twenty pennies. four nickles. two dimes. and it cost friday's (if you let this load, be sure to kill the annoying music) $25.16 on the bill JJ & i had. the short of it is this: be sure to check your bill when they give it to you.
so rewinding a little, JJ & i decided to have dinner at friday's. she had a hankering, and i hadn't been to one in i don't even remember how long. (as far as i can tell these days, friday's = applebee's = 99 restaurant = chili's - it's all the same thing) so things started off fine. hostess seated us fairly promptly (~715pm) and told us our server's name (something with an 'R'). we started looking thru the menu and a few (long) minutes later, he shows up and takes our drink orders (Dr. Pepper & 16oz Sammy Octoberfest). he returns with JJ's soda and informs me that "the machine broke" so i switch to a regular Sammy.
the machine broke????
anyways, he returns with my beer and we place our order (1/2 rack ribs & smoked brisket dip sandwich). ~730pm
silly me figures that it won't be that long for us to eat. it's nearly 8pm when my meal is delivered by a lackey. JJ & i look at each other and wonder where her dinner is. we also begin to wonder where the au jus that we thought we saw on the menu was, as my brisket was looking a little under-au jus'd. and around this time i'm nearly finished with my beer and i notice a seed (we think) stuck to the bottom of the glass.
when 'R' shows back up (nearly 810pm now) to ask if we need anything (he appears to be oblivious to the fact that i have food and JJ doesn't) so i bring the seed to his attention. he tips the glass and as he starts to walk away, JJ asks about my missing au jus (my food is rapidly cooling at this point). he brings my beer glass to someone with a headset, they tilt the glass and they disappear somewhere. while this is transpiring, another lackey stops by and he asks if we need anything, JJ asks for a refill and her meal (mine continues to cool). we continue to muse, both of us have taken to nibbling my rapidly cooling fries.
i receive a 'fresh' beer (the glass was clean, but the taps need to be cleaned) and we ask again about JJ's meal. a few minutes later and by 815pm her meal arrives. (i forgot to ask what the temp was)
we're both starting to be irritated at this point and not sure if i'm getting a comp beer or not. so we try and enjoy the meal. mine was south of luke warm at this point, but i decide it's not worth getting too upset over. by this point, i've pretty much written off eating at friday's again. 'R' walks by us several times while we are eating, but never once stops by to check on us. by 830pm, i've finished my meal and JJ isn't far behind. ~835pm 'R' stops by and asks if we need anything, and i reply 'napkins'. he clears my plate and returns a few minutes later with a bone plate, a small stack of napkins and 2 handy wipes. (to their credit - their handy wipes are big, plush, and heavy duty)
by the time he returns however JJ is finished, so he fails to notice that she is done, so he doesn't clear her plate.
845pm - 'R' shows up and asks if we want anything else (desert, etc), we decline and ask for the bill. he returns a few minutes later with the bill.
problem. i see i ordered 2 sandwiches. (the good news is i was only charged for 1 beer)
so, 'R' is at the booth across from where we were sitting and as he turns to walk away, i tap him and ask why there were 2 sandwiches. he stammers something about something (it made no sense to us) and wanders off to correct it.
a few minutes later, he returns with the original bill and a handwritten $25.36 written on it.
i look at it and pull my phone out and start to calculate things out. i can't get it to add up. each time i calculate it, i get $25.16. JJ starts to calculate it and gets the same total. we both wonder how he landed at that total. 'R' has vanished, so we decide that we would like to speak with the manager. shortly before this, we had decided that we were only going to leave $1 as tip (in quarters, i add a penny, so $1.01 total) which is more insulting than leaving nothing. (you leave nothing, they know they fucked up, you leave them $1, they learn that they fucked up. JJ tels me about this bitchy waitress that dared to be surly with her sister - it ended up really messy.)
after we had figured out that the numbers didn't add up, JJ asked for her quarters back - we were leaving nothing.
so i get up to try and find a manager and bump into 'R' and ask to speak to a manager. he heads off to find a manager.
a few minutes later, the manager shows up and JJ and i explain (very calmly and patiently) that we can't figure out how 'R' arrived at that total, showing him the napkin with my calculations. he takes the check and my napkin and tells us that 'R' was having a problem ringing it up and that he should have found him (the manager) to ask for help. he returns a few minutes later with a bill for $25.16. exactly what JJ & i both calculated. he laments that 'R' isn't the sharpest person and how people these days can't even handle remedial math. he then relates how his daughter came home and told him that she needed a $150 calculator.
uhhh...if you are referring to the TI-83 or TI-85, neither of those is over $100, but nevermind.
as the total is correct, i give him my card and he walks off. a few minutes later, i see him walk towards the entrance and a few seconds later 'R' returns with the receipt and my card saying something that i guess was an apology and that we were all set and then promptly walks off. JJ & i look at each other slightly bewildered and i say that i think he said we were all set and let's go. we grab our jackets and bolt. on our way out, the manager says something about 'R' needing some remedial math skills, we nod and head out. it's now ~910pm.
we laugh about it as we walk to my car and we both agree that had 'R' just given us a PRINTED check with the correct total (like the manager did), i would have paid it without batting an eye. but because we were given a handwritten total on our original check, we looked a lot more carefully and then questioned the difference. both of us know that 20 cents isn't much, but it was the principle. 'R' fucked up and we caught him.
so that ended our dining experience at friday's. but not my evening.
after dropping JJ at home, i decided that i should put gas into my car even tho i was at a 1/2 tank - my commute usually works out in a way that if i put gas in on saturday or sunday, i won't need to until the following weekend when i have more time to remember that i need gas. since going on vaca, my fill up schedule has been a little screwed up and i was late(r) to work one morning because i forgot to get gas on the way home the night before.
so i stopped by the irving on the way home (home of the cheap gas in the area, altho the sunocco was cheaper tonight) to top off my tank, which should put me back into my regular feed my car routine.
so, as i pulled in, some asshole was in my way, so i slowed and he moved to avoid me, but i could see he wasn't pleased that i had turned into his way. what didn't help this asshole was he didn't have his lights on, so i didn't really see him until i had turned. i gave him a 'what the fuck' look and pulled into a pump. as i got out of my car, i could hear him yell something at me as he drove past and i just shook my head and marveled at how in the last 30 seconds, i watched someone fuck up 3 times.
the first being driving w/o his headlights on.
the second being taking an illegal left out of the exit he used.
the third being blowing thru a red light, with the car that had the green starting to move into the intersection that he was blowing thru.
what a fucking idiot. learn to drive you fucking idiot. i think he had to act tougher than he was because he had a friend in the car with him who was egging him on. so to him, i also say fuck you.
the rest of my drive home was uneventful. and here i am now sitting watching the 8th inning of the red sox game. it's looking like they may win, but the game isn't over. i'll finish the game in bed.
Read More......
.jpg){kind=avatar}
