Hard To Get Good Service

Things have been going pretty well for the Hale Family lately - well, for most of us.  My job just keeps getting better and better and it is going excellent.  Elliott got accepted into Boston College and we are now waiting for his financial aid package to be revealed.  He is heading to Anaheim, CA later this month for his DECA competition and his last report card was straight A's keeping him in the Top 10 at his school.  Ashleigh came home for Easter weekend and is doing fine with her school work.  She spent her spring break in Panama City, FL with Campus Crusade for Christ doing beach witnessing (someone has to do it!).  Lucie is working part-time at Michael's teaching scrap-booking and is going to Phoenix, AZ next week to visit her brother (she had a gift card and got a great deal for the flight).  She will be bringing a little extra baggage with her - kidney stones.  They are back.  She has been managing the pain but it varies day to day, hour to hour.  Waiting to see what treatment plan her doctor recommends.

So customer service at restaurants - seems to be a thing of the past.  A few weeks ago we went to a new local seafood restaurant chain and waited quite a while to be served.  The food was good and they were new so we weren't too concerned.  Went back last week.  Waited 15 minutes just for our drink order to be taken and an entire hour (I timed it) for our meal to come out.  At the 45 minute mark I asked the manager what the problem was and he blamed it on the kitchen.  I made sure to say the waitress was very attentive and not to be blamed.  When the food came out 15 minutes later, the waitress was upset and had been crying.  To make it worse, our bill wasn't right (they should have given us the meal!).  A couple of days ago we grabbed our Hardee's coupons and headed off to the drive-thru for a buy one, get one free burger special.  Very simple - 4 burgers.  No meals or anything extra.  We got to the pick up window and waited, and waited, and waited...  Finally they told us to pull around to the front and someone would bring us our food.  So we did.  And we waited.  After 8 minutes we went back through the drive-thru.  Oh, they were so sorry.  Terribly sorry.  So sorry that they gave us free apple pies.  TWO!  What?!  Clearly there are 4 of us...  On a positive note, our friends took us out to Chili's and we had GREAT service and a good time.  So it's not all bad.  At least I didn't think so till this morning.  I was filling out the online customer review survey for Dunkin Donuts (they give you a code for a free donut when you submit it) and I happened to notice on the bill that without asking, they gave me the senior discount...