Sunday, August 24, 2008

Tricks of the trade



J.C. and I went on our "first date" this weekend since Eli came home from the hospital, and I must say that it was wonderful. We had an amazing meal at Firebirds - I highly recommend it - but beware if you go there.


We decided to live it up and order a bottle of wine to go with our dinner. While we were deciding on our selection, the waitress asked me what I wanted to drink. My response was "I'll start with water" to which she replied "sparkling or still?". A little taken aback (as we don't eat at "sparkling or still" kind of places very often), I said "still", meaning just regular, plain ole water. the next thing I know she brought me a fancy bottle of water and poured it into a wine glass. I glanced at the menu and almost had a heart attack when I realized that the water cost $3.50! For water! Absurd. I was highly aggravated, but wasn't going to say anything since I just assumed that the restaurant was too fancy-pants to serve regular water. Then, I look at the tables around us to realize that everyone else has regular water being refilled by the waitresses with the regular water pitcher. Why not me....? Do I look so wealthy and high-falutin' that one would assume that regular water is below me? Doubt it. So I ask the waitress when she returns, "Why did you bring me the fancy (extremely expensive) water instead of just the regular water that everyone around me has?" She replied, "Oh, I'm sorry. Usually people speak up if they want tap water when I ask them if they want sparkling or still.". Hmmmm.... I doubt that. I think, rather, that most people fail to speak up when the $3.50 bottle of water is added to their bill for fear of sounding cheap. Luckily that's not me.


Needless to say, she took it off our tab.


Meanwhile, my husband (aka - the person who doesn't like to cause a scene and is embarrassed by his wife who has no qualms about pitching a fit over something like this if necessary) had enough sense to know that if I didn't say anything about it and get it taken off our tab, it would bother me the rest of the evening and put a damper on our nice night out. So, he quietly and patiently allowed me to confront the waitress to resolve the issue. Smart man :).


Anyway, I'm sure most of my visitors will really be coming here for pictures of the little guy (and I aim to please), so here you go.




12 comments:

Gina said...

He's so cute and getting so big. I don't blame you for speaking up about the water. That's crazy that she didn't even offer regular water.

Reese said...

I am so glad that you all had a great night out, and didn't let the water get in the way of that.

Eli is so adorable and little in that big boy seat of his. I can't wait to see him one day. Thanks for the baby Eli fix today.

Leanna Tennille McClellan said...

I am glad that you had a nice night out and although I doubt I would have something about the water I admire you for saying something.

Rachel said...

That is SUCH an awesome pic!! What a great expression!!! Those kind of moments are hard to catch at that age - good job!!
Of course I tend to be more like my brother and wouldn't have said anything, but I would have been extraordinarily aggravated about it.
However, in my overly dorkiness, somehow I can make myself "feel better" about something like that and be able to let it go if I charge it to my spending money account (rather than "Out to Eat"). Makes no sense because then it IS coming from me, but for some reason I feel less bad about paying for my own mistakes (or, in your case, waitresses mistakes) than the family paying for it. I know, I'm weird. But I just don't have the confrontational abilities to get it taken off, so I must cope to the best of my abilities! :)

granny said...

More pictures of my precious little great grand son please. The name of your blog is blue ribbon. Why am I not suprised? You got a few things from your granny. I would have spoken up about the water also. You go girl.
Love, Granny

Greta said...

Sounds like that crazy lady was trying to fluff your check to add to her tip.
And that is one adorable picture of Eli!!! Can't wait to see him (and you guys) tomorrow.

Lindsay said...

Oh, she was definitely fluffing up the check. She knew what she was doing. Good thing she took it off or else we would have "defluffed" her tip by about $3.50 :).

Rach, your comment cracks me up. Only you....

Jennifer said...

LOVE the Eli pic! He is SO adorable! And that smile! You can tell he has a dog for a half-sister! ;)
Besides his little size (which I am kinda jealous of 'cause I want Amy Beth to stay that little while still developing that fun personality, and she isn't cooperating like Eli is), you just can't tell that he was/is a preemie!

Anonymous said...

That is too funny! Good for you for standing up and saying something!
It reminds me of when we went to Spain and were trying to figure out the Spanish menu (I know very few Spanish words/phrases, haha), we would say the same thing - just water for now. Next thing we know a huge, glass bottle of water is put on our table and we end up paying 5 euro (so that's like, what? $7-$8??) for WATER! One time I was so mad, I left the 3 euro bottle of wine on the table and walked off with my 5 euro bottle of water, hahaha! I figured I paid for it, I was taking it with me! ;)
What a CUTE pic of Eli!!! He looks so happy!! :)
Love, Shelley

Erica Byrnes said...

Enough about the water already!! What kind of wine did you end up with? Let's re-focus this conversation...

Lindsay said...

lol, Erica. Good point. We have to keep appropriate perspective here. We ordered the Kim Crawford Pinot Noir. Solid wine.

Anonymous said...

That's great! When Tim and I went to Hawaii we spent $5 a bottle on water. I told Tim it was probably expensive and not to order more but he did. We spent $20 bucks on water! We might have complained if we could understand the waiter and his accent. (: