[NOTE: This blog appeared in the “Monday Morning Mailing” (“MMM”) for April 26, 2021. –KK]
On Saturday, when I started to work on this “MMM,” I had no ideas for The Blog (it happens that way every now and then). But then God said, “Let me help you out.” And God did. Big time.
Yesterday, after church, Evelyn and I joined Karlyn, our grandson Dom, Karlyn’s friend and the friend’s relative (still not sure how the young gentleman is related) at a nice restaurant whose chain shall remain nameless because my purpose is not to bad-mouth the entire franchise. Just this one location.
Conner was a cordial young man who gave fairly incontrovertible evidence that his wait person job was new to him. He took all of our orders and then brought us our plastic-wrapped flatware. No napkins. Just flatware. So, when our appetizers came, we had to request napkins because, well, mozzarella sticks can be a tad greasy.
Evelyn and I had ordered one of their “2 for $22” specials: she, the riblets, and I, the Oriental chicken salad (I even went out on a limb and asked for the breaded chicken, which is not something one finds on the Mediterranean diet). When my salad arrived, I noticed that there was no chicken in my Oriental chicken salad. When I pointed this out to Conner, he cordially apologized and brought me a small paper tray of cut-up chicken. Grilled chicken, that is. Not the breaded chicken I had ordered. I let that one slide, figuring that God didn’t want me veering too far afield diet-wise.
Evelyn had asked for coffee as her beverage. Conner cordially explained that it was brewing (why is the coffee always brewing in restaurants?? Especially decaf coffee. I rarely ask for decaf that the wait person doesn’t say, “I have to start a new pot.”) So, Evelyn’s coffee came out with one of those small tin/ steel/whatever pitchers that they use for water for hot tea, only hers had milk in it. And she needed all the milk to change the color of the coffee from jet black to something resembling a dark brown color. She said she really couldn’t handle it – way too strong. So she asked Conner if she could have a mango iced tea. Conner, smiling, cordially presented her with a tall glass of mango iced tea. Yay.
Once our meal was over, the check arrived (cordially, of course). I took one look at it and was taken aback: the “2 for $22” special was listed as “$25.00.” So, OK … call Conner over again. “How does it work that the ‘2 for $22’ offer is listed as $25.00?” I wanted to know. Conner left to talk (I have to presume cordially) to the manager. When he came back, he said, “The manager says this is correct.” Excuse me? That’s it? “The manager says it’s correct?” No explanation? I was not satisfied, so Conner brought the manager to our table. I must say he was not quite so cordial. For whatever reason, Karlyn decided to take the reins on this one (I told her I was capable of speaking for myself) and pretty much to demand why the order was listed as one price and ended up being another three bucks on the bill. He said that sometimes when a wait person enters the order, they hit a key that brings the order up as a “platter” (which would have affected Evelyn’s ribs. Well, not HER ribs. But … well, you know what I mean). He did apologize for the mix-up and sent Cordial Conner back to have it corrected.
I was really shocked when he brought the “corrected” bill out: what had been a $30-some meal for two had just jumped up to $74.00!! I had Conner return to explain the instantaneous inflation on our ticket. Give the kid credit, he did see the problem and went back to the manager to have the bill straightened out (whether he remained cordial I don’t know, and, frankly, by this time, had lost interest in knowing). The slip he now presented to me looked, at first glance, like the original. It listed Evelyn’s and my “2 for $22” as $25.00 again. But then, on closer examination, I saw that the $3.00 difference had been deducted.
Thank the good Lord!
It’s not usually my nature to question things like that. I figure that I just don’t understand what’s going on and take the other person’s word for it. But this was quite clear: a “2 for $22” meal should not cost $25.00. So, I’m glad that I (and Karlyn) kept pushing until we got everything straightened out. Not only did we pay what we were supposed to pay, but it gave me good Blog fodder for this week.