A Relaxing Night out at Ruby Tuesday.....Hmmmm

...And restaurants wonder why they lose money and have to go out of business....

It's all about the service....

Last night a friend and I went out to dinner for her birthday.  She had a coupon for Ruby Tuesday in Westland, so we went there.  Neither one of us had ever eaten there before or any Ruby Tuesday for that matter.  Probably got there around 7:15 or so.  There were several people waiting for tables.  A young man was taking names.  I gave him my name and he said it would be 15-20 minute wait.  We asked if there was a bar and could we wait there.  He said 'sure' and that he would find me there when he had a table.  We ordered a couple of pricey beers and waited at the bar...($8.50 for 2 beers is pricey in my book).   Barmaid put the tab down and I laid a $10 bill on it to pay.  I expected change...and figured I'd leave a dollar for a tip.   (Yeah, I know...cheap, but whatever)  It just sat there.  After well over 20 minutes we could see empty tables.....we could see people coming in and immediately getting a table.  WTF?? we asked.....so my friend went up to the guy and asked....OH....he FORGOT ABOUT US.   Told him we'll get our own table...thank you very much. 

We sat at a table and waited for a waitress.  We got our own menus.  She finally came and we ordered the soup and salad bar.  We gave her our soup order and then went to the salad bar.  There were several people waiting in line.  There were no plates.  We had to wait for a guy to bring some freshly washed plates.  Now they were hot, and nothing like putting a cold salad on a hot plate....but whatever.  We got our salads.  Went back to our table to eat.

Hmmmmm......Where is our silverware???  Are we suppose to eat with our fingers??  Had to ask about the silverware.  Another guy brought us some silverware wrapped in a napkin.  Now here I have another little itsy bitsy problem that I seem to have most places I go.   Ya get ONE measily napkin.  Now unless there is a placemat (which in this case there was NOT), I prefer to keep my silverware ON my napkin and not on the probably germ filled table that people have been sneezing on all evening and putting dirty hands/fingers on.....and I'm sure that the rag they use to wipe those tables down are just as bad.  NOPE....I'll keep my silverware on my napkin, if you please.  Which leaves me with nothing to wipe my hands and mouth with while I eat.   Yeah, I'm picky....but whatever...

So now we have our silverware and eating our salad, but where oh where is our frickin' soup??  Do they make it from scratch after you order??  We had to ask the waitress.  She said she put the order in....walked away, came back and VOILA!...our soup appeared!!

Now I'm thirsty.....very thirsty.  We had no water.  What is it with water with these restaurants nowadays?  It's like you have to special order it or something.  I remember ... oh, back in the good ole days...when water was immediately brought to your table before you even ordered.  And  I AM OUT OF BEER!!!!  So really NOT a good thing.  Had to flag the waitress down again.  We told her we wanted water and another round of beers.  Many minutes later...maybe 15....we are still waiting.  Now we see her with the carpet sweeper SWEEPING THE FLOORS!  WHERE THE HELL IS MY BEER????  So we asked.  OH......she forgot.....she is so so sorry.  So then she comes back with MY water and our beers.  My friend never did get her water.  We got real tired of having to keep asking this moronic waitress for everything.  I mean, we didn't want to start sounding DIFFICULT.....They might red tag us or something....ban us forever from their place of establishment.  Put a Scarlet "DB" on our foreheads (Difficult Bitches).  Nope, don't want that to happen.....

So I guess she assumes we are done.  Actually hoping we will get the hell out of her station.  So she brings us our bill....basically letting us know to pay up and then don't let the door hit us in the ass on our way out.  Well.....we ain't done....We paid the bill and kept eating, drinking and talking....and talking....and talking.  After we paid the bill, we never seen hide nor hair of her again.  Maybe she was off her shift and went home.   And at that point, we were totally ignored.  We were never offered another drink.  We sat there for at least another hour and a half or two and chatted.  Our beers were gone, my water was gone....I'm crunching on the few ice cubes on the bottom....then they were gone.  Nobody approached our table to even ask us if we would like anything else....another drink?  Yes...we wanted another drink.  But did we get one...Noooooooo.  We weren't even offered coffee.  I mean, most people like to have a cup of coffee after their meal.  We were never asked. 

So we just talked and then the last table of people left.  We were still there talking.  Then we noticed they were cleaning up.  We asked one of the waitresses what time they closed.  They close at midnight.....Oops...it was 12:30 a.m.  Guess it's time to go. 

Too bad the service was so bad.  It was a nice place.  Food was good.  Clean.   Almost too clean.
When I went to use the rest room at some point, there was a cleaning lady in there.  She told me I had to wait because all the toilets had just been sprayed with bleach and she needed to wipe one down for me.  DUH.....This was when there were still people in the restaurant.  Couldn't she do one at a time??  Why spray them all down at once??  I have no clue.  So I waited and held it in as best I could.

