Be Careful What You Wish For...

Tonight I went out with my girls.  Rules for tonight no boys and everyone has to dress in something that makes them feel great. The plan for tonight?  Dinner and drinks afterward.  Secretly I was hoping, as I always do when I enter main stream Provo on date night, that I will get some really good material for this blog.  Well I guess wishes come true because I got something- But not in the way I had hoped.

Two things about me and restaurants: 

1. working retail myself, I am generally pretty patient with my servers.  I don't expect a lot.  I just want to be acknowledged.  If you are busy- tell me.  Just let me know that I have not been forgotten.

2.  If I am not ordering very much I usually tip even better because I know you pay your bills with tips.  Instead of the standard 15-20% I will usually pay more like 75-150%...depending on what my bill is. 

Now with that in mind I am going to tell you that tonight I had the worst customer experience at a restaurant EVER.  After being at the Olive Garden for two hours tonight (our server was newish- nice but not really great with efficiency) my friends and I drove half an hour south to a restaurant in downtown Provo called Spark restaurant.  It's been open a couple of years and I have wanted to go for awhile.   

When we got there I was a little let down because it wasn't at all what I was expecting but the Host was super nice and really attentive.  He continued to check back with us and let us know he was still working on getting our table.  Which was fine.  It's Friday night and we expected a little bit of a wait.  After about 20 minutes he sat us at a table and then our server came. 

She took our order and was a little bugged that we were only ordering drinks.  When she brought our drinks, she asked if we wanted anything else.  We told her no we were good for now.  The next 30 min or so were great.  We laughed and tried each other's drinks- it was exactly what it should have been.  Until we all finished our drinks.  I had kind of been thinking that I wanted to try a different one but after about 20 minutes of watching our server on the other side of the restaurant or flirting with the other server I decided it wasn't worth the wait for her to come back.  At this point we all decided we were ready to leave.  We sat at our table for about 20 minutes when "her boyfriend" server, probably seeing my annoyed face, came to ask if we needed anything.  My friend responded without pause that we'd like our check.  He asked how we'd like it and brought us our checks.  We each paid in cash thinking that would speed things up but I needed change.  There was NO WAY on this earth that I was giving her a $6 tip for a $3 drink.  I might have if she'd been really good- but she wasn't even mediocre. 

Another ten minutes went by and still no one had come to get our money.  Behind the bar were two employees and the "boyfriend" server who brought our checks.  I picked up all our checks and took them over.  I spoke to him, rather calmly actually- it wasn't his fault our server sucked, and told him I just needed a $5 bill.  "No one else wanted change and we had a bit of a drive to go home.  I am and have been ready to leave for over 20 minutes."  Instead of just helping me or asking the host to help (which is who I should have gone to in the first place) he took them over to our server.  Who again left us waiting for another 10 minutes!  Who stays at a restaurant for an hour and a half for ONE drink when all the tables aren't full and have not been all night?? 

Nothing ruins an experience like having to stay after the fun has ended.  When she finally did come back, she not very sincerely said, "sorry about the wait".  That would have worked about 20 minutes ago- but since you haven't been back to our table in at least 40 minutes it just isn't cutting it.  Not only did your lack of attention lower sales since myself and another friend both opted NOT to order another drink, but you also lowered your tip significantly- by the time we were ready to pay we were all so over you. When you first came to the table your exact words were, "I am going to take care of you tonight".  Well you are a Liar.  You barely acknowledged our existence. And YOU made my first trip to Spark Restaurant my last.  The drinks were not great and the service was even worse.  Not worth the gas it took to drive there. 

Dear snotty pants server- you have a job because people come to your restaurant.  If you ignore us because you don't think we are spending enough we will not come back.  Repeat customers are your best job security.  If I have a good experience I tell two or three people.  When I have a negative experience I post it on my public blog for the world to see.  So...did I get blog material tonight? yes...along with a horrible experience.  Guess I should be more careful about what I wish for. 

Smack YOU!

Gum.  I used to love the stuff.  Not because I love Gum really but more out of a perpetual fear of bad breath.  I chewed gum for hours every day...and then my jaw decided to lock and I was forced to end my long complicated relationship.  I have been gum free for 3 years now.  Perhaps this is the reason I feel so strongly about what I am about to say. 

NO ONE ELSE SHOULD KNOW YOU ARE CHEWING GUM!

Seriously, if you are over 15 you are not allowed to chew gum in public.  It is so gross when a middle aged adult smacks their gum.  A man came into my store today and I seriously could hear him chewing across the room.  He was probably at least in his 50s and I could barely concentrate on anything he was saying because all I heard was gum smacking.  ewww.  Gross. 

Chew your gum if you must but I don't want to hear it.  Keep it to yourself. The End. 

Some People's Parents

Why do some parents act like they have zero control over what their children do?  let me give you two examples of what I mean. 

1. I am at work.  Super crazy busy and I hear the sound of the towers beeping at the door.  I go up to see what's going on and there is a small child.   Maybe 7 months old crawling on the mall floor (sick btw- I don't even want to know the germs she is picking up since no one even knows the last time that floor was disinfected.  yuck)  But not only is she crawling but she is simultaneously pushing one of our carts (carts we use to fold on) out the door.  On top of this car is a whole bunch of sensors a co-worker had been using.  So as she is pushing the towers are responding to the senors and the parents are just laughing.  Meanwhile I have to stop what I'm doing to take the cart away from the child and bring it back into the store.  Last time I checked mom or dad could have just picked her up and avoided the whole thing.  If not for social reasons for health reasons. 

2.  I went to dinner with some friends and as we are talking we hear this shrill whistle sound.  I look up and there is a toddler at the next table holding a whistle.  Don't worry mom didn't take it away.  She let him continue to blow on it even though is was disturbing to every other patron of the restaurant.  This child is going to be horrible when he grows up because the sister took the whistle and mom got mad at her.  She gave it back to the little boy and he continued to blow on it while mom just smiled. 

Parents.  you are bigger than your kids.  Just take stuff away.  Also, don't sit there and smile at unacceptable behavior.  Your children are going to get arrested because they don't know what is and is not okay in a public venue.  At this stage in life you still have some control over your children- so I suggest you teach them now and not wait until they are teenagers and towering over you.  They can barely walk/talk- don't act like you can't stop them. 

All I Ever Wanted...

Oh Walmart. I hate Walmart. I find it is a necessary evil. However, tonight I was trying to organize several rooms at a time and I realized I needed some command hooks if I was going to do a decent job of it. Let me first back up and tell you that, considering my feelings, today was probably not the day to go to Walmart. I left my house just before 8:30am this morning, stayed at work a little late-which put me home at almost 7pm. Then I had to clean the "guest" room that my sister recently vacated before I could even begin to think about moving my stuff back into it. And I also had a lesson to finalize for church tomorrow. So when I decided to go to Walmart I was already stressed and VERY tired. Not a stellar beginning for a trip to Walmart on a Saturday night in Utah county.

Anyway, I went out into the cold frigid night to get my hooks. (why was it so important I get the hooks tonight? ...I have a hard time focusing on things (like a lesson plan)-if I have clutter surrounding me. I work better in a clean organized environment. And right now my environment is anything but organized) where was I? oh yes, I braved the cold and entered the zoo only to find that they are SOLD OUT of command hooks. Great. Of course they are. Why do they never re-stock? They have probably been out of them for weeks if not months! I get that sometimes they run out of stuff...I work retail, I know this. But come on! This is Walmart...they carry the same stuff all year long! Ugh whatever. I left Walmart without spending a dime, which I think is a record for me, and headed to Macey's. (It's on my way home) Guess what?! they don't have them either. So I decided I would just get my favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry's to make up for my lack of hooks. NOPE- they don't even carry it anymore (which is a bigger tragedy than you realize- I don't super love ice cream. There are very few flavors I will eat and this Macey's was the ONLY one that carried my flavor) LAME! I got in my car feeling totally dissatisfied with the world and drove home. Now that I wasted and hour of my very packed night (did I mention I also bailed on one of my best friends so I could get all this done?) I got on the computer to print out my lesson outline...low and behold...the dumb website will only print page one. Nice but I kind of need more than just the "preparation" page. I had to get fancy and use my brain to fix the problem- but long story short- I had a slight emotional break down. Seriously- all I ever wanted was a dumb hook to hang my headbands on. Is that so much to ask? I guess it was. I am learning something from this experience...what? what am I learning?

