Friday, April 14, 2006
One More Saturday Night
Welcome to episode II of the recap of my birthday weekend extravaganza!
The pics are up in the photo gallery for your viewing pleasure. You'll have to bypass the ones from Friday. If you're lazy, click here.
Saturday morning, Ben and I wake up and grab my mom from her hotel for some breakfast. We try to go to IHOP so my mom can get some coffee, and it seems that EVERYBODY in the city of Arlington had the same idea. Its like this EVERY weekend. Does NO ONE MAKE breakfast on the weekends anymore? I guess I've been spoiled by Vegas as a kid, being able to throw a dart and hit a breakfast buffet that you could go anywhere and not really have to wait, but not here. There's 2 IHOPS in Arlington and they were FULL UP.
We found a Denny's, IHOP's red-headed stepchild, and ate there. It was pretty yummy in fact. I haven't been to a Denny's in ages, and I forgot how good it was. IHOP is overrated in my opinion. Breakfast is breakfast, I say.
The rest of the morning we spent shopping for me for my birthday because my mom decided it would be easier to shop here than to lug a bunch of stuff from Vegas for me. I got some spiffy new Vans, restock on my perfume, a couple purses and some choice Paul Frank stuff. THIS was the best piece, since, you know, I'm a freak about watches.
We took my mom on a whirlwind tour of Dallas, namely the grassy knoll where President Kennedy was shot. (I think its so amazing that I live somewhere that something to pivotal to this country happened and its just 20 minutes away. I can go see it anytime I want. Yes, I'm a history nerd sometimes.)
One destination was Deep Ellum, the place where we see alot of shows and what I guess can be considered the Dallas version of "The Strip". We were just going to drive through because there really isn't alot to see in the middle of the day there. We stop for a traffic light and WHAM! We get rear-ended.
And I'm driving my Explorer that I'm trying to sell.
Son of a B!
Thankfully she wasn't going very fast and there was zero damage to my car or else she would have FULLY realized my wrath. She mumbled some lame excuse to the effect of "I don't know what happened, my brakes didn't work..." Really?!? Cause I think you have to USE your brake pedal in order to get them to work, sweetheart.
Anyway, no harm, no foul and we were on our way.
We got some lunch at Pei Wei, please please go to the photo gallery and see my pictures from the lunch. I about lose my shit EVERYTIME I look at the one of my mom with her chopsticks. I don't know why.
Then there was dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. Take a look at their website. Go Ahead. I'll wait. It looks nice doesn't it? Very well put together site, I must say. The food looks good, so what the hell?
Ben and I had NEVER eaten there before, and there wasn't one in Arlington, so we had to drive to Bedford or Euless or something to eat there. AND we invited ALL our friends to go too! NONE of them had eaten there before either. What a fun experience THIS will be, right? I mean its my BIRTHDAY! What can go wrong?
Oh, my lovelies, let me tell you. MURPHY'S LAW at its WORST was dining with us that evening. Since I HAVE waited tables, I'm usually the MOST tolerant person at the table when it comes to waitstaff and problems. But not this night. This girl seriously needs to reconsider her choice of profession. Some people just can't cut the mustard, and she's their Queen.
Ben, my mom and I get there first, so we sit down and talk to our waitress (from here to be known as Waitress From HELL AKA WFH), order drinks, chips and queso and wait for everyone. So our WFH brings the drinks with no hitches, save one. No straws, she says she'll bring some, and then never does. (I think she brought some later...) I don't know about you, but my lips CANNOT touch a glass in a restaurant. I don't know why. I guess since I've worked in a restaurant, I would just rather drink from a straw. Our spinach dip comes out later.
Yup, SPINACH dip.
"Um, we ordered chips and queso."
To which the server bringing it out stands about 3 feet from our table and bitches about us to our WFH that we don't want the spinach dip...
Um, we really DID order chips and queso, it wasn't that we didn't WANT spinach dip, we frigging ordered queso.
Everyone starts showing up and the party begins.
Ruby Tuesday's has these Mini burgers, similar to White Castle, called Sliders or something. Ben REALLY wanted to try these, and I decided on them too. I think about 8 of the 10 people who were there ordered them as well. Sadly for our WFH, we ALL like our burgers just a tiny bit different than they come. Me? I don't like mayo on burgers. Pat, he didn't want mustard OR mayo. I think someone else didn't want ketchup and so on and so forth.
Well, when the food FINALLY comes out, its chaos, again dogs and cats are living together. I get Pat's burgers, I think he got mine, Arno got someone else's...mass hysteria. NO ONE got their correct burgers even though the kitchen marked the burgers with colored toothpicks so the WFH would KNOW which burgers went where. Nope, we all had eaten at least ONE of the burgers before having to figure out whose food we had and make the switch.