OMG.....Is it me??  Am I being over picky??  Do I expect too much??  Sorry, when I pick a restaurant to spend my money in, I EXPECT to be treated like the Queen of England.  I expect good service.  I expect to be waited on.  A good waitress should know what her customers want before even they know what they want.  You should not have to ask for a menu...or silverware...or a drink....or water....or your freakin' SOUP!  I mean, it's in a pot....ladle it out into the damn bowl and bring it to me!! 

I gave her a $6 tip and she is damn lucky she got that.  I only gave her that because I knew we would be ordering another round of beers later and I figure it would cover it.  But we never got the other round of beers. 

I almost was going to take my empty water glass into the bathroom and fill it up myself!  But I figured I'd probably have to wait for the cleaning lady to finish washing out the sink or something.......

I sent my thoughts and comments and a total rundown of my experience to Ruby Tuesday on their website.  I'll be hearing from them, I'm sure.  Maybe I'll get a free dinner out of it.  Next time I will be on their ass.....

The end of 2012.......See Ya

Lordy, Lordy, Lordy....I can't believe I haven't written a damn thing since OCTOBER!!  I guess I get too involved in writing my life in Facebook and figure everybody reads that anyway.  But I kinda use this blog as a journal and later when I'm trying to figure out when I did such and such...I can always go back into my blog and figure it out. 

In November I nearly lost little Junior, my pet pigeon.  I was in Caseville with the dogs and her.  I thought she was in the cottage.  I had shut the doors thinking I was locking them up in the house and then I went through the attached garage and out the back door to do some yard work.  Apparently, she had flown into the garage and I didn't know it.  So when I went outside I heard the flapping of wings.  I turned around and saw her flying out the door.   I yelled her name and she ignored me and flew right over the roof of the house.  I ran into the front yard and she was nowhere in sight....basically....she flew the coop!

Saying I was upset is an understatement.  I was shaking.  I called hubby and had to tell him that she had flown away.  It was because of my own stupidity.  We thought she might try to fly back home where he was.  So he put her cage out on the patio and kept an eye out.  I kept the front yard light on and back yard light on and the garage doors open with lights on all night.  I had her favorite seeds in a bowl in her cage in the garage.  It got dark.  She didn't come home.

I cried for her.  I was sure that she wouldn't survive the night.  It was in the 30's out there.  She is not use to cold weather.  She has never had to live outside.  She is house bird.  I'm sure it was dark and scary for her.  And I was sure that a hawk would find her before morning.

The next day I drove all over looking for her.  I kept checking her seed cup in her cage and it was never touched.  Hubby called and said he was driving up the next day.  I felt it was probably useless.....she was gone. 

All I did was cry and beg for her return.  I couldn't eat.  All I could keep down was soup and canned fruit.  I was physically ill. 

The next day hubby drove up.  He walked all around looking for her.....hoping she was still in the area and would see him and fly down on his shoulder.  Nothing.  Another long night went by.  We kept all the lights and doors of the garage open. 

The next day.....the fourth day.....we were both convinced that she was gone for good.  Although neither one of us said so, we felt she was probably dead.   I knew of a barn somewhat in the area that pigeons had flocked to.  We had talked with the guy who owned the place.  I told hubby that maybe she found her way to his barn and that we should go over there and check.  It was a last resort......a last straw.....the last hope. 

It was noon and I was sitting on the couch thinking I need to get dressed.  A thought of something I had seen on TV had crossed my mind so I stayed on the couch and proceeded to relate it to my husband who was sitting across from me on his recliner.  When I finished the story, I was looking out the window across from me.  In my line of vision I could see a small portion of the corner of the garage roof.  Just then I saw a Pigeon land on that part of the roof!  I said...OMG, a pigeon just landed on the garage roof!!  I jumped off the couch and told hubby that it just HAD to be her cause it's a pigeon.  I've never seen pigeons near our place before.  I told him to hurry....so she could see him.

We ran out the back door and there she was!!....Prancing on the garage roof when she saw us.  We called her name.  She flew down on my husband's shoulder, and I grabbed her and brought her in the house.  SHE WAS HOME!!  My prayers were answered.  I thanked God over and over and over again!!  I was literally jumping for joy and hugging my husband.  I couldn't take my eyes off her.  I couldn't believe she was actually home.....she was okay. 

SO WHERE THE HELL WAS SHE FOR 3 DAYS AND 3 NIGHTS?????? 

Only Junior knows.....and she ain't tellin'
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Had a great Christmas and New Years.  We were home for the holidays this year.    Had my place all decorated up...inside and outside.  The boys and their wives came over.  We spent some Christmassy time with neighbors on Christmas Eve.  New Years we went out to dinner and then came home and rang in the New Year with Keno, Mini Sue and Junior/Junie (for short). 

Basically 2012 was a good year.  I hope 2013 is even better.