Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
good, but something else amusing occurred.

"Rob" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
> restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
> service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
> good, but something else amusing occurred.
>

I was able to turn a bad experience into a good one.

A group of about five of us went to a well know restaurant in Philadelphia.
My wife had poor service there once so we never went back, but our friends
from out of town really wanted to try it. Mid week, not a particularly busy
night and we were early, the place was just opening for the dinner hour..

We gave our name to the hostess and waited for a table. Many others came in
after us and were quickly seated. I inquired and was firmly told just go
sit and wait until we want to seat you. So, I went to the pay phone in the
lobby and called the owner. I explained the situation and told him we were
headed out the door to another place to dine. He asked that I wait and in
about two minutes we were seated, given one of his "private" tables, and one
of the best waiters I've ever encountered.

Turned out to be a delightful evening and dessert on the house.

On Fri 25 Nov 2005 08:07:25p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Rob?

> Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
> restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
> service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
> good, but something else amusing occurred.

This was a very strange and funny experience, even though the food was
worth what we "endured".

Years ago when I was in New Jersey for a week-long seminar, I asked one our
seminar hosts (who was Chinese) if she could recommend a good, authentic
Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, NYC that specialiced in dim sum. She
praised her recommendation while writing out the name and address for me.
As a frequent traveler to NYC, and having eaten in Chinatown many times,
the restaurant she recommended was one I'd never heard of.

At the end of the seminar I drove to NYC for a week's vacation. On the
Sunday of that week we went to the restaurant that was recommended. As
soon as we entered I realized that this was truly *authentic*, as there
wasn't an Occidental face in the place, neither staff or diners. It was
terribly crowded, mostly with Chinese family groups, some rather large.
Most of the women were wearing flowers. Most tables were set for 8-10
people. The host took us on a rambling trip to a room upstairs and in the
back and indicated that we should sit in the two chairs where six members
of a family were already seated. Not seeing any other tables, we complied.
We realized we were in even bigger "trouble" when we learned there were no
menus, only a placard in Chinese in the center of the table, and a
chalkboard of what I imagine were specialites on the wall. Soon we spotted
a waitress pushing a dim sum cart and discreetly motioned for her to come
to our table. She complied. No one spoke English, and we never heard a
word of English in the entire restaurant during our stay. There was no
flatware, only chopsticks...not surprising. We began selecting items from
the procession of carts that came through, and every item we chose was
delictable, that is, until just at the end. We spotted several dishes that
each boasted a single beautifully glazed meatball. Assuming it was
probably made of pork, we both indicated we wanted one. What we ended up
with were balls of tripe! Chewing was almost impossible for our teeth were
bouncing off the meatball. With only chopsticks, it was impossible to break
small pieces apart. We left most of it uneaten. All the while, the other
party at our table would smile bashfully and sometimes gently laugh.

When it was finally time to go, we were given a check that was written in
Chinese. We made our way to the front and presented the check to the
cashier. We had no idea how much we owed, but we had consumed a fair
amount of food. I proffered three twenty dollar bills. The cashier
handed two of them back, then proceeded to make change from the third bill.
She handed back a bit more than nine dollars in change!

As we were walking down the street, it suddenly dawned on us why the place
was so crowded. It was Mother's Day, and the Chinese (at least in the US)
were celebrating in full swing.

It was a delicious meal of dim sum, even if we were not a little self-
conscious the whole time.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
_____________________________________________

A chicken in every pot is a *LOT* of chicken!

In article .com>,
"Rob" > wrote:

> Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
> restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
> service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
> good, but something else amusing occurred.

Several years ago, a few friends and I went into a diner in Philadelphia
to eat dinner after we saw a movie. As our food was served, a waitress
brought over a friend's chicken parmasian. This friend was the final
person at our table to be served. The poor waitress' hand slipped as she
was about to remove the platter from her serving tray. Instead of
placing the food in front of my friend, she received her dinner in her
lap and all over her shirt! Fortunately, my friend was just dressed in
inexpensive casual attire.

The friend who had the food dumped on her was every bit is beautiful on
the inside as she is on the outside so she reacted very politely and
calmly. The look on the face of the waitress was one of horror. The
waitress could not have been more apologetic. My friend stepped into the
ladies' restroom, cleaned herself up reasonably well. By the time she
returned to the table, a fresh plate of food was waiting there for her
and we had all our meals comped by the management.

We tipped generously, including the dumpee, because the poor waitress
really did look like she was having a bad day and the restaurant was
packed at the time.

Worst:

We were in TGIFridays (not a place I like to go anyway, but I wasn't in
charge of picking that night) I took my 6 year old to the rest room after
dinner while my DH was settling up the check.
Our waitress burst into the bathroom while we were standing there washing
our hands, went into a stall and started vomiting. I felt bad for her, and
stuck around to see if she needed some help. She exited the stall, I asked
are you OK? She said yes, walked out the door and kept on serving. Please
take note that washing her hands was NOT part of this encounter.
I told the manager, but at that point DH had already paid and all I wanted
to do was get out of there.


"Rob" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
> restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
> service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
> good, but something else amusing occurred.
>

On 2005-11-26, Knit Chic > wrote:

> We were in TGIFridays.....

It's a safe bet one-time patrons of TGIFridays vastly outnumber
regulars. I'm one of the former for more reasons than I care to
relate.

nb

"Rob" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
> restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
> service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
> good, but something else amusing occurred.

My now ex-wife had just finished graduate school and had accumulated enough
frequent flyer miles from interviewing that we could fly to Bermuda for
free. We changed planes in Tampa but a severe thunderstorm delayed the last
leg of the flight into Bermuda. We finally arrived well after 1:00am only to
find that our bags didn't make the trip. After filing a claim with the
baggage department we caught the very last taxi out of the airport to our
destination way on the other end of the island. We arrived to find, not
unexpectedly, that the office of the cottage resort was closed. We slept for
awhile on some benches next to the bay.