You can't have everything you want right when you want it. I need to not take on bigger projects than I can realistically complete in the time I have. Also I need a hard copy of my teacher's manual because I am not going to mess with this kind of thing every time I teach :) And most importantly, Life goes on. Tomorrow will come whether I have my hooks or not. "Tomorrow is a new day-Fresh with no mistakes in it" Tomorrow I can choose to be happy. And tomorrow I will not let small things get to me. (which means I should go to bed so I'm not tired- because tired makes me irritable)

Save the Excuses

Pet Peeve for today:

When people say they don't have time. Honestly I've said this before. But the truth of the matter is, YOU MAKE TIME FOR THE THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU. So if you say you don't have time, what you are really saying is: "YOU are NOT important to me. Okay maybe you don't have time today or this week...but if you want to see someone or do something you will make time for it. Actions speak louder than words...so instead of saying, "I don't have time" just say, "you know what, you are not important enough for me to rearrange my schedule or go out of my way." What will happen is you will be left with very few friends- however, if we are being honest, if they weren't important to you, then you had very few REAL friends to begin with. So all you've done is stopped the nagging and the necessity to make excuses.

Not Yours to Gamble...

Guess what...you are NOT Paul Walker and you have not been cast in Too Fast Too Furious. Seriously, I have driven to work the last two days and I have almost been hit 3 times. Two of those times were within 5 minutes of each other. Mr. Honda Civic with the extra large headlights decided he was going to pass me on the right and then barely leave enough room when he decided to cut me off AND THEN 2 minutes later a silver Subaru with something to prove decides that even though his lane is ending, he's going to continue to speed up. Good thing I was paying attention because if I had not stepped on my brakes he would have hit my car from the right at about 60 mph knocking me into on coming traffic. Nice. I love when other people decide to take chances with my life and/or property. The worst part about all this, within one light, they both ended up BEHIND me anyway. The funny thing is, at the time I didn't really even think about that they could have killed me. The first thing I thought was, "I would never date a guy who drove like that". Sounds irrational? maybe. but maybe not. You see, a person who drives like that is selfish. They are only thinking of themselves and what they want. Which is a symptom of the way their brain processes. Also, someone who drives like that is probably going to have high insurance premiums due to multiple tickets/accidents. Also that person has a higher chance of killing themselves in an accident. Moral of the story...don't be a Jerk!! My life is not yours to gamble.

Put it away

I need to share with you a pet peeve of mine...its funny but when people ask what bugs me, a lot of the time I can't think of anything, and then it happens and it is brought home ever so quickly!! So what is bugging me- when my date can't leave his cell phone alone. Call me old fashioned or selfish but when someone is out with me- I want them to be with ME 100% of the night. And not just physically- I want them there mentally as well. If its an emergency or something whatever, stuff happens. But to be texting, or tweeting, or updating your facebook status is just irritating. I almost NEVER take my phone out on a date. (probably because it bugs me so much) Its rude, but also it disrupts the flow of conversation. when they have their phones out I start wondering who is so important that you need to be texting on a date? or am I really that boring that you need to be entertained by some outside source? What is up with that?! Just bugs me. Normally I don't NEED to be the center of attention...but if I have taken time out of my busy life to go out with you, I expect you to give me your full and undivided attention. Call me crazy but I think I'm worth a few uninterrupted hours...