Stupid Restaurant Tricks??

[ICStupidPeople]

I hate having this thread named that, but I couldn't think of a better one. I waited tables for many years in my younger years, so I have nothing but the utmost respect for servers, but today was just, well....i'll let you decide...

I went to lunch in Boulder (uber yuppyville) with a friend today. We decided to eat on the Pearl Street Mall (an outside, pedestrian only mall that caters to snobs, hippies, and freaks mainly..you have to experience it to understand..lol)

Anyway, we decided to eat at BJ's, which is similiar to a CB and Potts type thing, a chain. We have one up the street from our house, and I love it...anywho..

I decided I wanted the "crispy chicken sandwich" (that is the menu item name) which consists of a fried chicken breast, lettuce and a really great honey mustard sauce on a really great type of bread. A garlic focatta (sp) bread I think. Anyway, it's yummy.

So when I go to order, I say "i want this, but I would prefer a grilled chicken breast rather than the fried" (have had it done this way countless times at the one near me) and the waitress says to me..

"ma'am, I guess you don't understand the concept of the sandwich".

I looked at her and said "I guess you don't understand the concept of a tip".

I was in shock. I would never have thought of saying something like that to a customer. The only change I was making to the sammich was removing the 800 calories for frying the breast. I could understand if they had a similar sammich grilled, but they don't.

I only ended up tipping her 15% because I was so annoyed.

Was I out of line for wanting it grilled? (trust me, i hated people changing every aspect of something to please them...i don't ask for things I don't like left off except cheese, because I can pick them off myself)

Was I in the wrong?

[ktulu]

Nope, sounds like the waitress was either having a bad day or is in the wrong line of work. I wouldn't have made any snide comments until after I ate, no spit sandwiches for me!

[Zazu]

I decided I wanted the "crispy chicken sandwich" ... it's yummy.

So when I go to order, I say "i want this, but I would prefer a grilled chicken breast rather than the fried" (have had it done this way countless times at the one near me) and the waitress says to me..

"ma'am, I guess you don't understand the concept of the sandwich".

I looked at her and said "I guess you don't understand the concept of a tip".

Was I in the wrong?

:hysteria: Good reply!

Sounds like somebody doesn't understand the concept of service!

Naw, you were definitely *not* in the wrong, you were just in the wrong restaurant.

[vixen101485]

Dang, you were generous. She would have gotten the penny under the upside down glass of ice from us.

[mechurchlady]

I am used to my local restaurant. I am on a special diet so no fried chicken. They would make a tuna salad burrito if I asked them She definitely was having a bad day. You know how it is as a waitress. She probably snapped at you . Talk with her and if not then her manager. I seen so much SG shit given to waitress that some lose it.

You know SGs and you know how it is to work in public. She should not have been rude but at the same time we should wonder if she just did the half hour step and fetch it where they send you back 50 times to get stuff. She might have been goosed and pinched or otherwise had a bad day.

You have a right to ask for a diet friendly substitution and not get your head bit off. Come to my house for some honey mustard chicken with sesame seeds and herbs.

[ktulu]

There was a table of SG's next to me tonight at dinner. The father type kept a running commentary with the table, "you're still waiting on a diet coke, and you need blah, and I need blah blah." The waitress got double sat (we heard one manager say that to another manager as the hostess rolled her eyes and took us to our table) so she was probably a bit peeved, add that on top of the SG's next to us with 1001 questions, and yeah, I'd be spitting on their food in front of them and walking out the door.

Service was excellent for us though, my tea was kept filled and they brought a free side of rice for our daughter. We did overhear some other wait staff saying that someone had a walkout on a $20 tab. That pissed me off. If I saw that happening I'd chase down the puke and drag them back into the restaurant by their nutsack.

[lady ulrike]

We did overhear some other wait staff saying that someone had a walkout on a $20 tab. That pissed me off. If I saw that happening I'd chase down the puke and drag them back into the restaurant by their nutsack.

My friends and I have done this before, at least twice (I mean the going after non-payers not not paying) There's a Denny's we frequent late at night (okay I don't really frequent it anymore) and really knew the whole staff, so when people decided to try and leave without paying most of our table got up and went after them. Mind you we were a group of about 20 or 30 so when we caught up with the jerks it wasn't hard to convince them to come back and pay.