Friday night, hubby and I went to meet our friend Kenny at a neighborhood Italian restaurant. We discovered this place last year, and we really like it. It's very small, the prices are reasonable, and the food is very good. And it is never crowded.
Well we walked in Friday night and almost every table was taken. This was unusual. We sat down at a table to wait for Kenny and gradually the place started to empty out. Kenny arrived, and there were only two tables of people, including ours.
The owner sits up front at the cash register, taking carry-out orders and taking money.
So there we were, relaxing, waiting for our food, when the waitress, a woman in her 50s I'd guess, comes walking out of the kitchen, very purposefully and angry, heading toward the owner. He was on the phone at the time, and we heard him change the estimate of how long the order would take. He said "oh, I guess we are a little backed up in the kitchen - it should be about 40 minutes." And then we saw the waitress head back to the kitchen, saying "God damn it!" VERY loudly. The owner got off the phone and headed toward the kitchen, just as the waitress headed out of the kitchen. You could tell from her face that she was having a melt down. "LET THEM GET THEIR OWN FOOD!" she told the owner, and she sat down in one of the booths, and he responded "you've been serving for a long time - GROW UP."
Now keep in mind, this is a tiny restaurant, so this wasn't a quiet confrontation behind the scenes - it was right in the middle of the restaurant. And hubby said "I think maybe we won't be coming here anymore" and Kenny said "no, this is great - it's like a Seinfeld episdoe." And I asked "so are we supposed to go to the kitchen to get our food?" And so we sat, not having any idea what was gonna happen next. Kenny had been trying to get the waitress' attention for a glass of water but decided that was no longer a good idea.
Our food did arrive. The waitress calmed down. And it gave us a good story to tell.
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3 comments:
Sounds like a very intersting dinner! Glad it turned out alright. I've had very poor service before but never had a waitress say we should get our own food! That is kind of funny. In a sad twisted kind of way.
I agree with Kenny! It IS like a Seinfeld episode!
Reminds me of the time my friend Caryl and I were out at a restaurant and the waitresses all disappeared - for a very long time - so we couldn't get any coffee. Caryl had been a waitress for many years, and she felt comfortable going up to the coffee station and getting us some. As she was doing so, a couple of other tables asked her if she would serve them as well, which she did gladly. She ended up getting coffee for almost everyone in the place.
It was pretty funny, but there was no breakdown involved, so your story is still better.
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