In the very early morning hours, we decided to try to find cleaning people
or kitchen staff to let us into our cottage. We walked around to the front
of the office to find the front door was open and a carpet was dragged half
way out the door. It looked like cleaning people but my sixth sense told me
to watch for awhile from behind some bushes. We were in a different country
and everything seemed unusual. In the darkness we could barely make out
several people milling around while we heard one of them trying to start a
van that was parked outside the front door. They had a lot of difficulty
starting the van but they finally got it started and drove off. We emerged
from behind the bushes after we were sure they were gone and walked inside
the office. The place looked like a mess but it wasn't extraordinary for
cleaning people to move things around. We found the register on the front
desk, signed ourselves in, and made our way to the cottage where we crashed
in a real bed. We were so tired.

We called for room service for breakfast several hours later as we still had
on our traveling clothes from the day before and could not present ourselves
properly in a restaurant. Breakfast soon arrived and our server excitedly
told us about the robbery that had occured the night before. Some thieves
stole a large safe where guests' valuables were kept. We suddenly realized
that we had witnessed the whole thing! Needless to say, we spent the whole
morning at the police station giving our story. The police later found the
van, thanks to our description, burned out on a beach - the contents of the
safe were gone.

Long story short, all of our bags didn't arrive together. Our bag packed
with casual clothes arrived the next day but another bag of formal attire
hadn't shown up yet. We had been invited to dine with the owner/manager of
the resort who was also a senator in the Bermuda government, and his wife.
They were horrified and apologetic that we were subjected to such an
experience on our first night in Bermuda. Dinner at the exclusive resort was
semi-formal in traditional British style. We looked and felt like dregs
dressed in shorts and T-shorts but we had a very pleasant dinner with our
gracious hosts. They also sent us a bottle of their finest champagne that
evening.

The rest of the week was pleasant and uneventful (except for the
storm-damaged sailboat we had rented nearly sank as we sailed into the bay,
we bailed the whole way back). We remained anonymous as all of the other
guests talked of the bold robbery and the strange couple who had witnessed
it! :^)

On 25 Nov 2005 19:07:25 -0800, "Rob" > replied:
>Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
>restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
>service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
>good, but something else amusing occurred.

[I posted this after one of our trips to Sandy Eggo. Hopefully it's as
entertaining to read as it was to write.]

Jammer's Java
218 N El Camino Real # A
Encinitas, CA 92024
(760) 942-5282
http://www.jammersjava.com/

Stopping in here was an impulse buy, plain and simple.

In our rush to get down South, I missed packing the daughter-units'
sandals. We needed some and TJ Maxx seemed like the perfect choice:
cheap and throwaway if they didn't work. SWMBO¹ was assigned that
odious task while I waited in the SUV with three very hyped kid-units.

It dawned on me as I listened to Spawn crankin' down on her
sister-units, Alpha and Beta, that I'd missed my morning latte
infusion. The wail that erupted from Spawn as both her sisters finally
explained (in sibling fashion) that they were tired of her abuse and
were now willing to retaliate brought forth the Linda Blaire in me; my
head spun about on my shoulders and I growled a Dad Tone. Dire threats
and a louder voice quelled any further outbursts from the Gallery and
I went back to looking at the coffee shop.

The longer I looked, the greater my impulse became.

It's unremarkable exterior and hidden-from-the-street location gave me
momentary pause but caffeine deprivation soon had me unbuckling Spawn
and ordering the other two out of the car. As we walked the 20 feet
through the deserted parking lot, I reminded them all of how much
shorter the day would be if they misbehaved. Promises assured, the
four of us entered the coffeehouse.

ObHimmel²: The interior was as unremarkable as the exterior. High
ceilings, several deuces with seating for four per table, purchasable
bric-a-brac along the walls... No clientele.

A tall fellow greeted me from behind the bar. Alpha and Beta had
instantly become "bored" and wandered over to a table to play
Rock-Paper-Scissors. The <thwap> as rocks crushed scissors gave me a
simple preview of the remaining day. The menu, posted high on the wall
behind the counter, listed over a dozen combo drinks, all with
different prices and sizes (three) for each. I ordered a large triple
latte.

The gentleman smiled and quickly started making it. He was very
out-going and personable. I started asking about the different iced
drinks on the menu. Beta had grown "bored" with getting hit (again)
and came over to stand by me. During one description, a chocolate
mocha infusion of some form, she perked up and asked if she might have
one. I ordered three. Hyper, caffeinated and sugar-whacked, kids; what
a combo.

SWMBO had long-since found suitable footwear for the daughter-units
and when she saw that we weren't where we were supposed to be, "just
knew where I'd taken them." (Sad: I am that predictable.) To appease
the Goddess of my Real Life®, I ordered her a tea. To my pleasant
surprise, he fill a tea-filter with loose-leaf Earl Gray and poured
boiling water over it and in a cup for her.

I ended up getting a few pastries and those little boxed cereals for
our group. The bagels were fresh. The cereal choices nice (lots of
sugar-bomb-based cereals for the kids to ogle and choose.) Total bill
came to less than US$24 -- cheaper than any $tarBuck$ run by US$10.

I took a sip of my latte. It was excellent! As we were leaving, the
gentleman was receiving quite a regular stream of customers,
confirming that the latte wasn't a fluke.

If you find yourself in this portion of the PRC, just south of
Carlsbad along El Camino, stop in. You /can/ do a lot worse with all
the $tarBuck$ around.

The Ranger

¹ She Who Must Be Obeyed
² ObHimmel: In the Bay Area (of the PRC³), we have a restaurant
reviewer^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hhack that is more interested in the interior
of places than the food.
³ People's [DemoKratic] Republic of Californi[cated]a

We went to this restaurant that had ribs as a theme ... not a
rib joint, actually, but a restaurant. I don't remember what we
ordered, that was some time ago, but I guess we ordered an
appetizer, dinner, dessert, there was a bread basket, couple of
rounds of drinks. I think that pretty well describes it.

Sat down, ordered drinks, over came the drinks, ordered the
appetizer, that came along with the requisite little dishes for each
of us, then came dinner. Along with another drink, no doubt.

Now, to describe the setting; we were sitting at a table for two,
to say, not as large as my desk. Rectangular and not much wider
than a person on the sitting sides. (laugh ... did I mangle that badly
enough?)

Drinks, appetizer, bread plates, salad ... this was really a stretch, but we
got everything to fit. Next came dinner. Well, the waitress didn't
take anything away with her. As in empty plates/glasses. Luckily
or fortuitously, there was a ledge that the table butted up against,
it held a large planter. Enough room so that we started stacking
dishes on it.

