Tales of Waiter Woe

In celebration of Andrew's 28^th year, we planned a super-fun filled day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. But before I tell you about that, I have to tell you about the dinner from HELL. (Truly, if I could have the made the letters appear flaming, they would be.)

I had arranged a dinner with the in-laws so that they could partake in the celebration of Andrew. We arranged to meet at a restaurant in downtown Los Gatos (closer to them, but not far from home). We were all seated, and ordered our drinks. That part was fine.

About five minutes into our evening, our waiter brought out the drinks, and promptly dumped a virgin pina colada all over my Youngest Niece (eight years old). All over her crotch and lap. Stop and think for a moment. It's a shock of cold and it's sticky. She, like any reasonable person, dissolved into tears.

(I would have done the same. It was a long day for all of us.)

The family all jumps to the rescue, all napkins were swiftly passed to YN's mother while our waiter MOSEYED away to get stuff to clean up with. He MOSEYED. There was no hustle in his step, and all he did when he spilled it was make excuses ("Oh, there was a menu there. Oops."). By the time the waiter MOSEYED back, YN was pina colada free, just sticky and unhappy.

YN is a really easy-going and reasonable child, "I want to go home and change."

Her mom explained that by the time they went home, changed and started back towards the restaurant, dinner would be over. As an alternative, YN's mom offered to walk two doors down to Gap Kids and pick up a new pair of pants. YN said that would be fine. The pants were obtained and changed into in about ten minutes. Crisis averted.

When the food FINALLY showed up, the waiter couldn't figure out who had ordered what. Taquitos had been substituted for flautas (ahem, big difference), and other dishes were just as wrong. We ate the food and managed to salvage the evening.

Just a side note; nothing was comp'ed on the bill, and we didn't even get an apology from the moseying waiter.