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Hello, all. Sorry for this long rant, but...
My family and I have been friends with this couple for about 8 years now, and they have two kids that are about the same age as ours. We've eaten out with them many times, but lately, it's gotten to where we no longer can do that because of what the wife, and now her husband, do many times at restaurants.
I'll call the wife "Rose", and the husband "Joe". Rose is the person who looks like one of those so-called "Karens", cropped blonde hair, overweight, sometimes a nasty personality, and one of those that wants to speak to the manager.
A few years back, after we had all met, we had decided to eat out at Chili's. The first time we did this, Rose had demanded to speak to the manager, because she felt her burger was too overdone (never mind she ate the whole thing anyway), plus she felt the service was too slow. This resulted in the manager giving all of us at the table free gift cards that we could all use for our next visit. With this, my wife and I did not feel that our service nor food was bad, but had we declined, Rose may have gotten offended, so we went along wth it. In addition to that, Rose said this happened the last time they ate at this Chili's and they also got free gift cards from that visit. This should have been the first red flag for us.
A few months later, we ate at the local pizza place. This time, Rose again demanded a manager because the service was slow and it took a longer than normal time to get a refill on her iced tea. My family and I had eaten at this place many times with no problems, but the one time we go with Rose and Joe, Rose pulls this stunt again, and again, it resulted in free gift cards for everyone. I felt a little embarrassed as again, we didn't feel the service was bad. There are times when service can be a bit slow due to being busy and so forth, and we've had this happen, but not to where it warranted this.
Later, maybe a year after that, we went to a local bar and grill where I have to agree, the service was not that great. But, instead of acting like an adult about it, Rose, who has a nice loud voice and big mouth, constantly berated our server to where it drew attention from other patrons. And yes, Rose again demanded to speak to a manager, who came over and after Rose's yelling, gave us all a free meal. I was very embarrassed at this point and wanted to hide under the table because of this. In fact, I had told my wife I never wanted to eat out with Rose and Joe again after Rose had caused this scene. But, the nice guy I can be, I later gave in to the next story.
A year or so after this, we went to Fred's, another local bar and grill that I love eating at. The service is good as is the food, plus I love the atmosphere. Well, I gave in to having Rose and Joe meet us there. The moment we got there, Rose bitched and complained that the greeter was rude to her and, you got it! She demanded to speak to the manager. After Rose lodged her complaint, the manager gave us a free complimentary order of nachos. These nachos are about $12 and are on the "starter" page of their menu. I again was upset about this since this was the first and only time we were at Fred's with these people, and we ourselves had never had any problem with the greeters or employees. Yet, this happened with Rose and Joe.
Finally, the straw that broke the camel's back. We ate at a burger place in the local mall and had this young server that was maybe 16 or 17 years old. The place was rather busy, so there were times when the service was not exactly up to par. I made the mistake of saying to Joe "I wonder where my refill is?" The moment I said this, this time, Joe wanted to speak to a manager and spoke on my behalf about my soda, which perturbed me. While this went on, the server arrived with my soda refill. While that happened, Joe then said, "He also brought my salad only a minute before the main course arrived" and Rose said, "And yes, he was this poor and not great the last time we ate here", right in front of the server. Their oldest kid even asked his dad why he needed the manager when nothing bad happened. By then, the server's hands were shaking as he handed me my refill, and my wife and I were sitting there in disbelief at all of this. When their check came, Joe asked Rose if anything had been taken off their check, to which Rose said no and had this disgusted look because of that. They didn't take anything off our bill, and I did not expect them to. My guess is this manager caught on to what they were up to and gave them no freebies.
When this stuff happens, I feel as if the managers believe that everyone at the table is in on this "scheme", which I believe Rose and Joe do before they leave home. It's embarrassing and disconcerting. After this last time, which was about three months ago, we have not eaten with them since then, and I even removed them from my social media friends list. They have contacted us a couple of times to eat out again, and we have declined, but they don't yet seem to have taken the hint, nor asked any questions.
We have eaten out many times with Rose and Joe, and not every time was bad. However, after about the second or third time, I took note of that fact that Rose always has a small complaint about the service, no matter how good it is, and she always "observes" the place. Should any customer that was seated a minute or two after she was receive their food before her, we all hear about it. I get a little annoyed with that, too, but I won't speak up unless a very long time goes by without our food arriving.
I am a usually nice person (since I put up with this four other times), but I have to draw the line somewhere.