Well, we didn't order THAT much food, but everything came on a
separate plate, ribs on one plate, vegetable in a little bowl, etc., you
get the idea.

We were laughing our ass off, I swear, we left after paying the bill,
you didn't even have a place to put the thing down so you could sign
it. None of this seemed to faze the waitress AT ALL.

Honest, I was waiting for Peter Funt to come over and say we'd
been had.

nancy

It was some years ago,
driving through the boondocks of New Jersey
..
Decided to stop for coffee and a late night snack.
The only place open was the "Truckstop Diner"

We were turned away at the door by the waitress;
"This restaurant is for truckers only"
????

Who turns away business ?? Why ????



<rj>

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> We went to this restaurant that had ribs as a theme ... not a
> rib joint, actually, but a restaurant. I don't remember what we
> ordered, that was some time ago, but I guess we ordered an
> appetizer, dinner, dessert, there was a bread basket, couple of
> rounds of drinks. I think that pretty well describes it.
>
> Sat down, ordered drinks, over came the drinks, ordered the
> appetizer, that came along with the requisite little dishes for each
> of us, then came dinner. Along with another drink, no doubt.
>
> Now, to describe the setting; we were sitting at a table for two,
> to say, not as large as my desk. Rectangular and not much wider
> than a person on the sitting sides. (laugh ... did I mangle that
> badly
> enough?)
>
> Drinks, appetizer, bread plates, salad ... this was really a stretch,
> but we
> got everything to fit. Next came dinner. Well, the waitress didn't
> take anything away with her. As in empty plates/glasses. Luckily
> or fortuitously, there was a ledge that the table butted up against,
> it held a large planter. Enough room so that we started stacking
> dishes on it.
>
> Well, we didn't order THAT much food, but everything came on a
> separate plate, ribs on one plate, vegetable in a little bowl, etc.,
> you
> get the idea.
>
> We were laughing our ass off, I swear, we left after paying the bill,
> you didn't even have a place to put the thing down so you could sign
> it. None of this seemed to faze the waitress AT ALL.

That was seriously wierd)

"The Ranger" > wrote in message
...
> On 25 Nov 2005 19:07:25 -0800, "Rob" > replied:
>
> I took a sip of my latte. It was excellent! As we were leaving, the
> gentleman was receiving quite a regular stream of customers,
> confirming that the latte wasn't a fluke.
>
> If you find yourself in this portion of the PRC, just south of
> Carlsbad along El Camino, stop in. You /can/ do a lot worse with all
> the $tarBuck$ around.

<G> Thanks Ranger)

"<RJ>" > wrote in message
...
> It was some years ago,
> driving through the boondocks of New Jersey
> .
> Decided to stop for coffee and a late night snack.
> The only place open was the "Truckstop Diner"
>
> We were turned away at the door by the waitress;
> "This restaurant is for truckers only"
> ????
>
> Who turns away business ?? Why ????

Last summer we were away for the weekend and went looking for a
restaurant for lunch. We pulled up outside a nice looking hotel and
went inside.

There was a large dining room with a small mezzanine space to one side.
The place was empty except for a long table on the left full of jolly
bikers.

We went to sit down at a table for four as we couldn't see a table for
two. The waitress told us she only had a table in the smoking section.
Since we were the only people in the room apart from the diners I
questioned this. The mezzanine section was for smokers and only in that
area did she have tables for two.

I said I preferred to stay where we were since we don't smoke anway.
She told us that was impossible and when asked why, we were told that a
party of four might come in. She did however ask the bikers if they
would mind us joining the end of their table! Please don't
misunderstand me. We have nothing against bikers and they were a
friendly bunch but to refuse a table for 4 for 2 people, when the rest
of the place was empty seemsed to be stupid and unwelcoming. I told
her to keep her tables, thanked the biker's nicely and left. We found
somewhere else that appreciated our custom!

"Ophelia" > wrote

> "<RJ>" > wrote

>> We were turned away at the door by the waitress;
>> "This restaurant is for truckers only"
>> ????
>>
>> Who turns away business ?? Why ????

> would mind us joining the end of their table! Please don't misunderstand
> me. We have nothing against bikers and they were a friendly bunch but to
> refuse a table for 4 for 2 people, when the rest of the place was empty
> seemsed to be stupid and unwelcoming. I told her to keep her tables,
> thanked the biker's nicely and left. We found somewhere else that
> appreciated our custom!

Now, *those* are two weird stories. Too funny.

nancy

Nancy Young wrote:
> We went to this restaurant that had ribs as a theme ... not a
> rib joint, actually, but a restaurant. I don't remember what we
> ordered, that was some time ago, but I guess we ordered an
> appetizer, dinner, dessert, there was a bread basket, couple of
> rounds of drinks. I think that pretty well describes it.
>
> Sat down, ordered drinks, over came the drinks, ordered the
> appetizer, that came along with the requisite little dishes for each
> of us, then came dinner. Along with another drink, no doubt.
>
> Now, to describe the setting; we were sitting at a table for two,
> to say, not as large as my desk. Rectangular and not much wider
> than a person on the sitting sides. (laugh ... did I mangle that
> badly enough?)
>
> Drinks, appetizer, bread plates, salad ... this was really a stretch,
> but we got everything to fit. Next came dinner. Well, the waitress
> didn't
> take anything away with her. As in empty plates/glasses. Luckily
> or fortuitously, there was a ledge that the table butted up against,
> it held a large planter. Enough room so that we started stacking
> dishes on it.
>
> Well, we didn't order THAT much food, but everything came on a
> separate plate, ribs on one plate, vegetable in a little bowl, etc.,
> you get the idea.
>
> We were laughing our ass off, I swear, we left after paying the bill,
> you didn't even have a place to put the thing down so you could sign
> it. None of this seemed to faze the waitress AT ALL.
>
> Honest, I was waiting for Peter Funt to come over and say we'd
> been had.
>
> nancy

This is why, if I owned a restaurant, there wouldn't be any duces (tables
for two) except in the bar area where most likely only an appetizer would be
served along with drinks.

