Dinner at El Sombrero
Sweetheart and I went out to dinner tonight with a couple of boys from the ward. The boys happen to be brothers, and just moved into the same neighborhood as I. We decided to go someplace on the island. We ended up at El Sombrero (the real name. Can you believe it? I'm giving a real name of a real place). Mexican food was sounding good, so I was thrilled. We were seated almost immediately, despite it clearly being the dinner rush. This was a good sign. We placed our orders fairly quickly, then commenced in waiting.
We waited for about 20 minutes when the waiter came over to tell us that our dinner would be out shortly. Perfect. 20 minutes is kind of on the long side, but we did appreciate him stopping by. About 10 minutes later he stopped by again, this time to tell us that "there was some technical difficulties with the printer. Your food will be right out." 10 minutes later we were toying with leaving. Finally, after a 45 minute wait our dinner showed up.
It was decent, but certainly not $15 good. I had ordered fajitas. When I got my dinner there were no tortillas to be seen. I asked the waiter about them, and he said they'd be right out. He left, but didn't return with my tortillas. A few minutes later he stopped by to ask how we liked everything. I told him that mine would probably be better with tortillas. Surprised, we went to the kitchen to remedy the situation. 5 minutes later someone else brought them out. Hopefully he knew at this point that he had blown his tip.
When the waiter came to drop our checks off he asked us if we were going to order dessert. You heard me, 'were we going to order,' not 'sorry for the wait, it's on the house, what would you like?'
We said no, and he left our check. Our full check. When he came by very shortly thereafter to pick up the payment I stopped him. "Um," I said as politely as I could muster, "we waited about 45 minutes for our food. Is there something you can do to help us out with the check?"
"Let me talk to the manager." He said, taking the ticket. There was lots of discussion on how we weren't surprised that he didn't discount it, and how he was probably hoping that we'd just pay the whole amount and leave. When he returned we were given a 10% discount. Tax. I asked him to split the check, and he left again with the check to split it. This time he returned, and only one of the checks had a discount. The others were full price. On this pass I pointed that out to him. He argued with me about it, then, I pulled out my inarguable source: the tickets. Notice, I told him, that the price is the same on both tickets, add in the tax, and that's the total, no discount.
He took the bills and left. Moments later there were three people hovering over the POS machine trying to figure it out. We finally got our discounts and paid our revised amount. On every check the waiter received a big fat '0' in the tip field.
As we walked to our car Sweetheart noticed that he was looking at our pay slips, and talking to the hostesses; probably completely livid that we stiffed him. The nerve we have!
We waited for about 20 minutes when the waiter came over to tell us that our dinner would be out shortly. Perfect. 20 minutes is kind of on the long side, but we did appreciate him stopping by. About 10 minutes later he stopped by again, this time to tell us that "there was some technical difficulties with the printer. Your food will be right out." 10 minutes later we were toying with leaving. Finally, after a 45 minute wait our dinner showed up.
It was decent, but certainly not $15 good. I had ordered fajitas. When I got my dinner there were no tortillas to be seen. I asked the waiter about them, and he said they'd be right out. He left, but didn't return with my tortillas. A few minutes later he stopped by to ask how we liked everything. I told him that mine would probably be better with tortillas. Surprised, we went to the kitchen to remedy the situation. 5 minutes later someone else brought them out. Hopefully he knew at this point that he had blown his tip.
When the waiter came to drop our checks off he asked us if we were going to order dessert. You heard me, 'were we going to order,' not 'sorry for the wait, it's on the house, what would you like?'
We said no, and he left our check. Our full check. When he came by very shortly thereafter to pick up the payment I stopped him. "Um," I said as politely as I could muster, "we waited about 45 minutes for our food. Is there something you can do to help us out with the check?"
"Let me talk to the manager." He said, taking the ticket. There was lots of discussion on how we weren't surprised that he didn't discount it, and how he was probably hoping that we'd just pay the whole amount and leave. When he returned we were given a 10% discount. Tax. I asked him to split the check, and he left again with the check to split it. This time he returned, and only one of the checks had a discount. The others were full price. On this pass I pointed that out to him. He argued with me about it, then, I pulled out my inarguable source: the tickets. Notice, I told him, that the price is the same on both tickets, add in the tax, and that's the total, no discount.
He took the bills and left. Moments later there were three people hovering over the POS machine trying to figure it out. We finally got our discounts and paid our revised amount. On every check the waiter received a big fat '0' in the tip field.
As we walked to our car Sweetheart noticed that he was looking at our pay slips, and talking to the hostesses; probably completely livid that we stiffed him. The nerve we have!
posted by granola girl at 11:51 pm
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