Went out to dinner tonight with my roommate. Our waitress was a bit of a space cadet. This manifested itself in the form of her taking forever to remember what the specials were (”Ravioli stuffed with… um… kale? And… pecorino cheese? And um… we also have a… ); entirely neglecting salt, pepper and parmesan; and disappearing for the duration of the meal only to resurface to drop off the check. That’s when this happened:
She brought us back our credit cards—except they weren’t our credit cards. And they were attached to a bill about 4 times larger than ours. Knowing that the next ice age would arrive before she’d return, I picked them up and walked them over to her.
“Um… these aren’t our cards,” I said.
“Oh!” she said, taking them from my hand. She walked over to a table a few feet away and without saying a word to the patrons, like a bird diving for worms she snagged their bill and replaced it with ours.
Handing me the correct cards, she said: “Oops! It happens!”
Yes. It does happen. But that’s not the issue here. The issue here is that “it happens” is my line. I am the one who can use it to make light of the situation and communicate to you that I don’t care that you just gave my credit card to a total stranger. Not you. Nope. Your line is: “Oops! I’m sorry!”
But whatevs, shit happens.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Kazzzzz // Jun 27, 2008 at 4:44 am
Boy that entry pissed me off. Hey waitress! Good luck with the rest of your life? wHaTeV
2 Rebecca // Jun 27, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I had a similar situation happen to me. I had taken my parents out for dinner, given the waitress my credit card and waited for her to come back. She did come back and gave me a receipt to sign, but no card. I also had to go track her down, and told her she didn’t give me my card back. She swore she did, but I’m pretty particular making sure my cards are back in my wallet after I use them.
Turns out, my card had fallen out of her book, or whatever and was just laying on the floor for anyone to pick up. People just need to be more careful!!
3 TimsHead // Jun 28, 2008 at 10:43 am
You could always have left a dollar on the table, writing on it: Here’s a buck. Buy a clue! It could happen!
For her to use that saying to minimize her own incompetence? Just plain wow.
4 michael5000 // Jun 28, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Ooh, I HATE it when people steal the gracious line and use it for themself.
Another (although far less flagrant) example of this that I’ve seen a lot lately is when people say that they are going to take a “much-deserved vacation” or a “much-deserved break.” It seems to me like you can judge that you are taking a “much-needed” rest, or certainly a “long-awaited vacation,” but that desiding that you DESERVE something is more graciously left to the opinion of others.
5 jiffer // Jun 30, 2008 at 7:28 pm
recently i had a woman in a department store tell me i could go on line and fill out a survey about the “great service” she had provided.
???? i was not greeted when i came into the department; had to track her ass down when i was ready to make my purchase; and she rudley told me i was standing at the wrong register. (it was an island, she could have turned around) not to mention she told me i messed up when i swiped my card and had to re-do it. that was great service-it happens
just not to me
6 boo // Jul 3, 2008 at 11:42 am
Wow. That was some flaky business there. Identity theft friendly waitress.
I have given the wrong bill to a table before, but I freaked out about it and apologized like mad. I cannot fathom excusing herself like that and still expecting any kind of a tip.
7 The Other Laura // Jul 9, 2008 at 9:25 am
I’m guessing she didn’t last long…