Part of a good servers' job is to pre-bus the table - remove empty bowls,
plates, glassware. God, where do you have to to go get good help these
days?!

Jill

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
. ..
> Nancy Young wrote:
>> We went to this restaurant that had ribs as a theme ... not a
>> rib joint, actually, but a restaurant. I don't remember what we
>> ordered, that was some time ago, but I guess we ordered an
>> appetizer, dinner, dessert, there was a bread basket, couple of
>> rounds of drinks. I think that pretty well describes it.
>>
>> Sat down, ordered drinks, over came the drinks, ordered the
>> appetizer, that came along with the requisite little dishes for each
>> of us, then came dinner. Along with another drink, no doubt.
>>
>> Now, to describe the setting; we were sitting at a table for two,
>> to say, not as large as my desk. Rectangular and not much wider
>> than a person on the sitting sides. (laugh ... did I mangle that
>> badly enough?)
>>
>> Drinks, appetizer, bread plates, salad ... this was really a stretch,
>> but we got everything to fit. Next came dinner. Well, the waitress
>> didn't
>> take anything away with her. As in empty plates/glasses. Luckily
>> or fortuitously, there was a ledge that the table butted up against,
>> it held a large planter. Enough room so that we started stacking
>> dishes on it.
>>
>> Well, we didn't order THAT much food, but everything came on a
>> separate plate, ribs on one plate, vegetable in a little bowl, etc.,
>> you get the idea.
>>
>> We were laughing our ass off, I swear, we left after paying the bill,
>> you didn't even have a place to put the thing down so you could sign
>> it. None of this seemed to faze the waitress AT ALL.
>>
>> Honest, I was waiting for Peter Funt to come over and say we'd
>> been had.
>>
>> nancy
>
> This is why, if I owned a restaurant, there wouldn't be any duces (tables
> for two) except in the bar area where most likely only an appetizer would
> be
> served along with drinks.
>
> Part of a good servers' job is to pre-bus the table - remove empty bowls,
> plates, glassware. God, where do you have to to go get good help these
> days?!
>
> Jill

I don't know how many times I've been served my food and after the person
walked away, I realized I didn't have fork, knife and spoon. ARRRGHHHH. A
normal response if you ask another person is that they will "have to locate"
your server. Then when the utensils are delivered, you put up with the
server's apology (if there is one). At my last dinner out where the food
was wonderful and the waiter was good natured, there were no napkins, so we
got up and got them off another table instead of 'harrassing' the wait
person for napkins, we didn't want to break the spell.
Dee Dee

Dee Randall wrote:
> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
> . ..
>> Nancy Young wrote:
>>> We went to this restaurant that had ribs as a theme ... not a
>>> rib joint, actually, but a restaurant. I don't remember what we
>>> ordered, that was some time ago, but I guess we ordered an
>>> appetizer, dinner, dessert, there was a bread basket, couple of
>>> rounds of drinks. I think that pretty well describes it.
>>>
>>> Sat down, ordered drinks, over came the drinks, ordered the
>>> appetizer, that came along with the requisite little dishes for each
>>> of us, then came dinner. Along with another drink, no doubt.
>>>
>>> Now, to describe the setting; we were sitting at a table for two,
>>> to say, not as large as my desk. Rectangular and not much wider
>>> than a person on the sitting sides. (laugh ... did I mangle that
>>> badly enough?)
>>>
>>> Drinks, appetizer, bread plates, salad ... this was really a
>>> stretch, but we got everything to fit. Next came dinner. Well,
>>> the waitress didn't
>>> take anything away with her. As in empty plates/glasses. Luckily
>>> or fortuitously, there was a ledge that the table butted up against,
>>> it held a large planter. Enough room so that we started stacking
>>> dishes on it.
>>>
>>> Well, we didn't order THAT much food, but everything came on a
>>> separate plate, ribs on one plate, vegetable in a little bowl, etc.,
>>> you get the idea.
>>>
>>> We were laughing our ass off, I swear, we left after paying the
>>> bill, you didn't even have a place to put the thing down so you
>>> could sign
>>> it. None of this seemed to faze the waitress AT ALL.
>>>
>>> Honest, I was waiting for Peter Funt to come over and say we'd
>>> been had.
>>>
>>> nancy
>>
>> This is why, if I owned a restaurant, there wouldn't be any duces
>> (tables for two) except in the bar area where most likely only an
>> appetizer would be
>> served along with drinks.
>>
>> Part of a good servers' job is to pre-bus the table - remove empty
>> bowls, plates, glassware. God, where do you have to to go get good
>> help these days?!
>>
>> Jill
>
> I don't know how many times I've been served my food and after the
> person walked away, I realized I didn't have fork, knife and spoon.
> ARRRGHHHH. A normal response if you ask another person is that they
> will "have to locate" your server. Then when the utensils are
> delivered, you put up with the server's apology (if there is one).
> At my last dinner out where the food was wonderful and the waiter was
> good natured, there were no napkins, so we got up and got them off
> another table instead of 'harrassing' the wait person for napkins,
> we didn't want to break the spell.
> Dee Dee

I wrote about that diner in Jonesboro, where they were running around
hawking hot beans with ham (not very good ones, either) and fried okra, and
flinging rolls without giving us a plate to put the roll on. But just TRY
to get condiments. John's hamburger was dry as the Sahara and all he wanted
was some mustard... you'd have thought he'd asked the server to empty the
safe. She was just plain grumpy. I still don't know why the place was
always packed.

Jill

Stan Horwitz wrote:
> In article .com>,
> "Rob" > wrote:
>
> > Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
> > restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
> > service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
> > good, but something else amusing occurred.
>
> Several years ago, a few friends and I went into a diner in Philadelphia
> to eat dinner after we saw a movie. As our food was served, a waitress
> brought over a friend's chicken parmasian. This friend was the final
> person at our table to be served. The poor waitress' hand slipped as she
> was about to remove the platter from her serving tray. Instead of
> placing the food in front of my friend, she received her dinner in her
> lap and all over her shirt! Fortunately, my friend was just dressed in
> inexpensive casual attire.
>
> The friend who had the food dumped on her was every bit is beautiful on
> the inside as she is on the outside so she reacted very politely and
> calmly. The look on the face of the waitress was one of horror. The
> waitress could not have been more apologetic. My friend stepped into the
> ladies' restroom, cleaned herself up reasonably well. By the time she
> returned to the table, a fresh plate of food was waiting there for her
> and we had all our meals comped by the management.
>
> We tipped generously, including the dumpee, because the poor waitress
> really did look like she was having a bad day and the restaurant was
> packed at the time.

