- Oct 24, 2000
- 17,255
- 44
- 91
Here's a story about an experience we had at 'On the Border' I hope you enjoy.
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It's been a while since Vinny, Pete or I had gotten together for dinner or whatever. So we decided that we'd head on over to On the Border for some Mexican / southwestern cuisine. It's a great place for food. There were at total of 6 of us, not a huge number at all. However, I have a tale to tell. Sit back while I spin this yarn!
6:00pm, Pete finally gets through after 10 minutes of redialing to On the Border for their "Call Ahead Seating". He asked to put his name on the list and they told him that it was going to be 45 minutes. We decided to all meet up there at 6:30 for a nice buffer. Walking in, the place was bursting at the seams. Tons of people crammed in the waiting area giving their names, grabbing the "you're table is READY!" buzzers. We walked in, Pete jumped on line to tell them we were there, while the rest of us secured a nice piece of pine for our arses after a group stood up from the bench. Pete came over and let us know that it'd probably be about a half hour. Not a problem, as the place really was busy. Vinny and Jill show up and we wait out the half hour. Steve was getting out of work at 8ish and planned on meeting Vinny and Pete to head to the Casino, meeting up with Nick when they got there. I had to pass because I was waking up early to play hockey the next day.
7:00pm, I go up to the hostess and ask very politely what time our table will be ready. She glances down at the list and says that it shouldn't be more than fifteen or twenty minutes. A little irritated but understanding due to the sheer business, I say thanks and walk back to my waiting spot.
7:30pm, Pete's starting to get agitated as are all of us seeing that we've all been waiting for an hour when we were supposed to have a table at about 6:45. Pete and I both go up to the hostess this time and eventually get told that we were supposed to be seated AN HOUR AND A HALF after we arrived. Pete gets into it with her, I'm playing the backup silent guy just staring at her. We then learn that call ahead seating really doesn't mean a damn thing at all. When you go in, you wait the same amount of time as everyone else. Voices started getting raised, the hostess implies Pete is a liar claiming that they never said 45 minutes, that they said 1.5 hours (we never heard 1.5 hours at all). He gets so frustrated that he walks away.
About 5 minutes later we notice an older gentleman arguing with the hostess, and overhear the "but we called ahead" line. I walk over to him, raise my voice a bit so several people can hear. "Excuse me sir, you called ahead too?" He notices what I'm doing, and in an equally loud voice says "Yes We did!" I laugh and say "We did too! We've been waiting more than an hour now!" he responds "Thanks!". Soon after they walk out. I walked back over to our seat and sat down.
Pete likes what I did, gets up and talks to a few people but not loud so I didn't know what he said. We did notice some people left though just after he started coming back to the seat. He exclaims, "Nice! I just got people to leave!" We all laugh. We notice a couple sitting on the bench across from us smiling, I ask the woman "Did you call ahead too?" she says yes and they've been waiting about the same amount of time we were. Apparently it's all a big sham.
A little before eight, the hostess storms over to me (I'm holding the buzzer thing) turns it over while I'm holding it just to look at the number that's on it and storms away. That bothered me a lot. She didn't ask at all, she just grabbed and turned. So I walk up to a waitress standing near the hostess (while she's helping someone else) and ask loud enough for her to hear "Excuse me, what's her name?" (pointing to the hostess) "Dee" she says quietly... "DEE?" I say loudly, "Yep," "Thank You." and just walk away. As I turn, I hear a "Pshaw" from Dee.
Then a funny thing happened... A guy in a Harley Davidson jacket came over with his wife and daughter and said "You're STILL waiting?" We talk a bit finding out they got there after us, had finished before we were even seated, and he actually offers us his desert. We respectfully decline and laugh. Right then the buzzer goes off. Pete takes it up while we just wait in our seat. Our new Harley friend and his family cheer, as do we. He shakes my hand as he departs.