Laura ordered the chicken fingers platter (smart move on her part, in retrospect because not only did we get the wrong food, those of us that ordered the minis, but they tasted like SHIT) BUT our fabulous WFH put them in wrong and so she only got the appetizer. She wanted fries, but got none. THEN, when she ASKED the WFH about her fries, WFH says "The platter doesn't come with fries."
???
At this point, Laura just goes along with it and continues her meal, and later, WFH comes back and says, "Oh, I was wrong it IS supposed to come with fries. Do you want some?" The rest of us are done with our meals, so Laura declines.
We're then ready for dessert! I have a coupon for a free TALL CAKE dessert!! WHEE! Which, I promptly discover that I have LEFT on my kitchen table because I switched purses out that day...So I ask WFH if I HAVE to have that coupon for my birthday dessert. She informs me that, yes, yes I do. NO free dessert for you without your coupon, no matter WHAT it says on your license, missy.
SIGH.
Well, dammit, I went there to get that cake, so I'm ordering it. Laura and Lori ALSO order a Tall Cake a piece and I think Chris got some brownie dish. WFH also asked what we were celebrating since I had presents around me, we tell her its my birthday and she asks if I don't mind being embarrassed. After a collective snort from the table, I tell her, no, I don't embarrass easily (unless someone is screaming "I hope you die of AIDS!" from a car window, in THAT case, I get highly embarrassed.) and to bring it on.
Well, about 30 minutes go by and I'm thinking, "Holy HELL, what are they planning for me back there?" Then our desserts come. No fanfare, no apologies other than "Sorry, I had to make ALL of these by myself." OK...
So we eat our desserts, again, check the photo gallery for some choice pics. And then its presents time. I also got some really swank stuff here, check the gallery for a run down. (I didn't get pics of all of it, but most, if you REALLY want to know what all I got, ask me...but I'm sure no one but ME cares so I won't bother you with it.)
We figure, while I'm opening presents, this will give WFH time to get our check together.
NOT A CHANCE!
Its another 25 minutes AFTER presents to get the check! Then she informs us she CAN'T split it up, but its arranged by seat number and to find our own seats and do our own math to figure it out. Not that hard, since we're all smart people, just a bit annoying. Everyone pays except for my mom and Josh and Laura, because they have debit cards to use.
Here's the WFH's crowning glory moment. First she can't figure out which card goes with which amount, she puts the queso on Josh and Laura's tab because she "forgot to ask" who it went to. And then she proceeds to come back TWICE to ask which card goes where. And then when she DOES bring the cards back, she's charged the wrong amounts on the two cards.
She then says "The check is always the HARD part..." As opposed to the rest of the meal which was a shining success???
She FINALLY gets the bill in order and we're sent on our way. 3 and 1/2 hours after we got there...3 and 1/2 hours of our LIVES that we are never getting back.
The last kick in the nuts she gives us is this: "Sorry we didn't, you know, sing or anything for your birthday, everyone was just too busy."
Thanks, bitch.
So I want to formally THANK each and every one of my friends that came out and took one for the team for my birthday. I had a great time with all the company, if it wasn't for you guys, I don't think I would have made it through the meal. I promise, next year? We'll eat somewhere that at least ONE of us has been to.
After dinner we were going to go to a bar, but the one we went to was packed to the gills so we ended up getting a bunch of booze and going back to our house and boozing it up because after that, I NEEDED some liquid relaxation.
And then Lori spilled beer in her shoe which made the whole night worthwhile.
The pics are up in the photo gallery for your viewing pleasure. You'll have to bypass the ones from Friday. If you're lazy, click here.
Saturday morning, Ben and I wake up and grab my mom from her hotel for some breakfast. We try to go to IHOP so my mom can get some coffee, and it seems that EVERYBODY in the city of Arlington had the same idea. Its like this EVERY weekend. Does NO ONE MAKE breakfast on the weekends anymore? I guess I've been spoiled by Vegas as a kid, being able to throw a dart and hit a breakfast buffet that you could go anywhere and not really have to wait, but not here. There's 2 IHOPS in Arlington and they were FULL UP.
We found a Denny's, IHOP's red-headed stepchild, and ate there. It was pretty yummy in fact. I haven't been to a Denny's in ages, and I forgot how good it was. IHOP is overrated in my opinion. Breakfast is breakfast, I say.
