Post
by BRWombat » Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:54 am
Okay, I've saved the worst for last. Sorry to say, it's not funny and the SG doesn't get revenged upon. Writing this makes me fume about it all over again. So... what would you guys have done?
Number 1. We've just boarded the Disney Wonder, and we head to the Parrot Cay restaurant for the lunch buffet. Normally we go up to Deck 9 to the Beach Blanket Buffet, but (1) we wanted to do something different this time and (2) it is REALLY cold outside, so we figure the inside tables will all be taken.
Because of the weather, though, it seems everyone else has gone to Parrot Cay, and there's a wait for tables. We put our names on a list and are directed to chairs in the nearby Promenade Lounge to wait.
Forty-five minutes later, we're pretty hungry, and our names are finally called. Now, to picture this, you've got to realize that the CM handling the waiting list is closer to the Lounge than the restaurant. He/she calls the family's name and party size and then sends them up to the restaurant entrance to be seated.
We hear our family name, "party of six," and we go to the CM with the list, and she directs us to the restaurant. We stand there for a couple of minutes waiting on a server to take us to a specific table.
There is a smaller party ahead of us, and one lone middle-aged ugly guy milling around nearby. (Foreshadowing -- spot the SG!!!) The smaller party is seated, and by the time a server comes for us, the lone guy is ahead of us.
"Party of six?" the server asks.
"Yes" I answer, but so does the wart-faced buffoon standing nearby!
Now, I'm confused, have no idea what's going on, but the server is in a rush and doesn't notice anything out of place. He takes off at a brisk walk through the restaurant, with the seven of us in tow -- the six of us plus the balding ignoramus.
The server barely slows down to indicate a table for six and then moves on. The tiny-brained glue-sniffer plops himself down in one of the chairs.
We stand there stunned. It finally dawns on me that this guy is cutting in line, stealing our table -- he heard "party of 6" and planted himself ahead of us.
We're almost too dumbfounded to say anything, but we protest to the guy that we were the party of six that was called. No, it was him, he smugly says. Where's your family, then? We ask.
"Oh, they're on their way," he replies -- as he pulls out his cell phone to call them.
We flag a nearby server and sputter out the situation. Thankfully, another table for six is open and we are seated in it immediately. I gather that the server considers this a solution to the issue and doesn't do anything to the monkey-faced SG -- who to him is also a paying customer on the first day of his cruise, as well, I'm sure.
Within a few minutes we've given our drink order and are headed for the buffet. The snotty-faced heap of parrot droppings is still smugly sitting at the table alone, waiting for his family.
So, apart from looks that could kill from each member of our family (which the barf-head studiously avoids meeting), he gets away with it.
I've debated several options since that time. One, having the six of us sit down at the table with him and make him make us move, but that would be an awful lot of conflict to endure when we're tired, hungry, and starting a cruise. The other would have been to memorize the guy's face and hunt him down over the next few days, making his life miserable in every way possible, but (1) I don't want to look at him enough to do that, and (2) that's whole lot of anger to carry around.
So... we shake it off, let it go, and enjoy the rest of the cruise. And it was a fantastic trip, too. It was just a lousy way to start it, thanks to that one selfish SG.
So, again, what would you do?
"This would be a great place if we could only get rid of all these people." - Walt Disney

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