On Sat 26 Nov 2005 10:29:08a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Ophelia?

>
> "<RJ>" > wrote in message
> ...
>> It was some years ago, driving through the boondocks of New Jersey .
>> Decided to stop for coffee and a late night snack.
>> The only place open was the "Truckstop Diner"
>>
>> We were turned away at the door by the waitress;
>> "This restaurant is for truckers only" ????
>>
>> Who turns away business ?? Why ????
>
> Last summer we were away for the weekend and went looking for a
> restaurant for lunch. We pulled up outside a nice looking hotel and
> went inside.
>
> There was a large dining room with a small mezzanine space to one side.
> The place was empty except for a long table on the left full of jolly
> bikers.
>
> We went to sit down at a table for four as we couldn't see a table for
> two. The waitress told us she only had a table in the smoking section.
> Since we were the only people in the room apart from the diners I
> questioned this. The mezzanine section was for smokers and only in that
> area did she have tables for two.
>
> I said I preferred to stay where we were since we don't smoke anway.
> She told us that was impossible and when asked why, we were told that a
> party of four might come in. She did however ask the bikers if they
> would mind us joining the end of their table! Please don't
> misunderstand me. We have nothing against bikers and they were a
> friendly bunch but to refuse a table for 4 for 2 people, when the rest
> of the place was empty seemsed to be stupid and unwelcoming. I told
> her to keep her tables, thanked the biker's nicely and left. We found
> somewhere else that appreciated our custom!

I can't believe that waitress! What was she thinking?

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
_____________________________________________

A chicken in every pot is a *LOT* of chicken!

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005, Dee Randall wrote:

> >>
> >> We were laughing our ass off, I swear, we left after paying the bill,
> >> you didn't even have a place to put the thing down so you could sign
> >> it. None of this seemed to faze the waitress AT ALL.
> >>
> >> Honest, I was waiting for Peter Funt to come over and say we'd
> >> been had.
> >>
> >> nancy
> >
> > This is why, if I owned a restaurant, there wouldn't be any duces (tables
> > for two) except in the bar area where most likely only an appetizer would
> > be
> > served along with drinks.
> >
> > Part of a good servers' job is to pre-bus the table - remove empty bowls,
> > plates, glassware. God, where do you have to to go get good help these
> > days?!
> >
> > Jill
>
> I don't know how many times I've been served my food and after the person
> walked away, I realized I didn't have fork, knife and spoon. ARRRGHHHH. A
> normal response if you ask another person is that they will "have to locate"
> your server. Then when the utensils are delivered, you put up with the
> server's apology (if there is one). At my last dinner out where the food
> was wonderful and the waiter was good natured, there were no napkins, so we
> got up and got them off another table instead of 'harrassing' the wait
> person for napkins, we didn't want to break the spell.
> Dee Dee
>

LOL. Been there, done that! I've helped myself more than once to the wait
station items.

Having been in the restaurant business for so many years, I understand a
lot of the problems - including spread-too-thin employees,
having-a-bad-day employees, and plain, ol' lazy-assed employees. When I
sit down at the table, I take stock. Napkins? flatware? salt & pepper?
artificial sweetener? etc. When the wait person comes to take drink
orders, I ask for anything that is missing right then. I also try to
always remember everything that I want when I order - like tartar sauce,
extra mayo, honey mustard, etc so the wait person can write it down.
It doesn't always solve the problem, but it increases my odds. Waiting
tables is probably the hardest job - and often the worst job - to have in
the "service" industry. Sadly, dealing with people is a female dog.
Dealing with people who are dining out is a rabid female dog.

Elaine. too

"Wayne Boatwright" > wrote in message
...
> On Sat 26 Nov 2005 10:29:08a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it
> Ophelia?
>
>>
>> "<RJ>" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> It was some years ago, driving through the boondocks of New Jersey .
>>> Decided to stop for coffee and a late night snack.
>>> The only place open was the "Truckstop Diner"
>>>
>>> We were turned away at the door by the waitress;
>>> "This restaurant is for truckers only" ????
>>>
>>> Who turns away business ?? Why ????
>>
>> Last summer we were away for the weekend and went looking for a
>> restaurant for lunch. We pulled up outside a nice looking hotel and
>> went inside.
>>
>> There was a large dining room with a small mezzanine space to one
>> side.
>> The place was empty except for a long table on the left full of jolly
>> bikers.
>>
>> We went to sit down at a table for four as we couldn't see a table
>> for
>> two. The waitress told us she only had a table in the smoking
>> section.
>> Since we were the only people in the room apart from the diners I
>> questioned this. The mezzanine section was for smokers and only in
>> that
>> area did she have tables for two.
>>
>> I said I preferred to stay where we were since we don't smoke anway.
>> She told us that was impossible and when asked why, we were told that
>> a
>> party of four might come in. She did however ask the bikers if they
>> would mind us joining the end of their table! Please don't
>> misunderstand me. We have nothing against bikers and they were a
>> friendly bunch but to refuse a table for 4 for 2 people, when the
>> rest
>> of the place was empty seemsed to be stupid and unwelcoming. I told
>> her to keep her tables, thanked the biker's nicely and left. We
>> found
>> somewhere else that appreciated our custom!
>
> I can't believe that waitress! What was she thinking?

I don't know Wayne but she must have cost that place a lot of business

I wouldn't say this was my worst restaurant experience, but it was a
recent one so it has been on my mind lately.


I love yuppie food. I love plain honest cooking too, but something
about a mango salsa-arugula-chipotle-vanilla-saffron-green tea glaze,
pecan encrusted on wild rice, duck or crawfish with crumbled chevre,
wheat berry tart, makes me go weak in the knees. A wine list with
Chilean malbecs, New Zealand sauvignon blancs, 4 varieties of bottled
water and moscato for dessert doesn't hurt. Add the right sort of
lighting, seafoam green decor with abstract multi-media African-inspired
artwork on the walls, and I can't resist-- until recently.