The rest of the morning we spent shopping for me for my birthday because my mom decided it would be easier to shop here than to lug a bunch of stuff from Vegas for me. I got some spiffy new Vans, restock on my perfume, a couple purses and some choice Paul Frank stuff. THIS was the best piece, since, you know, I'm a freak about watches.
We took my mom on a whirlwind tour of Dallas, namely the grassy knoll where President Kennedy was shot. (I think its so amazing that I live somewhere that something to pivotal to this country happened and its just 20 minutes away. I can go see it anytime I want. Yes, I'm a history nerd sometimes.)
One destination was Deep Ellum, the place where we see alot of shows and what I guess can be considered the Dallas version of "The Strip". We were just going to drive through because there really isn't alot to see in the middle of the day there. We stop for a traffic light and WHAM! We get rear-ended.
And I'm driving my Explorer that I'm trying to sell.
Son of a B!
Thankfully she wasn't going very fast and there was zero damage to my car or else she would have FULLY realized my wrath. She mumbled some lame excuse to the effect of "I don't know what happened, my brakes didn't work..." Really?!? Cause I think you have to USE your brake pedal in order to get them to work, sweetheart.
Anyway, no harm, no foul and we were on our way.
We got some lunch at Pei Wei, please please go to the photo gallery and see my pictures from the lunch. I about lose my shit EVERYTIME I look at the one of my mom with her chopsticks. I don't know why.
Then there was dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. Take a look at their website. Go Ahead. I'll wait. It looks nice doesn't it? Very well put together site, I must say. The food looks good, so what the hell?
Ben and I had NEVER eaten there before, and there wasn't one in Arlington, so we had to drive to Bedford or Euless or something to eat there. AND we invited ALL our friends to go too! NONE of them had eaten there before either. What a fun experience THIS will be, right? I mean its my BIRTHDAY! What can go wrong?
Oh, my lovelies, let me tell you. MURPHY'S LAW at its WORST was dining with us that evening. Since I HAVE waited tables, I'm usually the MOST tolerant person at the table when it comes to waitstaff and problems. But not this night. This girl seriously needs to reconsider her choice of profession. Some people just can't cut the mustard, and she's their Queen.
Ben, my mom and I get there first, so we sit down and talk to our waitress (from here to be known as Waitress From HELL AKA WFH), order drinks, chips and queso and wait for everyone. So our WFH brings the drinks with no hitches, save one. No straws, she says she'll bring some, and then never does. (I think she brought some later...) I don't know about you, but my lips CANNOT touch a glass in a restaurant. I don't know why. I guess since I've worked in a restaurant, I would just rather drink from a straw. Our spinach dip comes out later.
Yup, SPINACH dip.
"Um, we ordered chips and queso."
To which the server bringing it out stands about 3 feet from our table and bitches about us to our WFH that we don't want the spinach dip...
Um, we really DID order chips and queso, it wasn't that we didn't WANT spinach dip, we frigging ordered queso.
Everyone starts showing up and the party begins.
Ruby Tuesday's has these Mini burgers, similar to White Castle, called Sliders or something. Ben REALLY wanted to try these, and I decided on them too. I think about 8 of the 10 people who were there ordered them as well. Sadly for our WFH, we ALL like our burgers just a tiny bit different than they come. Me? I don't like mayo on burgers. Pat, he didn't want mustard OR mayo. I think someone else didn't want ketchup and so on and so forth.
Well, when the food FINALLY comes out, its chaos, again dogs and cats are living together. I get Pat's burgers, I think he got mine, Arno got someone else's...mass hysteria. NO ONE got their correct burgers even though the kitchen marked the burgers with colored toothpicks so the WFH would KNOW which burgers went where. Nope, we all had eaten at least ONE of the burgers before having to figure out whose food we had and make the switch.
Laura ordered the chicken fingers platter (smart move on her part, in retrospect because not only did we get the wrong food, those of us that ordered the minis, but they tasted like SHIT) BUT our fabulous WFH put them in wrong and so she only got the appetizer. She wanted fries, but got none. THEN, when she ASKED the WFH about her fries, WFH says "The platter doesn't come with fries."
???
At this point, Laura just goes along with it and continues her meal, and later, WFH comes back and says, "Oh, I was wrong it IS supposed to come with fries. Do you want some?" The rest of us are done with our meals, so Laura declines.
We're then ready for dessert! I have a coupon for a free TALL CAKE dessert!! WHEE! Which, I promptly discover that I have LEFT on my kitchen table because I switched purses out that day...So I ask WFH if I HAVE to have that coupon for my birthday dessert. She informs me that, yes, yes I do. NO free dessert for you without your coupon, no matter WHAT it says on your license, missy.
