The Olive Garden Experience

I had written a completely different post for today, but it will have to be saved for later because tonight I went out with some girlfriends to the Olive Garden and boy was it quite an experience.

We met up at the restaurant at around 6:30p.m. to get the party started so to speak. Our friend Shawna was in town and we had not had an opportunity to spend time with her in a long while and so she arranged our little soiree. Shawna, Lisa and I were the first ones to arrive and be seated and our waitress said she would be over in a few minutes and by the time she finally did come over (10 minutes or more later) everyone had arrived. Listen, people, I waited tables for a good five years or more in my college and post-college days and I know what good service is and isn’t. Now, our waitress, bless her heart, was pregnant and no doubt tired and running the gamut of emotions.

We were served salad and drinks but our waitress was MIA for a long while and when she finally did return, it was with our dinner. We asked for more salad and extra dressing but she didn’t acknowledge that she heard the extra dressing bit and so Amy told her again and she finally acknowledged that she heard us.

We ate our dinner and talked and talked some more and once about every 15 minutes or so our waitress would show up and refill a drink or ask us if we needed anything. About 20 minutes or more after we had finished eating, she finally brought our checks to us. She then collected all of our cards and dinner checks on her tray. Lisa commented to me that all those cards and checks on the tray was going to be a disaster and sure enough it ended up being just that.

Lisa and I saw her tray tilt over and the money on the tray fell in the floor and some of the cards got mixed up. I noticed she kept looking on the ground for something and figured she probably was missing some money or a card. When she came back to the table, she tried to give me my check with Amy’s card. I told her that wasn’t my card and gave it back to her. She passed out some other cards and took Shawna’s and then came back and gave everyone their card but me. She then asked me to look in my wallet for my card, which was the ceiling for me. This whole time I had been watching her and knew my card was lost and for her to come over and ask me to look in my wallet, well, that was the final straw. I said, “I saw you drop your tray, I know you lost my card, you’d better find it.” She went back over and got assistance from another waitress and they moved chairs and other various and sundry objects looking for it. She finally found it, I think it ended up being on her tray the whole time, under something.

I then asked to speak with a manager and when the manager came over I told him that the waitress had not been very friendly and that she only checked on us every 15 minutes or so and that losing my card was unacceptable. He then said he was going to take care of my meal for me, which he did. We then discovered that the waitress had originally charged my meal on Amy’s card but then credited it back and charged her for the correct meal.

The manager then showed me where he credited my meal and he gave each of us a $5 gift card. The waitress then came over and apologized and she started crying and y’all, I just couldn’t take it. My guilty conscience took over and I felt so bad. By no means did I intend to upset her. I’m sure she was just having a bad night. I mean, she’s pregnant and I’m sure she is doing the best she can to make a living for herself and her child and I just felt terrible for causing her to cry.

We sat around and talked for a while longer and when we got ready to leave, the waitress was sitting at a table with one of the waiters rolling silverware for the next day. I went over to her and apologized to her. I told her I was sorry if I was rude and certainly didn’t mean to hurt her feelings. She apologized as well and I apologized again and told her not to worry about it. I hope she won’t get in trouble over the situation and hopefully she will have a better shift the next time. In short, it was a great night with the girls and I’m glad I went over and talked to her before I left; I certainly hope it made her feel a little better about the situation.