spoken for

At places where tips are expected, I always leave a tip, it’s usually more than deserved, too. I’m not sure why I do this, I just do. Except for last night, that is…

When I arrived at 9.30pm, everyone else was already there and had ordered. We were at Steak ‘n’ Shake.

After waiting several more minutes and still no waitress had arrived, I finally figured that I could go to the counter and order and they could just put my stuff with everyone else’s when it came out. I had started to order when the guy realized I was from that table, I was told that he couldn’t take my order, that I had to go sit down and wait for my server. You know, because, apparently, ordering from the counter and then sitting at a table with my group might result in anarchy.

That was the stupidest thing I ever heard! But I went and sat back down.

Finally, the waitress came out bringing food… but they hadn’t even gotten their drinks yet!! Okay, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it common to bring the waters and sodas, then the shakes and and desserts for those who got those, and then the food?! Um, yeah, thought so.

To make matters worse, half of the orders were wrong! K didn’t get her onion rings or chili and instead got A’s cold fries. P and my mom-in-law didn’t get their coffee. Sarah didn’t get her shake, C’s order was completely messed up, etc. They told her what all was wrong and I said I still needed to order. She just kind of smiled at me with this fake smile and then left. I found out later that K also had told her that I already needed to order.

And, you know, they even tried to joke with her a little bit, P told her to, “always blame it on the cooks, always blame it on the cooks, always.” They were easy going at this point, cheerful actually.

However, a few more minutes and she came back with waters and sodas and one shake. She still didn’t have Sarah’s shake or A’s shake! She left again without even acknowledging that I needed to order.

She came again with… something else… still didn’t take my order and still didn’t bring Sarah’s shake. She refused to even look at me, ever. I was told I need to be more aggressive.

At this point, I’m growling. We’ve had bad service there before, but never this bad. The last time we had bad service we waited on our food for over an hour and ended up getting it all free. Boy, they lost out on that one.

See, for years every third Monday (except June & July), this group has been coming. (By ‘this group’ I mean the homeschooler-ladies, they have their meeting each third Monday and have been going to SnS afterward for at least the last eight friggin years!) And when RG was going on, at one point, it was an even bigger group - for a while there, RG was there every Monday night. These people know this. You’d think they’d schedule someone who knows what they’re doing on Monday nights!

So, seeing Aa come back from ordering at the counter, I said, “no fair!” (He arrived not long after I did with his and K’s two kids.) So I went again to order. By this time, there was a manager up there. So not only did I get to finally place my order, but I complained about her. Of course, he egged it on, asking me questions and such. I figured she was new, I wasn’t really going to complain, I was just HUNGRY! Sarah went with me and we mentioned that she still didn’t have her shake either.

While we were up there, her shake arrived (half melted, mind you), but because of my complaint, she got another one that mom ended up drinking. I ended up having to pay for that - I think there was a misunderstanding. So I ate the cherry.

When the girl finally brought my food, she forgot my water, so I got to take pills with a shake. She was mad, too. I was being nice, I swear, but she just sat everything down with a bang and didn’t even acknowledge me when I said, “thank you.”

How rude.

She also never even checked up on any of us after that. Actually, none of her visits to our table were for the purpose of checking on us, seeing if anyone needed a refill, etc. She only came those few times to bring stuff out.

So when we left, I didn’t leave a tip. My mom-in-law left $2, but then later re-thought it and left $1, giving Sarah the other dollar.

We actually had a smaller group than normal, too, so it shouldn’t have been as hard to manage as you might think. And the girl could have made off really well because usually everyone leaves a decent tip, if only she hadn’t been so rude and uncaring.

There have been times before where I’ve considered not leaving a tip, but I’ve never had guts enough to actually not do it before. And I didn’t leave a tip last night without guilt of conscience.

And don’t you dare say to me that I don’t know the other side of it, I worked in food for over two years… And I have common sense. :-P

So, how about you? Tell me your food service horror stories! Maybe someday I’ll tell you a horror story about being on the other side.