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DEL.ICIO.USOh So Weird Tales of Dining Out
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
BIG WAITERS, LITTLE WAITERS: Do you ever wonder what the heck your waiter is doing?
Photo: Alex Brandon/AP
One of my buddies from my crossfit class at Crossfit Decatur shared a harrowing story of dining at the bar at a local eatery recently. I’ll keep things anonymous for him and them — but here’s the gist: After waiting nearly 25 minutes at the bar for an order of soup to arrive, he told the bartender that he needed to leave, even though the rest of his order hadn’t arrived yet.
The response was something like “yeah, right.” No offer to take the soup off the check or even a free drink. So he paid. As he was preparing to leave, a manager came over and said “So I hear there’s been an incident.” Which of course, made my friend feel like he’d started a brawl or something. The manager offered to take his phone number so that he could call and get his address — apparently so something like a gift card could be sent. The weird thing is, why didn’t he just take his address then, instead of his number?
Do you ever wonder while dining out what the heck the staff is doing? As a former restaurant industry gal, I can usually figure out what’s going wrong and why — and my sympathies more often than not lie with the staff. But sometimes it just seems as if folks don’t have their heads on straight.
In these tough times, I would think a newly opened restaurant (as this one is) would bend over backwards to get people in — and back in, for return business. Have you ever had an “incident” dining out that left you scratching your head?
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By FoodSnob
January 26, 2009 10:50 AM | Link to this
Here is one for the ages - recently I was having lunch in my favorite provisions store in west Atlanta. After ordering an entree, a side, an appetizer and a drink, my bill totaled $23. Realizing that my take home and heat entree did not have an oven proof container (even though my other two items - side and appetizer did), I asked for an additional one. The cashier (which also happened to be the front end manager - I eat there alot) told me the paper containers were just too expensive, and could not be given out for free. Being in the food industry for 20+ years, I know for fact that the container is expensive for those type of paper products. But costly when it comes to paper goods means the difference between 4 cents and 12 cents. Seemingly marginal for a $23 lunch to a regular customer….Miffed to say the least.
By FoodSnob
January 26, 2009 10:57 AM | Link to this
Oh yea… but the food was best ever and usually is… so when the cashier offered aluminum foil - I did not bother to even vent. Took my delicious fried chicken, mac and cheese, and wings and ate every last bit of that $23 lunch!!!