Saturday, September 17, 2005
"How was Everything?" asks the waitress
Tonight we tried a new restaurant in Mountain View. The just opened recently and it was amazing all the things they did wrong. I know it must be tough to open a new restaurant and there are probably always problems, but this was comical. Here were some of the issues:
1) A greeter met us at the door and told us there might be a wait for a table. Then he gave us a ticket with a number eleven on it. Then he said we could eat at the bar. When we sat at the bar, the bartender told us we couldn't eat at the bar.
2) A bartender took our order for 2 drinks. 10 minutes later another bartender asked us if we wanted to order drinks? When we told him we had already ordered, he looked around and found our drinks sitting somewhere.
3) Our number was never called, after about 30 minutes my wife went back to the front and finally they seated us. As they walked us to our table, we passed 20 empty tables. Later we learned that the kitchen couldn't handle the rush of the previous night so they didn't want all the tables full at once.
4) The bread seemed pretty good but the butter was unsalted. I was thinking, what's wrong with this butter?
5) My wife ordered bbq and a side salad and honey mustard dressing and a baked potato. I ordered a steak, a side salad with blue cheese and potato salad. My wife's salad, like mine arrived with blue cheese dressing.
6) I got the steak, but no potato salad.
7) I predicted the last screw up. They lost the bill for the 2 drinks. I am not sure the bartenders ever really registered to themselves or the register that 2 drinks had been made for us, and I would guess there was no record of those drinks.
The waitress asked us "How was everything?" I told her everything, in a nice way. Since she asked, why shouldn't I tell her? My plan is we give them a couple months to get their shit together, try again, and if it is just as bad, never go back.
1) A greeter met us at the door and told us there might be a wait for a table. Then he gave us a ticket with a number eleven on it. Then he said we could eat at the bar. When we sat at the bar, the bartender told us we couldn't eat at the bar.
2) A bartender took our order for 2 drinks. 10 minutes later another bartender asked us if we wanted to order drinks? When we told him we had already ordered, he looked around and found our drinks sitting somewhere.
3) Our number was never called, after about 30 minutes my wife went back to the front and finally they seated us. As they walked us to our table, we passed 20 empty tables. Later we learned that the kitchen couldn't handle the rush of the previous night so they didn't want all the tables full at once.
4) The bread seemed pretty good but the butter was unsalted. I was thinking, what's wrong with this butter?
5) My wife ordered bbq and a side salad and honey mustard dressing and a baked potato. I ordered a steak, a side salad with blue cheese and potato salad. My wife's salad, like mine arrived with blue cheese dressing.
6) I got the steak, but no potato salad.
7) I predicted the last screw up. They lost the bill for the 2 drinks. I am not sure the bartenders ever really registered to themselves or the register that 2 drinks had been made for us, and I would guess there was no record of those drinks.
The waitress asked us "How was everything?" I told her everything, in a nice way. Since she asked, why shouldn't I tell her? My plan is we give them a couple months to get their shit together, try again, and if it is just as bad, never go back.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Is there a Problem with News these Days?
I believe the news media has lost its way. I don't know when it started or what started it, but some time in the last 5 years or so, the news has lost its credibility. An example: last week, the mayor of New Orleans guessed there might be 10,000 dead from hurricane Katrina. That in itself was a quote from someone who didn't have any data to support such a prognostication. But the media jumped on that quote and proliferated it. It sounded flashy. I read that quote in 5 or more locations on the web. Now about a week after that quote the death toll in New Orleans seems to be about 200. One fiftieth of what the media was touting. 1/50th!. Pretty large discrepancy. My theory is that subtle errors in judgement by reporters can turn stories from credible to incredible. And incredible tends to turn into non-credible. It is a fine line and we have to work harder at making sure quotes don't get in the way of or substitute for the truth. The truth is all I want out of my news coverage. I know, it is just about impossible to get unbiased data, but let's try.