Does anyone else have friends or aquaintances like this?
My family and I have been friends with this couple for about 8 years now, and they have two kids that are about the same age as ours. We've eaten out with them many times, but lately, it's gotten to where we no longer can do that because of what the wife, and now her husband, do many times at restaurants.
I'll call the wife "Rose", and the husband "Joe". Rose is the person who looks like one of those so-called "Karens", cropped blonde hair, overweight, sometimes a nasty personality, and one of those that wants to speak to the manager.
A few years back, after we had all met, we had decided to eat out at Chili's. The first time we did this, Rose had demanded to speak to the manager, because she felt her burger was too overdone (never mind she ate the whole thing anyway), plus she felt the service was too slow. This resulted in the manager giving all of us at the table free gift cards that we could all use for our next visit. With this, my wife and I did not feel that our service nor food was bad, but had we declined, Rose may have gotten offended, so we went along wth it. In addition to that, Rose said this happened the last time they ate at this Chili's and they also got free gift cards from that visit. This should have been the first red flag for us.
A few months later, we ate at the local pizza place. This time, Rose again demanded a manager because the service was slow and it took a longer than normal time to get a refill on her iced tea. My family and I had eaten at this place many times with no problems, but the one time we go with Rose and Joe, Rose pulls this stunt again, and again, it resulted in free gift cards for everyone. I felt a little embarrassed as again, we didn't feel the service was bad. There are times when service can be a bit slow due to being busy and so forth, and we've had this happen, but not to where it warranted this.
Later, maybe a year after that, we went to a local bar and grill where I have to agree, the service was not that great. But, instead of acting like an adult about it, Rose, who has a nice loud voice and big mouth, constantly berated our server to where it drew attention from other patrons. And yes, Rose again demanded to speak to a manager, who came over and after Rose's yelling, gave us all a free meal. I was very embarrassed at this point and wanted to hide under the table because of this. In fact, I had told my wife I never wanted to eat out with Rose and Joe again after Rose had caused this scene. But, the nice guy I can be, I later gave in to the next story.
A year or so after this, we went to Fred's, another local bar and grill that I love eating at. The service is good as is the food, plus I love the atmosphere. Well, I gave in to having Rose and Joe meet us there. The moment we got there, Rose bitched and complained that the greeter was rude to her and, you got it! She demanded to speak to the manager. After Rose lodged her complaint, the manager gave us a free complimentary order of nachos. These nachos are about $12 and are on the "starter" page of their menu. I again was upset about this since this was the first and only time we were at Fred's with these people, and we ourselves had never had any problem with the greeters or employees. Yet, this happened with Rose and Joe.
Finally, the straw that broke the camel's back. We ate at a burger place in the local mall and had this young server that was maybe 16 or 17 years old. The place was rather busy, so there were times when the service was not exactly up to par. I made the mistake of saying to Joe "I wonder where my refill is?" The moment I said this, this time, Joe wanted to speak to a manager and spoke on my behalf about my soda, which perturbed me. While this went on, the server arrived with my soda refill. While that happened, Joe then said, "He also brought my salad only a minute before the main course arrived" and Rose said, "And yes, he was this poor and not great the last time we ate here", right in front of the server. Their oldest kid even asked his dad why he needed the manager when nothing bad happened. By then, the server's hands were shaking as he handed me my refill, and my wife and I were sitting there in disbelief at all of this. When their check came, Joe asked Rose if anything had been taken off their check, to which Rose said no and had this disgusted look because of that. They didn't take anything off our bill, and I did not expect them to. My guess is this manager caught on to what they were up to and gave them no freebies.
When this stuff happens, I feel as if the managers believe that everyone at the table is in on this "scheme", which I believe Rose and Joe do before they leave home. It's embarrassing and disconcerting. After this last time, which was about three months ago, we have not eaten with them since then, and I even removed them from my social media friends list. They have contacted us a couple of times to eat out again, and we have declined, but they don't yet seem to have taken the hint, nor asked any questions.
We have eaten out many times with Rose and Joe, and not every time was bad. However, after about the second or third time, I took note of that fact that Rose always has a small complaint about the service, no matter how good it is, and she always "observes" the place. Should any customer that was seated a minute or two after she was receive their food before her, we all hear about it. I get a little annoyed with that, too, but I won't speak up unless a very long time goes by without our food arriving.
I am a usually nice person (since I put up with this four other times), but I have to draw the line somewhere.
Does anyone else have friends or aquaintances like this?
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