Get a load of this one…
I had an opportunity to sit and have a quiet meal alone this evening. The circumstances aren’t important but I found myself at a restaurant all by myself, with a couple hours to kill AND a book to read while I was there. This is essentially…a vacation. I order my food, do some reading, eat slowly, do a little more reading. The place wasn’t very crowded, so they weren’t pushing me out the door. I got to do everything on my terms. I ordered what I wanted. I didn’t have to referee the kids, everything was great…until. I soon realized I didn’t have my billfold (wallet for you Midwesterners). I had my drivers license, my health insurance card and $5.00. I decided that I was probably ok. The $5.00 could go to the waitress and my health insurance card would come in handy when they took me out back and taught me a lesson about trying to beat the check. The drivers license would be good for identification if they went too far. I assumed that stuff like this happened on occasion and wouldn’t be that big of a deal. I was embarrassed, but I was confident they could do something. Turns out that they weren’t that accommodating. It took two managers and 3 visits from my server to come up with a plan. Surrender my drivers license and go get some money. I was to make sure I got back before closing because they needed that money to close. Eventually Jen got on the phone and did some “I am a restaurant manager” talk on them and they worked out a deal. Two reasons not to go back. One – I’ll always be “that guy”. They’ll point at me and tell the story, whispering to each other, at least in my mind. Two – Any place that can’t figure out how to get out of that situation without causing a big deal probably doesn’t deserve my money…or the money I left at home even.
