I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

We were busy tonight.  As busy as we can be based on the tables we have inside now that the patio is closed.  

And no one was moving at the bar during the first turn.  Everyone was planted firmly where they were.  

At 7:30 a couple walks in, I ask if they have a reservation, they tell me their name, I check them in.  Their reservation is for 7:45.  

I tell them it will be a few minutes and they are welcome to have a seat.  

Another couple walks in, with a reservation, I get them seated.

A couple walks in without a reservation, I get them seated.

I’ve seen the look on the couples face before…

It’s the we were here first look.

The woman looks at me and says, do we have a reservation at a specific table or something?  

I say, you have reservations at the bar.  It will be a few more minutes.  

A couple walks in, I check them in, tell them it will just be a couple of minutes, and ask them to wait.  Their reservation is at 7:30.

Just as I say that, the host comes around the corner and lets me know two bar stools are ready.    I seat the table that has just come in.  

It’s clear that the people still seated at the bar are going nowhere.  

I offer the first couple the chef’s table as an alternative.

They say okay.  

It takes a couple of minutes, but they are led to the chef’s table.  

The host comes back and says they are not happy.  

45 seconds later the waman appears in front of me.

She is pissed.

She wants to know, why they were seated at “just a high top in the bar?”  

Yes, the chef’s table is a high top in the bar area, but they are also the most coveted tables in the restaurant. 

She also wants to know why I seated people before them, especially the people at the bar when they were there first.

I explain that two of the couples had reservations in the restaurant at a dining table.  One was a walk in that sat in the Gallery.  And the couple sat at the bar, had a 7:30 reservation and therefore were sat first.  

She is not happy but lets me know that they’ll wait.  

She goes off to get her husband after telling me that they will WAIT for barstools.    

And the people sitting on the couch behind them who’ve been making faces the whole time I was talking to the couple, can’t wait to dish.

“I bet you deal with this every day.  Don’t you?”

I say, you have no idea.

One of them explains that he is a manager at a retail store and knows exactly how I feel.  

We chat for about 3 minutes, when I see the couple approaching.  I hold my finger up to my lips to let them know to be quiet, and then the couple appears and sits on the other couch.  

We finally get the couple seated at 7:50.

And that’s the end of the story.

Except that I bought the 4-top a dessert to share, just for being kind, and nice, and understanding. 

Let’s spread good in the world.