Friday, October 07, 2005
The Dilemma of Dinner Time
Well, time for a little update. Nothing exciting went on today that is really worth talking about...but I do want to talk about the dilemma of dinner time. When I was younger and not in the "grown-up" world...it was pretty common to go to dinner 9-10 at night. Well, now that we are getting older (as scary as that is) we now find ourselves in restaurants from 5-6pm. This is a somewhat different environment than what we previously would experience.
The early crowd is full of families with little kids and retired people. There just isn't many people our age without kids eating at that time...usually just us. So now...instead of having drunk annoying people eating with us we now have screaming kids. today...it was the worse possible situation.
So, for our Friday treat to start our celebration of the weekend Amanda and I went to Red Lobster. We get seated in 10 or 15 minutes at a table near the middle of the non-smoking section. Well, right behind us is the big behemoth of a table that sits like 8-10 people. This large family sat down there shortly after we were seated. It was mom, dad, their 3 kids and the grandparents. Well...the daughter that was probably 5 or so was a whiney little brat. She was fake crying over everything and no matter what she did her mom got more and more agitated. Well, the mom made matters worse because she obviously had absolutely zero parenting skills. She either didn't know how to deal or is going on her 5th year of post-partum depression. She looked ragged and quite bitter. Well, the daughter started fake crying and then I heard a dish get clanked down...I thought for sure that the daughter threw it down. Nope, it wasn't the daughter it was mom! She went nuts and raised her voice and drug the daughter out of the restaurant.
Now, don't get me wrong...I wish that more parents would actually parent instead of letting their kids walk all over them, but she was miles ahead of where she was supposed to be. Granted her husband just sat there the whole time, so she should probably be a little upset about that, but this lady seemed nuts. But wait, crazy psycho mom wasn't the only parent in the place that was a couple screws loose.
This second lady was having dinner with her daughter that was probably 5-7 years old. Well, they get the dinners...both of them have a meal that includes crab. Now, who the heck gets crab for a kid that old is beyond me, but that's not really the kicker. The kicker is that during the meal, the mom goes on to eat crab like she hasn't eaten in a week! She is going nuts sucking the meat out of the arms and cracking them open. While she is doing this the little kid is just sitting there holding a leg and not really know what to do. Turns out that the little girl doesn't have any of the proper crustacean eating equipment (the cracker and the little fork). By the time that the mom realizes what is going on and asks the waiter for the equipment she is 70% done with her meal...and the little girl still hasn't ate a piece!
So, the waiter brings a set for the little girl and the mom continues to eat. She did take maybe 15 seconds to show the girl, but the little kids hands are too small and definitely not strong enough to crack the legs. The mom continues to eat. Now...what would most parents do? Yeah...you are right...most parents wouldn't order friggin' crab for a kid to begin with...but if you were so inclined you would at least help her out a little. Well...this lady doesn't help the kid and eventually the little girl gives up and is done. The mom doesn't stop there...she goes on to eat the daughters crab! Then, instead of ordering some sustenance for the daughter the mom just orders chocolate cake for desert!? Wow...good to see that the girl is eating healthy...and we wonder why Indiana is always one of the most obese states.
The mom on the left...daughter on right.
Well, time for a little update. Nothing exciting went on today that is really worth talking about...but I do want to talk about the dilemma of dinner time. When I was younger and not in the "grown-up" world...it was pretty common to go to dinner 9-10 at night. Well, now that we are getting older (as scary as that is) we now find ourselves in restaurants from 5-6pm. This is a somewhat different environment than what we previously would experience.
The early crowd is full of families with little kids and retired people. There just isn't many people our age without kids eating at that time...usually just us. So now...instead of having drunk annoying people eating with us we now have screaming kids. today...it was the worse possible situation.
So, for our Friday treat to start our celebration of the weekend Amanda and I went to Red Lobster. We get seated in 10 or 15 minutes at a table near the middle of the non-smoking section. Well, right behind us is the big behemoth of a table that sits like 8-10 people. This large family sat down there shortly after we were seated. It was mom, dad, their 3 kids and the grandparents. Well...the daughter that was probably 5 or so was a whiney little brat. She was fake crying over everything and no matter what she did her mom got more and more agitated. Well, the mom made matters worse because she obviously had absolutely zero parenting skills. She either didn't know how to deal or is going on her 5th year of post-partum depression. She looked ragged and quite bitter. Well, the daughter started fake crying and then I heard a dish get clanked down...I thought for sure that the daughter threw it down. Nope, it wasn't the daughter it was mom! She went nuts and raised her voice and drug the daughter out of the restaurant.
Now, don't get me wrong...I wish that more parents would actually parent instead of letting their kids walk all over them, but she was miles ahead of where she was supposed to be. Granted her husband just sat there the whole time, so she should probably be a little upset about that, but this lady seemed nuts. But wait, crazy psycho mom wasn't the only parent in the place that was a couple screws loose.
This second lady was having dinner with her daughter that was probably 5-7 years old. Well, they get the dinners...both of them have a meal that includes crab. Now, who the heck gets crab for a kid that old is beyond me, but that's not really the kicker. The kicker is that during the meal, the mom goes on to eat crab like she hasn't eaten in a week! She is going nuts sucking the meat out of the arms and cracking them open. While she is doing this the little kid is just sitting there holding a leg and not really know what to do. Turns out that the little girl doesn't have any of the proper crustacean eating equipment (the cracker and the little fork). By the time that the mom realizes what is going on and asks the waiter for the equipment she is 70% done with her meal...and the little girl still hasn't ate a piece!
So, the waiter brings a set for the little girl and the mom continues to eat. She did take maybe 15 seconds to show the girl, but the little kids hands are too small and definitely not strong enough to crack the legs. The mom continues to eat. Now...what would most parents do? Yeah...you are right...most parents wouldn't order friggin' crab for a kid to begin with...but if you were so inclined you would at least help her out a little. Well...this lady doesn't help the kid and eventually the little girl gives up and is done. The mom doesn't stop there...she goes on to eat the daughters crab! Then, instead of ordering some sustenance for the daughter the mom just orders chocolate cake for desert!? Wow...good to see that the girl is eating healthy...and we wonder why Indiana is always one of the most obese states.
The mom on the left...daughter on right.
So...remember yesterday how I said that I wrote Jimmy John's? Well, at 6am I received an answer.
Wow, I'm quite impressed. That was a quick and concise response. Less that 12 hours for the response and probably most impressive was the time. He responded at 6:11am, which really says something about the guy. I'm glad that they didn't just forward it on to the same owner that didn't follow through. While I'm impressed by this guy, I'm still kid of bitter about the restaurant in general. I should just e-bay the certificates or something. Who knows though, it would be hard to turn away free food.
Well...that's about it...I'm going to go to bed even though there is a lot of shows to watch on the PVR. I'm really tired right now and know that as soon as a start watching a show I'll be asleep. Amanda thankfully will be taking the dog out tonight!
Dear Jason,
I am very sorry that we never were able to deliver on our promise to you. That does not speak very well for our company if we forget to follow-up after making a mistake. Thank you again for taking the time to let us know about your concerns and problem. I will make sure you are taken care of today. I will have several J spots sent to the address provided. Thank you for your patience and understanding. If there are any other problems or anything else I can do for you please call me at 317-213-XXXX.
Clay LXXXXXXXXX
Franchise Consultant
Well...that's about it...I'm going to go to bed even though there is a lot of shows to watch on the PVR. I'm really tired right now and know that as soon as a start watching a show I'll be asleep. Amanda thankfully will be taking the dog out tonight!