We went to one such restaurant not too long ago. In the dim lighting, I
noticed something icky and sticky on the handle of my fork. I briefly
pointed out the problem to the waiter (who was dressed in black with a
long black apron). He murmured something and removed the fork holding
it close to the tines, thus missing the icky-sticky stuff. He returned
with a fork held the same way that had the same icky-sticky stuff on it.
Either it was on all the forks, or he'd decided I was crazy and tried
giving me my same fork back again. I again touched it gingerly with my
left hand, called him back ever so gently and explained that there
really was something icky and sticky on the fork and could I please have
a clean one.


Looking back, I can see that it might have been nothing worse than
dishwashing detergent. I really don't like to think about what else it
could have been. For the most part, I'm not into obsequious service so
I don't care for someone fawning over me and apologizing a thousand
times for a small mistake, but under the circumstances, don't you think
something more than "oh, sorry" was called for?


That wouldn't have been so bad, but the descriptions of the food pushed
all the right buttons on the menu, then didn't deliver in real life.
The fancy glazed duck with the wild rice turned out to be a tad
over-cooked, not the greatest seasonings, a little on the warm side.
Jim's fish was overcooked as well. We got the idea that a great chef
had breezed in to design the menu, given the staff a few days training,
then left. An ordinary steak-house menu featuring Caesar salad and
baked potato with sour cream would have been better assuming that the
steaks are cooked to perfection, the salad is fresh, the potato comes
steaming hot, and the cutlery is clean. Bad food is bad food whether it
is yuppified or not. I don't know why I have to keep learning that
lesson again and again.


--Lia

We live near the beach and there is a building right on the beach that
houses 2 restaurants upstairs and a trendy cafe/light meals place
downstairs. It is a magic location where you can really impress
out-of-town friends! The several times I have frequented the cafe I
have had surly service. I go back in the vain hope things might have
changed.
The last time I had a girlfriend with me - check this out - 9.30am on a
weekday (i.,e. quiet) we walked in for a coffee and moved towards a
small table for 2 facing the water, inside the cafe. There were
perhaps 3 tables elsewhere in the room that were occupied. Accosted by
the waitress were asked if we were breakfasting. No, thanks, coffee
would be great. Sorry, you can't have one of these tables. You mayonly
sit outside on rough picnic style table setting.Polite protestations
had no effect.
The inside tables are reserved only for diners! At 9.30 on a weekday,
I doubt whether anyone was going to arrive for breakfast much later. I
wonder if the tables lay empty until a pretermined hour for lunch is
announced! Weekends would be quite a different proposition, however, I
still find the rule discriminatory.
We left without coffee and went to the surf club oppposite sitting at a
lovely table overlooking the view, and were treated with respect.
I sent a letter of complaint to the cafe but never received a reply.
I definitely will never go back. Really, tourist precinct or not, it
is shocking.

Cheers
Bronwyn

I went to this restaurant near Detroit where I used to go for lunch
occasionally, and when they brought out my Chicken Alfredo, after I had
eaten about a third of the meal I discovered a small piece of wood in
the bowl. The piece of wood was about two inches long. I stopped
eating at that point, and paid my bill and left and never ate there
again. I made sure to put the piece of wood on top of my food when I
left so maybe they would figure out what happened. It didn't make me
physically ill, but I was so grossed out I threw up in the mens room
when I got back to work.

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 11:16:09 -0500, "Nancy Young"
> wrote:

>We went to this restaurant that had ribs as a theme ... not a
>rib joint, actually,

Likely not a BBQ place, either. Specially not if it's the one I
suspect it is.

>Honest, I was waiting for Peter Funt to come over and say we'd
>been had.

?Peter? Not Allen?
(am I dating myself here?)

--
-denny-
"Do your thoughts call ahead or do they just arrive at your mouth unannounced?"

"It's come as you are, baby."

-over the hedge

My husband and I went to Portland Maine for a long weekend to get away
for our birthdays ( we are born on the same day ) We decided to eat
early so we could walk around after dinner. We were the second
customers to this restaurant ans we were quickly seated. He ordered the
half roasted chicken and I ordered a scallop appetizer on mesclun salad
with fried julienne leeks for my dinner. The waitress brought my meal
as an appetizer even though I asked her to bring it for my entree. She
appologized when i mentioned the mix-up but i told her not to worry
about it i will just wait to eat until my husbands dinner was served.
Well it took a good 30 minutes for his dinner to arrive and by that
time the mesclun salad was very wilted and i asked if she could just
replace the greens and not the scallops. She returned with a new salad
and the scallops were reheated but there weren't any fried leeks. I
asked if she could bring a small plate of the fried leeks. She returned
with ONE very THIN piece of fried leek the size of a toothpick on a
bread plate. I called her back and told her if the chef has a problem
then ask him to come out here and settle it. I told her that is the
rudest thing a chef can do, I have been a catering chef for over 15
years and tell the chef to get off his high horse. I also told her I am
no longer hungry and the chef ruined our birthday dinner. The manager
came over and appologized over and over. We got a dinner on the house
and a dessert which we refused, The chefs excuse was that they ran out
of leeks. It was a house special and we were the second couple that was
seated that night. No way did they run out of leeks 40 minutes into
service.
Stan Horwitz wrote:
> In article .com>,
> "Rob" > wrote:
>
> > Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
> > restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
> > service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
> > good, but something else amusing occurred.
>
> Several years ago, a few friends and I went into a diner in Philadelphia
> to eat dinner after we saw a movie. As our food was served, a waitress
> brought over a friend's chicken parmasian. This friend was the final
> person at our table to be served. The poor waitress' hand slipped as she
> was about to remove the platter from her serving tray. Instead of
> placing the food in front of my friend, she received her dinner in her
> lap and all over her shirt! Fortunately, my friend was just dressed in
> inexpensive casual attire.
>
> The friend who had the food dumped on her was every bit is beautiful on
> the inside as she is on the outside so she reacted very politely and
> calmly. The look on the face of the waitress was one of horror. The
> waitress could not have been more apologetic. My friend stepped into the
> ladies' restroom, cleaned herself up reasonably well. By the time she
> returned to the table, a fresh plate of food was waiting there for her
> and we had all our meals comped by the management.
>
> We tipped generously, including the dumpee, because the poor waitress
> really did look like she was having a bad day and the restaurant was
> packed at the time.