Pete comes back and says "apparently the buzzer lies too, because it's not ready yet.. they're getting it ready." At this point, Dee comes over to us and is looking very apologetic. For whatever reason she talks to me, probably cuz I asked for her name. We go round and round, back and forth. I'm being quite calm for how pissed off I was... Basically saying I was offended for her implying my friend was a liar, for their pointless "call ahead seating", for ruining the rest of our night and for them telling us 45 minutes when we'd now been waiting over an hour an a half for a seat. She goes to the typical response of "I cant control when people leave" and continues to tell us that call ahead seating really doesn't mean anything. It goes on a bit more...
Katherine taps me on the arm as Pete takes up the fight and asks me to stop because it's just going around and around. I say "OK" because she was right... but then Dee says to Pete "There's no need to attack me." He responds we aren't attacking you... and next more funny stuff! "I feel like I'm being attacked" and motions to me. Funny because I really never said anything against her at all, but I raise my voice cuz I got fired up again and said "Great, so now my friend is a liar, and I'm an attacker! I love it!"
She then goes into a whole "If I could be any sorrier I would be. If you want me to cry... cuz that's where I am now... I'm on the verge." Pete obviously doesn't want her to cry, but I thought it was an act. So I talk to Katherine quietly for a bit while Pete's still talking to Dee. Katherine motions with her eyes for me to look at Dee. I do, her eyes are swelling up... Pete's like "C'mon don't cry." Then she says "Just give me a minute..." and bolts for the kitchen.
We actually made the hostess cry.
Soon after she had left, a waitress comes over and lets us know our table is ready so we go over... she hands out our menus and says "You're one of the angry parties, aren't you?" We reply in the affirmative she continues "I don't know what happened out there, I had nothing to do with it... so don't take it out on me! But I wanna let you all know that they're comping the entire meal, so order big, order expensive."
The food was great, as were the waitresses. So after all was said and done, our meal cost $34.85 for six people. We put in $10 a piece for a decent tip. Steve decided that it was too late when we were done to leave for the casino and didn't go.
------------------
It's been a while since Vinny, Pete or I had gotten together for dinner or whatever. So we decided that we'd head on over to On the Border for some Mexican / southwestern cuisine. It's a great place for food. There were at total of 6 of us, not a huge number at all. However, I have a tale to tell. Sit back while I spin this yarn!
6:00pm, Pete finally gets through after 10 minutes of redialing to On the Border for their "Call Ahead Seating". He asked to put his name on the list and they told him that it was going to be 45 minutes. We decided to all meet up there at 6:30 for a nice buffer. Walking in, the place was bursting at the seams. Tons of people crammed in the waiting area giving their names, grabbing the "you're table is READY!" buzzers. We walked in, Pete jumped on line to tell them we were there, while the rest of us secured a nice piece of pine for our arses after a group stood up from the bench. Pete came over and let us know that it'd probably be about a half hour. Not a problem, as the place really was busy. Vinny and Jill show up and we wait out the half hour. Steve was getting out of work at 8ish and planned on meeting Vinny and Pete to head to the Casino, meeting up with Nick when they got there. I had to pass because I was waking up early to play hockey the next day.
7:00pm, I go up to the hostess and ask very politely what time our table will be ready. She glances down at the list and says that it shouldn't be more than fifteen or twenty minutes. A little irritated but understanding due to the sheer business, I say thanks and walk back to my waiting spot.
7:30pm, Pete's starting to get agitated as are all of us seeing that we've all been waiting for an hour when we were supposed to have a table at about 6:45. Pete and I both go up to the hostess this time and eventually get told that we were supposed to be seated AN HOUR AND A HALF after we arrived. Pete gets into it with her, I'm playing the backup silent guy just staring at her. We then learn that call ahead seating really doesn't mean a damn thing at all. When you go in, you wait the same amount of time as everyone else. Voices started getting raised, the hostess implies Pete is a liar claiming that they never said 45 minutes, that they said 1.5 hours (we never heard 1.5 hours at all). He gets so frustrated that he walks away.
