Once I Can Understand, but Twice?

Let me start this post by saying that I'm quite aware that I am not the most patient person I know, not by any stretch of the imagination. Really, I'm the guy that gets mad at someone who takes more than 10-15 items through the self checkout at the grocery store and then stares at the touch screen like they've never seen light before. And really, that's usually only b/c my beer is getting warm or I really want to plow into that bag of animal cookies that I just bought.

However, last night was a real test to my patience, and a subsequent challenge to my ability to not yell at someone who may have deserved it.

Having had equally bad days at work, M (my new friend, the one who kindly picked me up from the wedding on Saturday) and I decided that we could use some kind of barley and hops generated relief. That being the case, we headed over to the Winking Lizard over in Avon. Let me state for the record that I really like the Winking Lizard. They have a great selection of beer, the food is decent, and generally, the service is pretty good.

Last night, not so much. Not at all.

M and I got seated outside, on the back patio thing that they have. We weren't eating, but they gave us a table anyways. They weren't busy, so it really wasn't an issue as far as I'm concerned. Now, I understand that our server has other tables, etc, but it took her almost 15 MINUTES to even come over and ask what we wanted to drink. She gave us some story about how one of the other servers had had an issue with a previous table and she was listening to his story about it.

Okay, that's nice and all, but not my problem. My problem was needing a drink, which would be your job. She was relatively quick in getting our drinks, and okay with getting our second round as well, but then she fell apart again. Who knows, maybe she was mad that we weren't eating, or that we only had 2 drinks, but we didn't really bother her for anything but our two drinks, and last time I checked, THAT WAS HER JOB.

Anyway, when we were getting close to the end of our second drinks, I asked for our check. Our server proceeded to go back up to the bar, stand there talking to two friends of hers that were sitting there, literally 10 feet from our table, for 15 minutes. She then went and checked on the table two down from us, talked to them, went and got their check, and then went back to her friends. Are you effing kidding me? That's twice in one night that she neglected the same table.

Finally, she comes back over to us and asks if she can get us anything. Fortunately, as she was walking over, M grabbed my arm and said "Just let me ask for it, don't even say a word" (She knows me way too well already, kinda scary). She finally brought our check, didn't even apologize for forgetting it, and somehow, I still tipped her 20%. I'm a pansy, I get it.....

Honestly, had I not been with someone that I just met, I would have probably said something mean or told her manager or something, b/c it just wasnt' acceptable. That, and I'm a total bitch