Dining sighing - or were we the sucky ones?

[chainedbarista]

yes, never underestimate the power of orgasmic cheese buscuits.

your waiter was an epic measure of suck, with a side of needing to be let go.

if you're paying for it, you should have it, and by that list of 'not dones,' not only didn't you get it, you were severely shorted.

bad day or no, it doesn't excuse his behavior.

[Jbball]

You were well within your rights, IMO.

I went to a Posados (Tex-Mex) and apparently, we caught a guy on his first job/first day working. There were My wife and I, and our 6 friends split to two tables, but the same waiter. Here's a rundown on our service: (note: we didn't complain as we wanted to see how bad this trainwreck was going to be)

1. 25 minutes to get our chips and salsa after sitting down. Probably not his fault, but he NEVER checked on us.
2. 30 minutes into our sitting, he takes our order. We order a queso with beef for our appetizer and finally get around to our drinks.
3. 30 minutes later, we had to ask him where our queso was, when our friends received and ate theirs, and the couple that came 15 minutes after us received their food.
4. We finally get our queso 10 minutes later, and then our dinners literally 1-2 minutes after our appetizer.
5. We eat without any problems as the food was thankfully prepared correctly.
6. The waiter finally comes back to refill our drinks, but, doesn't bring me mine. (That's the last straw, you don't mess with my Dr. Pepper!!)


We finish and get our check. My wife and I were paying just for ourselves, and the total was like $20~. His tip, $1-2, which I felt we overpaid. I know it was probably his first day/shift, but that doesn't mean he can NEVER even come up to us to see how we were, ask why our chips hadn't arrived, and even come back into our asile!

Haven't been back there in a LOOOONG time since then.

Funny thing is, I went to three seperate Posados months apart and each time, waited an average of 25 minutes before getting chips and seeing our server, or anyone that resembled an employee after sitting.

[Knifeman]

These all sound more like cases of startling incompetance or lack of experience(except for the OP).

But my case... I NEVER... EVER had a waiter give me the "You're bothering me with THAT? Don't you dare ask me for water" death stare before.

[bainsidhe]

Jbball, your experience sounds just like one I had at Chili's, except the server came and asked if we'd like any desert to finish off our meal. This was about 30 minutes after we finished our appetizer. We stared at him blankly and told him we hadn't gotten our entrees yet. Still took another 15 minutes before those came out. At least he was embarressed. And yes, people around us came and went while we just sat there.

The OP's waiter was just sucky. I'm with myswtghst in that I might overlook one or two things, wanting to be understanding and polite. But once I become annoyed (which would have happened once he started ARGUING with me about my beverage choice, to be honest), all bets are off.

Also, keep in mind we're only hearing one side of this story. Was the OP's SO beligerant and rude? Was he civil, but upset? Tough to say. But from the post, I still call suck on the server.

[wagegoth]

I ran out of water and he was passing by. I asked if I could get a refill. He turned, looked at me, and didn't say a word of acknowledgement and turned and walked away, all while having this "You're bothering me for THAT?" look.

gave him only a $3 tip.

You're nicer than I am. I'm firmly in the decent service = 20% category, 25 - 30% for really good service. But attitude gets 0 - 5% depending, and possibly a talk with the manager.

[Imogene]

My brother and his wife invited me out to dinner one night, for watching their dog, if I remember correctly. We went to a BJ's near the house.
I had a simple order, the lasagna, and they split a pizza that had to be half and half-ed because my sister in law is extremely particular about her food, whereas my brother is not.
Now, we sat there for some unclocked amount of time, trying to talk to each other (and failing, due to my brother being in the line of Mortgages, and my Sister in law being in... that thing... where they take recorded statements for people who get hurt on the job?, and myself, in retail, not to mention the crowd and the noise, and the background music playing way too high).

Our server returned later, to let me know: he received our order, noticed something was wrong with it, and sent it back through. Then, a little later, he had received our order again, and realized the pizza was wrong, but my lasagna was fine, did I want it now? I told him I was okay to wait until my brother and his wife got their food.

We sit there, still failing to have any impressive discourse, for the manager to come out, with the waiter. Manager tells my brother, "Oh, yeah, it came out wrong for a third time, so your meal's been comped, and here's $50 in gift cards."

Wow? We had to split a pizzookie, since it was gonna be free, but the food, when it finally came out, was perfect.

[Hello Kitty]

Well if I was the OP I woulda been extremely irritated. A few things I could let slide, but once mistakes start piling up like that, it's just BAD SERVICE. Good for you that you complained to management! Shesh, the nerve of the waiter trying to scare you with the police!