About 5 minutes later we notice an older gentleman arguing with the hostess, and overhear the "but we called ahead" line. I walk over to him, raise my voice a bit so several people can hear. "Excuse me sir, you called ahead too?" He notices what I'm doing, and in an equally loud voice says "Yes We did!" I laugh and say "We did too! We've been waiting more than an hour now!" he responds "Thanks!". Soon after they walk out. I walked back over to our seat and sat down.
Pete likes what I did, gets up and talks to a few people but not loud so I didn't know what he said. We did notice some people left though just after he started coming back to the seat. He exclaims, "Nice! I just got people to leave!" We all laugh. We notice a couple sitting on the bench across from us smiling, I ask the woman "Did you call ahead too?" she says yes and they've been waiting about the same amount of time we were. Apparently it's all a big sham.
A little before eight, the hostess storms over to me (I'm holding the buzzer thing) turns it over while I'm holding it just to look at the number that's on it and storms away. That bothered me a lot. She didn't ask at all, she just grabbed and turned. So I walk up to a waitress standing near the hostess (while she's helping someone else) and ask loud enough for her to hear "Excuse me, what's her name?" (pointing to the hostess) "Dee" she says quietly... "DEE?" I say loudly, "Yep," "Thank You." and just walk away. As I turn, I hear a "Pshaw" from Dee.
Then a funny thing happened... A guy in a Harley Davidson jacket came over with his wife and daughter and said "You're STILL waiting?" We talk a bit finding out they got there after us, had finished before we were even seated, and he actually offers us his desert. We respectfully decline and laugh. Right then the buzzer goes off. Pete takes it up while we just wait in our seat. Our new Harley friend and his family cheer, as do we. He shakes my hand as he departs.
Pete comes back and says "apparently the buzzer lies too, because it's not ready yet.. they're getting it ready." At this point, Dee comes over to us and is looking very apologetic. For whatever reason she talks to me, probably cuz I asked for her name. We go round and round, back and forth. I'm being quite calm for how pissed off I was... Basically saying I was offended for her implying my friend was a liar, for their pointless "call ahead seating", for ruining the rest of our night and for them telling us 45 minutes when we'd now been waiting over an hour an a half for a seat. She goes to the typical response of "I cant control when people leave" and continues to tell us that call ahead seating really doesn't mean anything. It goes on a bit more...
Katherine taps me on the arm as Pete takes up the fight and asks me to stop because it's just going around and around. I say "OK" because she was right... but then Dee says to Pete "There's no need to attack me." He responds we aren't attacking you... and next more funny stuff! "I feel like I'm being attacked" and motions to me. Funny because I really never said anything against her at all, but I raise my voice cuz I got fired up again and said "Great, so now my friend is a liar, and I'm an attacker! I love it!"
She then goes into a whole "If I could be any sorrier I would be. If you want me to cry... cuz that's where I am now... I'm on the verge." Pete obviously doesn't want her to cry, but I thought it was an act. So I talk to Katherine quietly for a bit while Pete's still talking to Dee. Katherine motions with her eyes for me to look at Dee. I do, her eyes are swelling up... Pete's like "C'mon don't cry." Then she says "Just give me a minute..." and bolts for the kitchen.
We actually made the hostess cry.
Soon after she had left, a waitress comes over and lets us know our table is ready so we go over... she hands out our menus and says "You're one of the angry parties, aren't you?" We reply in the affirmative she continues "I don't know what happened out there, I had nothing to do with it... so don't take it out on me! But I wanna let you all know that they're comping the entire meal, so order big, order expensive."
The food was great, as were the waitresses. So after all was said and done, our meal cost $34.85 for six people. We put in $10 a piece for a decent tip. Steve decided that it was too late when we were done to leave for the casino and didn't go.
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