Heres a Tip

Sweetheart and I went out for dinner yesterday. one of our favorite places has half-priced food M-F until 6p and all day on Saturday. the food is sooooooooooo awesome. we know that once this place gets its name out there, its gonna be pack and the great food deals are gonna go away. so, we try to hit it now as often as possible.

okay, so, now you know that the prices are great and the food is yummy. the place is fairly new, its only been open a year. the service is sometimes slow, but the people are generally friendly.

but, uh, not last night.

last night, I did something that I rarely do, and I knew I shouldnt have done it:I ordered something Id never had before. Im a creature of habit. I always get the same thing when I go out to eat. but last night, I was feeling CrAzY, so I ordered the Firecracker Chicken instead of my go-to, Thai Crispy Beef. big mistake.

and I should have known it was a big mistake before I even ordered it, because the trip started off with our server, who made us wait just long enough to frustrate me, greeting us with "so do you know what you want?" while she looked at her writing pad. ummmmm, eye contact, anyone? smile? "hello, my name is so-and-so and I will be taking care of you today"?

look, I know being a server is tough... I did it for a year. and Sweetheart knows it is tough, he worked in restaurants for 10 years. no one understands about being double/triple sat when you are just gonna get cut, like a former server. people dont get how a bad tip can ruin your night and make you feel crappy about yourself even though you did NOTHING wrong, but a former server knows. believe me, I KNOW. (someday, Ill post about the time I got tipped steak. remind me.)

I also know that no one can be as critical as a former server. "it took longer than 2 minutes to get my drink... I wouldnt have poured a refill that way... she handed the plate to the customer instead of placing on the table... " etc. but, no one tips as well as former servers.

still, this chick was so unfriendly. I was shocked. she never looked at us, not once the whole time we were there. she put the food in front of us, and didnt ask if we needed anything else. she didnt ask us how the food was until we asked for a to-go box. I didnt say anything about not liking the food, since Sweetheart liked it and I took the leftovers home for him.

we tipped her "eh." for us, it was a bad tip to have left, since we are usually VERY generous with servers. for "normal" people, it was probably an average tip. but, I wrote on the back of the receipt "good customer service is greeting the guests." see, I didnt want her to think that we just left her an eh tip because we dont know how to tip. I wanted her to know that smiling and greeting guests goes a long way. she can take my advice or not, but she knows that we felt we werent treated up to standards. next time, Im gonna order my Thai Crispy Beef and hope that Im greeted with a smile!