establishments comped my meals (the first one I don't think did, but they might have...I wasn't allowed to pick up my tab). Awful service.
Whew! I think I need my own food-service gripe blog!
Have a good one Greg!
-Todd :)
Ahh, your problem was selecting a THAI restaurant, notorious for their slow service. A CHINESE restaurant normally is a bit quicker. Next time, head for soething like "Chinese garden" restaurant, not "Thai Basil"...
Oh, and I will join you on the pledge to just not care so much about who wins what games (well, except maybe the Steelers...), and all other things I just can't change--must be a good role model for my over-competitive son...
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