SIGH.
Well, dammit, I went there to get that cake, so I'm ordering it. Laura and Lori ALSO order a Tall Cake a piece and I think Chris got some brownie dish. WFH also asked what we were celebrating since I had presents around me, we tell her its my birthday and she asks if I don't mind being embarrassed. After a collective snort from the table, I tell her, no, I don't embarrass easily (unless someone is screaming "I hope you die of AIDS!" from a car window, in THAT case, I get highly embarrassed.) and to bring it on.
Well, about 30 minutes go by and I'm thinking, "Holy HELL, what are they planning for me back there?" Then our desserts come. No fanfare, no apologies other than "Sorry, I had to make ALL of these by myself." OK...
So we eat our desserts, again, check the photo gallery for some choice pics. And then its presents time. I also got some really swank stuff here, check the gallery for a run down. (I didn't get pics of all of it, but most, if you REALLY want to know what all I got, ask me...but I'm sure no one but ME cares so I won't bother you with it.)
We figure, while I'm opening presents, this will give WFH time to get our check together.
NOT A CHANCE!
Its another 25 minutes AFTER presents to get the check! Then she informs us she CAN'T split it up, but its arranged by seat number and to find our own seats and do our own math to figure it out. Not that hard, since we're all smart people, just a bit annoying. Everyone pays except for my mom and Josh and Laura, because they have debit cards to use.
Here's the WFH's crowning glory moment. First she can't figure out which card goes with which amount, she puts the queso on Josh and Laura's tab because she "forgot to ask" who it went to. And then she proceeds to come back TWICE to ask which card goes where. And then when she DOES bring the cards back, she's charged the wrong amounts on the two cards.
She then says "The check is always the HARD part..." As opposed to the rest of the meal which was a shining success???
She FINALLY gets the bill in order and we're sent on our way. 3 and 1/2 hours after we got there...3 and 1/2 hours of our LIVES that we are never getting back.
The last kick in the nuts she gives us is this: "Sorry we didn't, you know, sing or anything for your birthday, everyone was just too busy."
Thanks, bitch.
So I want to formally THANK each and every one of my friends that came out and took one for the team for my birthday. I had a great time with all the company, if it wasn't for you guys, I don't think I would have made it through the meal. I promise, next year? We'll eat somewhere that at least ONE of us has been to.
After dinner we were going to go to a bar, but the one we went to was packed to the gills so we ended up getting a bunch of booze and going back to our house and boozing it up because after that, I NEEDED some liquid relaxation.
And then Lori spilled beer in her shoe which made the whole night worthwhile.
Comments:
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Me and my damn fancy shoes....wearing 'em today and guess what? Total chaos.
I'm glad you had enough fun at the restaurant to not throw your food and tell someone to fuck off.
I had a blast and loved seeing your mom, so thanks for our experience together!
I'm glad you had enough fun at the restaurant to not throw your food and tell someone to fuck off.
I had a blast and loved seeing your mom, so thanks for our experience together!
I think your "fancy shoes" are actually aliens or spies that are doing a human study on how long one person can take humiliation in the name of fashion...
HAHA, yeah I had a totally rad time, it was actually really funny, I'm glad I had witnesses too, because it was such a ridiculous evening.
HAHA, yeah I had a totally rad time, it was actually really funny, I'm glad I had witnesses too, because it was such a ridiculous evening.
Wow... That sounds like, one of, my regular days... You know, when everyone you encounter was suddenly afflicted with the inability to interact with other people... Where you spend the entire experience thinkin' to yourself, "What the Hell ... Is this AssHole srious"??? Where you are at the mercy of someone who didn't take the time durin' their High School years to plan something better for themselves, and you have to suffer along with them... Pushed to a point where you actually start to hallucinate, and imagine that you won the lottery... So that you can by that place of business, and systematically torture that dumb-ass everyday... Sorry your Ruby Tuesday experience sucked, but at least you got to spend it with Loved Ones...
Later,
Tony
P.S. Hey Lori, sorry about your shoe...
Later,
Tony
P.S. Hey Lori, sorry about your shoe...
I'm here all week, folks.
Yeah it was funny (and sometimes painful) but we all had a great time, and at least I had witnesses to its heinousness!!
And don't be sorry about Lori's shoe. Those shoes deserve every single thing they get. They're evil I tell you!
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Yeah it was funny (and sometimes painful) but we all had a great time, and at least I had witnesses to its heinousness!!
And don't be sorry about Lori's shoe. Those shoes deserve every single thing they get. They're evil I tell you!
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