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 14:21:46 -0500, "Dee Randall"
> wrote:

>I don't know how many times I've been served my food and after the person
>walked away, I realized I didn't have fork, knife and spoon.

I dunno why--maybe just my semi-finikin nature--but I always (and all
too often) notice when the table doesn't have utensils[1]. If it's
the sort of place to have the little ad things on the table, THOSE are
there, though.

[1] Then, of course I forget to mention the lack when ordering...

--
-denny-
"Do your thoughts call ahead or do they just arrive at your mouth unannounced?"

"It's come as you are, baby."

-over the hedge

channeltool wrote:

>
> and a dessert which we refused, The chefs excuse was that they ran out
> of leeks. It was a house special and we were the second couple that was
> seated that night. No way did they run out of leeks 40 minutes into
> service.o the

You can offer some very attractively priced specials if you aren't really
offering them :-)

A number of years ago, a friend of mine warned me away from a restaurant that
had recently opened. It had been a dilapidated old building and someone had
bought it and but a lot of work into rebuilding it and turning it into a
restaurant. My friend and his wife went there on a Tuesday night to try it
out. They weren't sure if it was really open because there were no cars in the
parking lot. When he went in the owner greeted him at the door and asked if he
had reservations, and then went through the motions of checking the
reservation sheet to see if he could fit them in.

I was once turned away from the restaurant in a motel where I was staying on
business in a grubby northern town. I had clean jeans and a clean shirt and
explained that I was staying in the hotel and just wanted a quick meal. They
finally agreed to let me in. I was the only person there and the dinner was
awful.

On 11/25/2005 9:07 PM or thereabouts, Rob appears, somewhat
unbelievably, to have opined:

> Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
> restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
> service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
> good, but something else amusing occurred.
>


Worst experience had to be at the local Black Eyed Pea (since closed and
converted to a bank). First our waiter was extremely slow. We waited
ages for our food and when it came it was cold. We waited 15 minutes or
so with empty glasses for drink refills. 15 minutes after we had
finished eating the waiter finally came over to ask if we wanted
dessert. No, just the check, please. 10 minutes later he brought us the
check. Determined not to let him get away, I had my credit card ready
and handed it to him immediately. He left with the credit card and the
check. Little did we know that it would take him 12 minutes to return
with a credit card slip for me to sign.

Now, I am usually fairly generous with tips, but this guy had me really
steamed up. I am not the sort to complain, nor would I verbally abuse
waitstaff. I simply added a tip of 2 cents on the credit card slip in
the belief that to leave a 2 cent tip was worse than to leave no tip.

--
As a child, my parents thought I was an idiot-savant.
Now, however, it is rather clear that I'm simply an idiot.

"Rob" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
> restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
> service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
> good, but something else amusing occurred.

I've had a LOT of bad restaurant experiences, but most of them are
pretty run-of-the-mill stories. One experience was just really, really
strange, though...

A few years ago, my husband and I were driving back to Houston from a
weekend in San Antonio. We decided to stop at the Natural Bridge
Caverns. Afterward, we were driving back to the freeway, and on the way
we stumbled upon a small restaurant/vineyard/winery in the middle of
nowhere. It looked charming (the restaurant was in a house with a porch,
which overlooked the vineyard), so we stopped in for lunch. We were the
only patrons there. As we entered, a young man approached us and seated
us out on the porch. Very pretty setting. He asked us what we wanted to
drink, and we asked to see a drink menu. He told us what they had to
offer. Since he hadn't mentioned any of the wines produced there on the
premises (which we wanted to try, since we were at a winery), we
inquired about them. He seemed confused, left to go inside for a minute
(to ask someone, I suppose), then came out and said they didn't have any
of their wines available by the glass because they produced such a small
quantity. OK, fine, whatever. No biggie. The rest of our meal was just
very weird. Our waiter seemed very out of it. Couldn't really answer our
questions about anything. Was just, well, spacey... Took us awhile to
get through the meal (big gaps of time between looking at the menu,
ordering, getting our food, getting our check, etc.). And we'd catch him
peeking at us through the window as we were eating. But the food was
superb. We had wonderful chicken crepes with sides of oven-roasted
potatoes, grilled veggies, and a yummy salad. And it really was
beautiful, eating there on the porch, overlooking the vineyard. (The
price was outrageously cheap, too. IIRC, it was like $6-7 for each of
our lunches, excluding a glass of wine apiece.)

Mary

"The Ranger" > wrote in message
...
>
> If you find yourself in this portion of the PRC, just south of
> Carlsbad along El Camino, stop in. You /can/ do a lot worse with all
> the $tarBuck$ around.

We mostly just have $tarbuck$ everywhere here in the Houston area...

Thanks for the recommendation! The in-laws live in Encinitas and
Carlsbad, and we go out there once or twice a year.

Herschel's Deli and Giblin's Irish Pub are two of our faves out in that
area...

Mary

Stan Horwitz wrote:
> In article .com>,
> "Rob" > wrote:
>
>> Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
>> restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
>> service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
>> good, but something else amusing occurred.
>
> Several years ago, a few friends and I went into a diner in
> Philadelphia to eat dinner after we saw a movie. As our food was
> served, a waitress brought over a friend's chicken parmasian. This
> friend was the final person at our table to be served. The poor
> waitress' hand slipped as she was about to remove the platter from
> her serving tray. Instead of placing the food in front of my friend,
> she received her dinner in her lap and all over her shirt!
> Fortunately, my friend was just dressed in inexpensive casual attire.
>
> The friend who had the food dumped on her was every bit is beautiful
> on the inside as she is on the outside so she reacted very politely
> and calmly. The look on the face of the waitress was one of horror.
> The waitress could not have been more apologetic. My friend stepped
> into the ladies' restroom, cleaned herself up reasonably well. By the
> time she returned to the table, a fresh plate of food was waiting
> there for her and we had all our meals comped by the management.
>
> We tipped generously, including the dumpee, because the poor waitress
> really did look like she was having a bad day and the restaurant was
> packed at the time.

