Go Away and Let Me Eat! at 11:05 AM

Last night we went down to Indy—partly for a trip to Costco, and partly just to get out of the house.  We haven’t been too far from the house since the gas prices have gone up.  Anyway, we stopped to eat before going to the store.  We had Luke with us, and it was the first time since he’s been able to sit in a highchair that we’ve had him with us at a restaurant.  Even though he can be a handful at mealtime, he’s pretty good when we’re out, so we weren’t really worried.  We sat down and started looking at the menu, and when the waitress came over for the first time she asked if we were ready to order.  I didn’t think anything of it at the time, since that’s what waitresses tend to do.  I did find it odd right off the bat though, that she didn’t acknowledge Luke.  Not that it’s a requirement or anything, but I would think, having worked for tips myself, that you would make a comment about the cute baby or maybe say “Oh, hello!” to him, or something.  Again, I don’t need reinforcement that the boy exists—I’m just sayin.  

This was where the weirdness/annoyance began.  In the space of five minutes, the waitress came back three times to ask if we were ready to order.  I was starting to get annoyed, because I like to take my time when I’m ordering at a restaurant.  I don’t want to end up with something and then wish I’d gotten something else, you know?  It’s too expensive to eat out and then not get what you want.  So by the fourth time, I felt so rushed that I just picked something.  I was bothered at this point, and I mentioned it to my wife.  Her tip was slowly decreasing.  Not only was she rushing us, she wasn’t even friendly when she was talking to us!  My wife mentioned that she was probably rushing us because of Luke.  I could understand that if he was being loud or anything, but he wasn’t even making a sound!  He was eating his dinner (we brought some for him) and being a good baby.  And even in the case that he was being a distraction, would it help two frustrated parents if their waitress kept hassling them?  She seriously stopped by the table every couple minutes, and never to ask how everything was going.  “Should I bring your soup out now?”  Well if it’s ready, why are you asking me?  “Your appetizer is almost done, it’ll be out in a minute.”  I haven’t even started my soup yet.  Relax.  “Are you ready for the check?”  I’m still eating.  Go away before I have to get violent.  Not only that, but I guess she couldn’t find the time to clear the table of the things we were done with.  

As even-keeled as I usually am, I was really annoyed.  I didn’t understand what was going on.  We were out of there in about 45 minutes, including waiting for the food.  I was upset because it was a place that we usually enjoy, and this lady had all but ruined it for us.  As I said, I used to work for tips (as a pizza guy), so I’m a notoriously heavy tipper.  Last night she was lucky I left her anything at all.  In fact, after rehashing it all I’m regretting that I even left her the buck that I did.  Well, hopefully it got the message across that “I’m not cheap—you just really sucked.”  If I didn’t tip at all (something I actually have been compelled to do twice, but we won’t get into those disasters right now), it might have just made her think I was simply cheap.  Whatever.  I don’t care.  I just don’t get how someone who relies on tips for most of their income would show that much disregard for a customer.

But moving on, can I just say that Costco is the best store in the world?  I love it.  We live near a Sam’s Club up here, but it’s just nowhere near as good as Costco.  Better products, better prices, and it’s not associated with Wal-Mart.  Not that I don’t go to Wal-Mart.  I just resent that it’s such a good place to shop.  It’s kind of like that one episode of South Park.  Did you see that one?  I’m totally rambling right now.

I’m not a traffic expert or anything, so maybe someone out there can help me with this.  There’s been construction everywhere near our house for a while, and they just finished widening a stretch of road that I take on the way to work.  They made it four lanes and put in traffic lights instead of the stop signs that were there before.  I get all that.  Here’s what I don’t get:  before the construction, the speed limit was 50 mph on that road.  Now it’s 40.  Huh?  I can do 50 in between stop signs, but now there’s a possibility that I won’t have to stop, and I have to do 40?  I don’t get it.  Can anyone tell me how that makes sense?  

I’m working on setting up my sports blog (link will be coming soon).  I felt like I interrupted a conversation in the comments of my last non-sports post, so it seems like time to separate the two.  That makes three blogs that I’ll be writing in now.  What did I do for creative release before this?  I probably just annoyed my wife with long random speeches about all my thoughts.

Song of the Day:  “Photograph”, by Nickelback.  As much disdain as I have for most popular music today, I’m a sucker for a good hook.  And as much as I want to not like them sometimes, I just can’t help it.  The nice thing is that I don’t listen to the radio much, so I don’t get sick of the good songs.