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IHOP Compliment - Kudos to our Waiter!
Compliment
My nephew started kindergarten yesterday, and to celebrate we went to IHOP, which is his favorite place to eat.
After we got seated, our waiter came over to take our drink order. We got our drinks a few minutes later and put our food order in and waited. And waited. And waited.
As with most 5 year olds who are hungry, my nephew started whining and was complaining about everything. Our waiter came over to the table and informed us that they only had one cook in the back, so that's why it was taking so long. He asked my nephew if there was something he could bring him right then, such as fruit or bread. My nephew demanded some pickles, so the waiter brought out some pickle spears to hold him over. Thankfully, that shut my nephew up.
After almost an hour of waiting, our food finally arrived. The food was good and still hot and nothing we had ordered was missing. The waiter came over with the bill and apologized for the long wait. He said he took $8 off of the total amount of the bill. We weren't expecting any kind of compensation for the long wait and thanked him by leaving him a large tip. On the way out, my sister-in-law asked the hostess to let the manager know what an awesome waiter we had. We go to this IHOP a lot and have always gotten great service.
After we got seated, our waiter came over to take our drink order. We got our drinks a few minutes later and put our food order in and waited. And waited. And waited.
As with most 5 year olds who are hungry, my nephew started whining and was complaining about everything. Our waiter came over to the table and informed us that they only had one cook in the back, so that's why it was taking so long. He asked my nephew if there was something he could bring him right then, such as fruit or bread. My nephew demanded some pickles, so the waiter brought out some pickle spears to hold him over. Thankfully, that shut my nephew up.
After almost an hour of waiting, our food finally arrived. The food was good and still hot and nothing we had ordered was missing. The waiter came over with the bill and apologized for the long wait. He said he took $8 off of the total amount of the bill. We weren't expecting any kind of compensation for the long wait and thanked him by leaving him a large tip. On the way out, my sister-in-law asked the hostess to let the manager know what an awesome waiter we had. We go to this IHOP a lot and have always gotten great service.
Comments:
Posted by MRM on 2009-08-11:
Awesome establishment to dine in! Glad they were looking out for your family!
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
I'm just glad the waiter found a way to shut my nephew up. He was driving us all crazy. But after he ate, he transformed back into the angel that he can be sometimes.
Posted by Nohandle on 2009-08-11:
This appears to be a bad situation they tried to make right. Anyone ever sat in a restaurant with a youngster at the table? If not, you won't know where Yaya is coming from. A wait that ends up being an hour is bad enough for an adult, try it with a kid at the table. That's a lot of fun. Try it. Nice review Yaya and nice compliment for IHOP trying to make a bad situation a little better.
Posted by Principissa on 2009-08-11:
Nice review! Trust me, it's no picnic when they are short staffed or the kitchen is taking forever. If I could make a polite suggestion, perhaps you can stuff a box of animal crackers or a baggie of his favorite snack in your purse or bag to tide him over in the event of a long wait. I do it for our kids and it usually saves us both a headache! :)
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
When I was a kid, my mom told me if I made a hooligan of myself in public. I would get ass whooping when we get back, that kept me in line.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
Good idea Princi. We go to this IHOP all the time and have never had to wait this long before. We left my 22 month old nephew with my parents, thank goodness, or it would have been a lot worse for everyone.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
Neat.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
Same here Wally. All my mom had to do was give "the look". We knew what it meant and we knew the consequence if we continued misbehaving.
Yaya, I think an hour wait is excessive but it was nice that the waiter was accommodating to your nephew and the few dollars off was a considerate gesture. Most businesses wouldnt have done that unless asked (if at all).
Yaya, I think an hour wait is excessive but it was nice that the waiter was accommodating to your nephew and the few dollars off was a considerate gesture. Most businesses wouldnt have done that unless asked (if at all).
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
If my brother and I misbehaved in public, my mom would drag us out to the car so that we could finish our tantrums without other people watching.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
Really neat.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
C2O, you trying to say as little as possible? Is this a new thing with you? I KNEW you came up short!
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
Deep.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
Not gonna go there. No way, no how.
Posted by Nohandle on 2009-08-11:
Most were hauled to the car if they misbehaved in public back before the permissive generation took effect but no five year old should be expected to wait patiently for an hour for food to arrive. How many among us sat patiently for an hour for anything when we were five?
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
LOL!
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
Thats just it Nohandle. We wouldn't have waited. Once notified of the delay my mom would have asked for the bill for the drinks and we would have been on our way. If I had kids I would do the same today.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
Very true NH. Heck, I was having a hard time sitting patiently waiting for our food.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
John, we almost got up and left, but we go there all the time and the waitstaff knows us.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
I hear you yaya. I wasnt trying to imply making a complaint but like you said even we would have a hard time sitting there. For a five year old it must have felt like an eternity. Shoot, when I am hungry an hour is an eternity for me.
Posted by MRM on 2009-08-11:
C20, I'll take it from here... Im making love to the new OS, Windows 7 till the break of dawn.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
I hear ya John. If it was a place where we didn't eat often, we would have left and gone to Mcdonald's or something.
Posted by Nohandle on 2009-08-11:
Did the waiter come over and state it would be an hour before being served the meal? If so I would have jumped up immediately along with any rugrats in tow and been gone from that place or any other. I think five minutes led to ten minutes to fifteen and on from there. No adult I know of knowlingly sits in a restaurant for an hour at a table waiting for a meal. Rip, we sit at the bar waiting for a table. After a while time really doesn't matter.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-11:
MRM, would you mind placing a piece of tape over the eye of your webcam please. Thank you, and carry on.
Posted by BokiBean on 2009-08-11:
That's a nice waiter who knows what he's doing. Bringing those pickle spears saved the day.. Good review.
Posted by DebtorBasher on 2009-08-11:
If my Slightly Older Sister or I didn't walk the straight and narrow while out in public, Mom would just give us that "loving Motherly hand squeeze" and we KNEW that was our one and only warning! Of course my Slightly Older Sister got more hand squeezes than I did...and any time I DID get the hand squeeze it was BECAUSE of my Slightly Older Sister, not me...I was 'the good one'. :)
Posted by Principissa on 2009-08-12:
My mom did the hand squeeze too! She didn't even have to give us the look (if we got the look we knew that we were leaving and a punishment was coming).
Posted by yoke on 2009-08-12:
WE got the look and we did not want to go home after that.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-12:
LOL Princi. There were four of us and mom was alone so there was no way she could squeeze our hands at the same time. She could swoop in once, with one look and that was it and we knew better. If we were in the grocery store, each of us had to have a hand on a corner of the cart. If our hand came off the cart due to misbehaving.... well you can fill in the blanks. She let us be kids but she had to keep the upper hand. As we all know, kids can sense weakness and will test to see how far they can push an adult.
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