Another working at a restaurant experience... lunch time and a busy day.
Someone I used to work with in retail was dining with friends. I can only
imagine this was a true Freudian slip because I'd never dumped anything in
anyones lap, either before before or after. But those Mai Tais or whatever
booze she'd ordered slid right off the tray and splashed red fruit juice and
booze all down the front of her dress. EEEP!

She was gracious about it and the manager comped her meal. I was
embarrassed as hell and asked another server to swap tables with me lest I
drop hot fish and hush puppies in her lap.

Jill

It wasn't the waitress - it was company policy - except she was not
intelligent enough to make her assessment and please a customer!!

Yes, can't figure out why my polite letter of complaint didnt elicit a
response.

The scene is yum cha at a cheap chinese restaurant (which I normally love
BTW).

1) Despite booking ahead they had insufficient room for us so we had 15
people at a round table for 8, my chair was so far back I could hardly reach
my food, to leave the table required pushing your chair back into the people
next door so you could get out..
2) They kept bringing plates of chicken feet despite being told repeatedly
that we didn't want them.
3) The waiter dropped a platter of something or other that was swimming in
sauce on the table, he scooped up most of the solids and vanished with no
apology, several people were left with table cloth soaked in sauce in front
of them, with nowhere for their plate or anything else, when the owner was
summoned he grudgingly put a smaller table cloth over the large wet spot but
wouldn't replace the whole thing, then they tried to charge us for it.
4) Overall the food was very ordinary, the service was terrible and the
ambience horrid, at the end they asked if we wanted sweets and/or coffee and
we rose as a body saying "No!" and went up the road to a coffee shop. There
was no tip.

David

Rob wrote:
> Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
> restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
> service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
> good, but something else amusing occurred.

Glass in my salad - a lot of it - Broadripple Brew Pub in Indianapolis,
circa 1993 or 94. They offered me a free dessert. (Um, no thanks.)
-L.

It was a posh restaurant in Provence, in the village where my
grandmother had a house. Lunchtime, full restaurant. We ordered a menu
with appetizer, main course and dessert, and a bottle of wine. The
wine arrived immediately. The appetizer (a splendid soup) took a
while. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. After 20 minutes of
waiting, I managed to catch the attention of the waitress, who was
actually the owner. She said curtly that "it's coming". After 10 or 15
more minutes, I called her again, she came and said we had to wait
like everybody else, it was each one his turn and if we didn't like
it, we could leave. My grandmother paid for the wine and soup and we
left indeed (I would not have paid, but she wanted to).

Nathalie in Switzerland

"Nathalie Chiva" > wrote in message
...
> It was a posh restaurant in Provence, in the village where my
> grandmother had a house. Lunchtime, full restaurant. We ordered a menu
> with appetizer, main course and dessert, and a bottle of wine. The
> wine arrived immediately. The appetizer (a splendid soup) took a
> while. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. After 20 minutes of
> waiting, I managed to catch the attention of the waitress, who was
> actually the owner. She said curtly that "it's coming". After 10 or 15
> more minutes, I called her again, she came and said we had to wait
> like everybody else, it was each one his turn and if we didn't like
> it, we could leave. My grandmother paid for the wine and soup and we
> left indeed (I would not have paid, but she wanted to).
>
> Nathalie in Switzerland

I guess restaurant problems for diners are the same world-wide; I'd hate to
be on holiday and this happen to me.

It reminds me of one time I waited, waited, waited in line at a grocery
store to pick up some film where loads of people were buying lotto tickets.
When I got there, the clerk wouldn't get my film, and said, "there are
other people here in line here that I have to take care of, you'll have to
come back." WHUT!~! When I left the store DH and f-i-l couldn't understand
my sputtering, slobbering incoherence explaining the situation as to why I
didn't come back with the film. In the scheme of things that happen to us
in life, this wasn't worth having a fit about, but it's one thing you do
remember; just like your restaurant experience.
When I go to that grocery store in CT to shop for f-i-l's food, I always see
that lotto/video/film line-up and smile, knowing I'll never get in that line
again and actually feeling sorry for the people standing there.
It's good to remember the good 'and the bad.'
Dee Dee

Dee Randall wrote:

>
> It reminds me of one time I waited, waited, waited in line at a grocery
> store to pick up some film where loads of people were buying lotto tickets.
> When I got there, the clerk wouldn't get my film, and said, "there are
> other people here in line here that I have to take care of, you'll have to
> come back." WHUT!~! When I left the store DH and f-i-l couldn't understand
> my sputtering, slobbering incoherence explaining the situation as to why I
> didn't come back with the film.

I had a similar experience with a photo shop where I used to take my film for
processing. I wasn't in a big hurry to get the pictures back so I opted for the
one week service, since I was usually over to that mall on Fridays for banking
and shopping. I showed up around noon on the day they were supposed to be ready.
I gave my slip to the girl at the counter and she pointed to two boxes that had
come in that morning and said that they were in one of those two boxes, could I
come back in a few hours. No I couldn't. They were supposed to be ready that
day. I was there. They were there and there were no other customers. I wasn't
going to go home and then come all the way back because she was too lazy to open
the box and get my pictures. I haven't been back.

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 09:39:06 -0700, "<RJ>" >
wrote:

>It was some years ago,
>driving through the boondocks of New Jersey
>.
>Decided to stop for coffee and a late night snack.
>The only place open was the "Truckstop Diner"
>
>We were turned away at the door by the waitress;
>"This restaurant is for truckers only"
>????
>
>Who turns away business ?? Why ????
>
>
>
><rj>

When we were kids in the early 1960's, our family was out for a drive
and our parents stopped at a small coffee shop on a busy highway just
outside of Riverside, CA. There was a small motel behind the coffee
shop. I was about 10-years old. When our family walked in for lunch, I
remember there were a lot of women sitting around by themselvers, but
all dressed up, wearing a lot of makeup. The owner behind the lunch
counter said, "We don't serve childen here, you'll have to leave". We
left with out being seated and ate at another place on down the road.

A few months later there was a news story about the coffee shop and
motel being busted for prostitution.

Maybe they are tuning away one kind of business for another.


-Rusty