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So, the boyfriend and I are visiting my family for the holidays. We offered to take MamaLupo and stepdad out to dinner, and they chose Applebee's. It's one of their favorite places, so okies, we'll go.
It's a Saturday night, and it's crowded, but that's to be expected. We're going back and forth, catching up, and so a little bit of a wait isn't really a big thing to us, we're having fun.
We order, and the appetizer takes a long while to get out. Again, expected. The waiter zooms by and manages to babble out dinner's on the way, but zips past before we can acknowledge him. Finish the appetizer, and then the entrees start to arrive.
Well, some of them do, anyways. MamaLupo and wolfie get their entrees. Stepdad and I are waiting for ours. And waiting. and waiting. And waiting some more. I finally have to tell wolfie to go ahead and start on his steak, so his dinner doesn't get cold, and mama starts on hers, too.
Then waiter zips by and drops off refills. Wolfie drinks Dr. Pepper. It's what he ALWAYS orders. The waiter drops a full glass of Mountain Dew on the table and runs off before we can say anything. And we can't flag him down.
Ten minutes after the first two entrees come by, Stepdad gets his food. And I'm still waiting. Waiter assures me it's "any minute now!!" I keep talking to my mom, we're trading stories, and whatnot.
Five minutes after stepdad gets his entree, mine arrives. it's on a VERY hot plate with a woven trivet/potholder type thing underneath it. Does the waiter put it on the table? Nope. Instead, I get told "Hey, be careful this is VERY hot!"
And he proceeds to hold it using the trivet/potholder thing until I gingerly take the edges, catch part of the bottom under the holder and plunk it on the table in front of me. Hooray, food!! But damn. Waiter then asks us if we're good, and wolfie manages to get him to bring him the correct drink, and then we dig in. We're eating, but we're also discussing the service, or lack thereof. Wolfie tells me we're not tipping our usual 20%, and after the hot plate debacle, we're DEFINITELY not tipping 15%. I agree.
So, over the course of the meal, the waiter stops by once, and briefly. I do mean BRIEFLY, he pauses, asks if everything is ok, and runs off before we can say yes or no. Ok then...well, I WAS going to maybe order a dessert, but guess not.
We finally finish eating, and are waiting another large chunk of time for the waiter to notice we're done eating. He finally zips by again to see if we want anything and we ask for a manager. See, I'm of the belief that if we're not going to tip well, we need to say why, otherwise we're just assholes who don't tip well (Please, NO TIPPING FRATCHING!)
The manager comes to the table, and I state first of all, this is NOT a complaint, but here's what happened, and here's why the waiter isn't getting a decent tip, if he gets one at all. I ran through what we went through, emphasizing that we understand it's busy, and the kitchen sometimes gets backed up. But the breakdown in communication and the lack of professionalism really effected the experience. He apologized, said we were right, at the very least the entrees should have all come out together. He asked if we wanted anything else, and we said just the bill.
It took the waiter another 15 minutes to get us the bill. It was almost $60. We left a $2 tip and called it a night.
We still had fun, I got to spend time with my mama and we had a lot of fun conversation. Now we go to play games and spend more time together.
It's a Saturday night, and it's crowded, but that's to be expected. We're going back and forth, catching up, and so a little bit of a wait isn't really a big thing to us, we're having fun.
We order, and the appetizer takes a long while to get out. Again, expected. The waiter zooms by and manages to babble out dinner's on the way, but zips past before we can acknowledge him. Finish the appetizer, and then the entrees start to arrive.
Well, some of them do, anyways. MamaLupo and wolfie get their entrees. Stepdad and I are waiting for ours. And waiting. and waiting. And waiting some more. I finally have to tell wolfie to go ahead and start on his steak, so his dinner doesn't get cold, and mama starts on hers, too.
Then waiter zips by and drops off refills. Wolfie drinks Dr. Pepper. It's what he ALWAYS orders. The waiter drops a full glass of Mountain Dew on the table and runs off before we can say anything. And we can't flag him down.
Ten minutes after the first two entrees come by, Stepdad gets his food. And I'm still waiting. Waiter assures me it's "any minute now!!" I keep talking to my mom, we're trading stories, and whatnot.
Five minutes after stepdad gets his entree, mine arrives. it's on a VERY hot plate with a woven trivet/potholder type thing underneath it. Does the waiter put it on the table? Nope. Instead, I get told "Hey, be careful this is VERY hot!"
And he proceeds to hold it using the trivet/potholder thing until I gingerly take the edges, catch part of the bottom under the holder and plunk it on the table in front of me. Hooray, food!! But damn. Waiter then asks us if we're good, and wolfie manages to get him to bring him the correct drink, and then we dig in. We're eating, but we're also discussing the service, or lack thereof. Wolfie tells me we're not tipping our usual 20%, and after the hot plate debacle, we're DEFINITELY not tipping 15%. I agree.
So, over the course of the meal, the waiter stops by once, and briefly. I do mean BRIEFLY, he pauses, asks if everything is ok, and runs off before we can say yes or no. Ok then...well, I WAS going to maybe order a dessert, but guess not.
We finally finish eating, and are waiting another large chunk of time for the waiter to notice we're done eating. He finally zips by again to see if we want anything and we ask for a manager. See, I'm of the belief that if we're not going to tip well, we need to say why, otherwise we're just assholes who don't tip well (Please, NO TIPPING FRATCHING!)
The manager comes to the table, and I state first of all, this is NOT a complaint, but here's what happened, and here's why the waiter isn't getting a decent tip, if he gets one at all. I ran through what we went through, emphasizing that we understand it's busy, and the kitchen sometimes gets backed up. But the breakdown in communication and the lack of professionalism really effected the experience. He apologized, said we were right, at the very least the entrees should have all come out together. He asked if we wanted anything else, and we said just the bill.
It took the waiter another 15 minutes to get us the bill. It was almost $60. We left a $2 tip and called it a night.
We still had fun, I got to spend time with my mama and we had a lot of fun conversation. Now we go to play games and spend more time together.
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