| 12/29/2005 |
YOU HAD A BAD DAY
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Wow... I've been kind of a downer lately.
Let's see if I can lighten things up with a good ol' fashioned rambling post.
I've watched WAY too much television this last weekend. Having four days off, when I was not visiting with relatives in some way, shape, or form, I was watching television. I think it was around Thanksgiving that I enduring more hours of Law & Order SVU than is typically recommended by the FDA. This holiday it was poker. Poker. Poker. Poker. Any channel that had poker on, I was watching. Celebrity Poker on Bravo. World Series of Poker on FSN. I was all about the poker. Texas Hold 'em to be specific. I even went so far as to download their little poker client from partypoker.net. I'd heard the commercial so much over the course of the last few days that I had it running in my head instead of most songs. I started out with $250 and I'm up to a little over $2000. Too bad it isn't real money. I'm not the gutsy though when it comes to my own actual cash.
When I was visiting my Grandparents over the weekend I took a moment to go on the old cruising route I used to drive. Walking down main street there was a scruffy looking gentleman who was talking to no one (and everyone). He was wearing holiday antlers. I circled the block with camera in hand in an attempt to take a photo. It truly was a hilarious sight. Unfortunately he was gone by the time I'd gone back around.
I was recently at PF Chang's. My love for their steamed peking dumplings knows no limit. The problem is they never give you enough. I could eat a whole plate full of them as an entree. Yet only four come as an appetizer. There is some marketing madness going on.
Anyway... Typically my experiences at PFC have been great. I'd read once that they prefer to open PF Chang's within so many miles of a BMW or other ritzy car dealership in order to attract people with money. Whether it's true or not, the way the serve people usually gives me the impression that they are trying to cater to sophistication. Not that they actually are. I think a lot of it is just in their heads.
Anyway... (See how I ramble?) Our waiter, whom we had named Mary Queen of Scots (for some reason that I can't even recall to explain) was rude. This was a first! Like I alluded too. Typically they bend over backwards to make sure you have a great experience. We've gotten whole plates of free food for having to wait a few extra minutes for an appetizer. This guy couldn't care less about us. He obviously wasn't new. Yet he obviously didn't care either. Between the eye rolling the audible sighing and the general lack of questions of if we needed anything, you could tell.
Now... trust me. I've been there. You've worked several days of long shifts. It's the holidays and you are constantly busy. Maybe you're just having a bad day and the last thing you want to do is wait on other people. I get that. But if you're in a job where you work for tips, I think you'd want to put on at least a smile and trudge through it for the sake of the money you'd make. If not, I might suggest a different line of work.
Our drinks and appetizer came out in a timely fashion. Our drinks were filled in due course. Yet these were things done by other people. All Mary had to do was take our order and stop by to see if we needed anything. Then bring us our check. He did all this. Yet the manner in which he did was snotty.
I love PF Chang's mango ice tea. I've gone so far as to tell a waiter that so they are warned that I'm going to easily suck down 5 or 6 glasses of it before the entree is brought out. With each glass his scoffing or sighing became more audible. And he wasn't even the one filling them. So he was scoffing because he had to tell someone else to fill my glass? Mary could be seen rolling his eyes when other tables asked him for things. When a nearby table asked for a to-go box he brought one and proceeded to shake the plates contents into the box. Typically they 1) use a utensil or 2) do they Box Shake Maneuver in back where you don't see half your meal miss the box completely. I was dreading see the reaction I'd get when I asked for a box. He brought one and walked away, taking our plates and all silverware with it. I used my tea spoon to sluff my sichuan shrimp into my Chinese Secret Box. He tossed a couple fortune cookies on our table and dropped off the check, without a pen to sign the receipt. He was nowhere to be found to ask for a pen. We had one with us, but still... C'mon.
Giving him the benefit of some doubt he got a minimal tip and a suggestion that he not be as aloof with his next table.
I think unless your job is vital to keeping the world going you should automatically have the week off from Christmas to New Years. I know not everyone celebrates Christmas, but I don't think too many are going to balk at a week of vacation.
I've been taking some more photos. Candy seems to be latest thing I'm fond of shooting. I was looking at my 101 List and have been thinking about finally doing the photolog of a day in my life or 26 Things. I wouldn't mind having one of my photos make the Most Interesting page on Flickr. Yet it's not up to me.
I've seen a couple movies that I will probably comment on. Fantastic Four and Dirty Filthy Love. Expect those coming down the pipe.
The weeks almost over!
Happy New Year! |
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I posted this @ 12/29/2005 09:34:00 AM.............Need a link?..........
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