I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

Mondays are the fucking worst.

The.  Absolute.  Fucking.  Worst.

All the bad things happen on Monday. 

The rain happens on Monday.  The people who tell me to fuck off, do so on Monday.  All the people yell on Monday. 

Today was that day.

Let’s start with the weather.

Guess, who got a little bold today with the weather?

This guy.  Who didn’t close the fucking patio like his boyfriend did, because I was certain I could seat the first turn and have everyone gone by 7:00 when the rain started. 

BUT.  NO.

The fucking rain started at 6:00.  However, my host was paying attention as I told her to, and gave me 15 minutes lead way and this time we had a plan and it worked.  Everyone was led into their assigned tables.  They had their food soon after.  For the most part it was great.

A couple of questions? 

Why do people who are sitting in the rain, think they should have their food carried in for them.  Pick up the fucking plate.  Don’t make the staff carry it for you.

And if you know your kids have COVID, why would you be traveling in Maine and why would you have a reservation at a restaurant and why for the love of all things holy would you move inside when the weather turned bad?

It’s now 6:30.  My restaurant is full.  The few open tables I have are now occupied by rain tables.  It’s going to be tight the rest of the evening. 

In walks Mr. Ross.  He’s standing at my host stand and I’m trying to get things updated so I can get everyone seated.

Background on Mr. Ross.– He called 17 times yesterday.  Because he forgot to make a reservation for his 35^th wedding anniversary.  I called him back today around 2:45.  And I made a reservation for him.  2 people in our Gallery.  Which IS NOT the main dining room, but those tables are now taken up with people who made reservations 2 months ago or the people I moved in from the patio who made their reservations 2 months ago. 

Mr. Ross walks up to the podium and makes a stupid joke about the weather that I did not laugh at.  I don’t remember it but I remember thinking I don’t have time for this.

I’m going to stop here and say that I am tired.  I was tired all day.  It’s the end of my work week.  I was up to late last night.  I was up to early today.  I dealt with difficult people all afternoon. It just rained an hour early and I am cranky.  I’m very aware of this.  I very rarely am in a bad mood and not aware of it.  Years of therapy helps with this.  I was in such a mood this afternoon that at 3:00, I put down the phone, walked out to the patio and sat in the sunshine for thirty minutes to just have a little break from the chaos. 

Mr. Ross is seated.  In our Gallery. 

Fun fact about our Gallery.  It’s a beautiful space.  But we are having difficulty with the air conditioning keep up out there this summer because we are having unprecedented heat.  Like seriously.  Never before.  In the mid 90’s with 99.99% humidity.  It could only be more humid if it were raining. 

Also when the rain is incredibly hard, the gutter leaks along the two top tables.  This does not happen often and we know this so we move the tables and all is good. 

We had 2 top tables seated out there all night who had a wonderful time. 

Mr. Ross is seated. 

And 10 minutes later the server appears to tell me that Mr. Ross is unhappy.  He wants to be moved.

May I remind you that Mr. Ross booked his table at 2:45.  2.15 hours before our shift started.  Even on a normal day I’d have had no place to move him.

I tell the server that I don’t have another table for him.

I go back to trying to get things under control at the door.

About 4 minutes later Mr. Ross is standing in front of me, while I have a lobby full of people.  Seriously, there were easily 15 people waiting at the door at this time.

He demands that I move him to another table. 

I explain there is no other table.  He points out that there is an empty table in the dining room.  I don’t say this, but the table is for a friend of mine, who just got engaged and is coming in to celebrate.  I won’t give him that table. 

I repeat that I don’t have another table for him. 

He gets upset and says that this is poor customer service.

I stare at him, wondering exactly how I am supposed to fix the problem.

I also know that if I weren’t in a bad mood already, I might have been gentler, but seriously, you made you reservation at the last minute.  You’ve never been here before.  You’ll probably never be back and you are not even remotely being nice.

I tell him again there is nothing I can do for him.

He announces at this point that he is leaving and I quote, “WILL NEVER BE BACK!”

I say, we appreciate you coming in, thank you. 

Later I realize this was not the best response but I’m still trying to get through the rain reservations. 

He says, THANK YOU?  WE DIDN’T EVEN EAT.  YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT I WILL TELL ALL OF MY FRIENDS NEVER TO COME HERE AND I WILL POST ON EVERY SOCIAL MEDIA SITE.”

I say to him the same thing I’ve said for years, YOU DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO, BUT I WON”T BE HELD HOSTAGE BY YOUR THREATS.

He responds, WE WILL NEVER BE BACK!!!

An email to the restaurant info@ address:  We showed up, were seated at an exceptionally uncomfortable table (stuffy, noisy) and treated rudely by an arrogant manager when we asked to change tables.  We left and will not return. 

Trip advisor:  Uncomfortable and rude

We were seated at a very uncomfortable table, stuffy and noisy, and treated rudely by the front desk person when we asked to change tables. Any restaurant, particularly one that purports to belong to the “fine dining” category, should know better and treat its customers with respect. We will never return.

Yelp:  Uncomfortable table, stuffy and noisy.  We asked to change tables and were treated rudely by the front desk person in a display of arrogance.  No reason to ever return.

Google:  Uncomfortable, stuffy and noisy table. Rude treatment when we asked to change tables. Will never go there again and neither should you.

Facebook:  Uncomfortable table, stuffy and noisy. Rude treatment when we asked to change tables.

I love a man who keeps his promise.  I also love a man who has not heard of copy and paste.

It’s the second time I’ve been called rude and arrogant this week.  Remember the couple who brought their own wine in plastic cups this week. 

Trip Advisor:  Worst experience ever

I’ve never been treated so badly. We were really looking forward to trying this restaurant on our last night in town. The moment we walked in the front desk person who I believe is the owner was rude and dismissive to us. The attitude appears to permeate through the entire staff. Inattentive and rude is the best thing I can say about any of them. Will not return.

Yelp:  I would give this zero if I could. I’ve never been treated more rudely. Terrible food. Terrible service. The owner is an a$$ and cannot be believed to be a real business person. Abhorrent.

I have no idea how she knows the food and service are bad as she never made it into the restaurant.

The funniest part of the night, was as I said the lobby was full when this all went down. 

The ladies restroom door is in the lobby.  About 45 seconds after this all went down, a lady pops out of the restroom and says, SORRY ABOUT THE ASSHOLE, BUT WE WILL ALWAYS BE BACK.  YOU ALWAYS TREAT US SO WELL, AND YOU HANDLED THE RAIN AND WEATHER PERFECTLY.  I’M ALSO GOING TO SHARE THIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

The post on yelp above Mr. Ross’s.

Just when I thought I’d had the best meal at The Lost Fire, they do an even better job. Not only was the food incredible (grilled provolone with pesto, hot house tomatoes, burger, and pineapple carpaccio with ginger gelato), Dave at the bar was incredible as alway. The staff accommodated us due to the rain, and we dined at the beautiful bar. It was my husband’s birthday, and he had the best steak of his life. The staff is so friendly, and the food is amazing, you really can’t go wrong.

I just can’t any more.

I’ll finish by saying I had a 5 top show up tonight with 6 people.  I had nowhere to put them and told them so.

But they were so kind and apologetic that I asked them to step outside and give me a second.

And I found them a place to sit.

Later their server comes to let me know that they own a restaurant in the town next to ours.  And that the owner of the restaurant, saw the look on my face when I was told they had six and said oh no.  He has the August people’s face.

And they were not wrong. 

PS.  Chef got all the alerts that happen when something is posted on Social Media.  He didn’t even ask.  While we were chatting at the end of the night another one popped up and he said, seriously, this guy is crazy.