Countdown

The countdown to John's departure has officially begun. Ten days left. We sold the car today. I wanted to so it before he left. We posted it on craigslist.org yesterday, got a call this morning, lady came to see it this afternoon. She liked it, so she and her boyfriend will be by tomorrow to pick it up. We got $1900 for it - that's pretty good for a 1994 Honda Accord with 245,000+ miles on it. Then again, it's a dang good car. Still runs well, minor cosmetic damage. Sweet deal for her and for us. But every little thing brings us that much closer. John's parents are coming into town to spend John's next-to-last weekend with us. I still need to get my passport back from having my name changed, then Chantrea and I need visas. My checklist of things that have to happen before we go is getting shorter almost daily!

On the restaurant front . . .nothing too exciting lately. In case you have ever wondered if the servers make fun of people who mispronounce names of menu items. . .Yes, we do. My favorite of late: the lady who asked for more "pico de grigio" for her chicken. She meant pico de gallo, of course, but it was all I could do not to laugh at her. (For those who may not know, pinot grigio is a white wine). I've also had several tables lately that I really, truly think could not read. They kept asking me the same questions over and over. One guy wouldn't order anything not pictured. It wasn't enough that I described it for him, and he'd seen it advertised on TV (he told me what he was looking for) and it was described on the menu. Oh no. Unless he could see the picture of it ON THE MENU, he was not ordering it. Luckily I found a picture of it for him. Some rude people lately but the money has been good so I can't complain. Speaking of money, the other night I had a party of 9. Nine Italians. It was like Ray Romano's entire family. Seriously, one lady acted exactly like Marie. Everything went well though, I didn't have any other tables for most of it. Dropped the check, the guy handed it to me a few minutes later, I thanked him. Then I checked it. It's standard practice at my restaurant (and many others) to add gratuity to large parties. I had done it here. Unfortunately it's only 15% (some restaurants let you add 17, 18 or even 20%). Apparently they hadn't noticed, because they tipped 20% of the total with the gratuity. It was $187 before the tip, and there was $260 in the check presenter. I walked out the to the lobby but they weren't there, so then I walked outside and they were all standing there. I told them the tip was already included and the guy took some out, still left me a 25% tip. Here's what I don't get, though. This is the second time I have done this, and both times the parties barely said thank you. Are they insulted that I added the gratuity in the first place? Embarassed that they wanted some of it back? Shocked? I mean, I don't expect applause but I would be pretty impressed if a server did that (if by chance I was ever stupid enough to not look at the bill). Especially since I know what lowlifes most servers are. Please, if somebody has a thought about this please share. I'd be very interested.

Comments

suprbacana said…
Yay for craigslist! It is very popular here too. I sold a financial calculator a couple weekends ago. I was happy about that--the thing brought back bad memories.

Wow your husband leaves so soon! What kind of housing/transportation will you have in Thailand? Have you contacted your ward/branch? I bet they will be excited to have you!
sleep deprived said…
The school is providing a two-bedroom, furnished townhouse. Not sure exactly what is included in "furnished" but I'm sure we'll find out.

We haven't contacted the branch yet. Bet they'll be surprised when John walks in!

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