I had a long day at work, so I decided to boycott cooking.  We met the Hubs at a local family-friendly chain for dinner and ice cream.  We go to this particular place at least twice a month if not more- it’s relatively cheap, kids are welcome and the food is good.  And up until now we’ve always had a great experience.

We got to the resturaunt at 6:05 and I finally had to ask one of the 4 servers walking by if they could send our server over at 6:25.  No one had greeted us after we were sat- no one took our drink order or told us they’d be right with us. I asked the lady very nicely and wasn’t at all rude.  The lady I flagged down went to get our server and I hear our server say (quite loudly)- “she’s lying! They’ve been here less then 5 minutes.”

Umm..yeah.

The Hubs was not happy with me. He doesn’t complain about anything when we go out to eat. His food could be cold and raw and he’d grin and say it was great because the Hubs does not like making waves. I think he’s worried someone will spit in his food back in the kitchen.

The kid’s food came out within 15 minutes of ordering. Which was great if the macaroni wasn’t cold and the hot dog burned. 10 minutes later the Hub’s food came out.  5 minutes later, mine came out.  The kids and I left 1 hour and 10 minutes after getting there, leaving the Hubs to order and pick up our ice cream because our server never came back to check on us.

Now I don’t know if the place was short staffed or if our server just had a bad day.  I didn’t say anything before we left simply because the Hubs would have died right then and there of mortification.  And honestly, I don’t like to complain. I know servers work damn hard and I hate getting people in trouble, but our experience was just plain bad today.

So I ask you- when do you speak up? How do you go about doing it- at the time? Sending a letter after the fact?