My birthday started last night. Margaret emailed me just before 5 to see what I was doing for dinner. I was SUPPOSE to eat the Talapia that I had thawed out 2 days earlier, but the thought of cooking in this heat just didn't excite me too much. I called Margaret and told her I was ready to go. Margaret came over shortly thereafter, and you HAVE to see what she was wearing. Margaret always dresses like she is going to stand in a showroom window somewhere, but I just LOVED this blouse she had on last night. I loved it so much, I insisted she let me take her picture.
Of course, it doesn't hurt that she looks so amazing HERSELF!
The blouse is sheer. Margaret says she changes the colors of the tops she wears under it. I have noticed so many sheer fabrics on line, but I didn't know why anyone would want to wear a see-through blouse.
Well, now I know.
And now I need to go buy some sheer fabric!
I think I'll look up finishes for seams on sheer fabric while I'm at it.
You are GORGEOUS, Margaret, and I love you dearly! Thank you so much for the gift card to the spa. I BETTER look as good as you when they get done sanding my face off!
Oh, yeah, I was going to tell you about dinner.
Margaret picked me up and we went to our usual steak restaurant, The Outback. We just ate there last Friday to celebrate Margaret's birthday. We have always had good food and good service there. They must have heard it was my birthday and decided to SURPRISE me with something different so I would have a new "waiter story" for my blog today. So grab a drink, and sit back and relax, because this will take a while. Margaret is my witness!
The not-very-friendly young female waitress came to take our order. Margaret ordered a pork chop, sweet potato and a salad with NO onions.
I ordered the special, steak and CRABLEGS, steamed vegetables and a salad with NO CROUTONS and Ranch on the side. I explained that I didn't want the croutons because we already had a loaf of bread on the table.
Not a hard order, do you think? I had the same thing a week earlier, and everything came just the way I ordered it.
First thing to come was the salads. Margaret's salad didn't have any onions. My salad had EXTRA CROUTONS and the dressing on the salad -- not on the side. Margaret immediately said, "Give the croutons to me!"
As we were finishing our salads, our dinners arrived. Margaret's plate had a pork chop and a sweet potato on it. My plate had a steak and LOBSTER on it -- well, not really a lobster -- more like the back of a newborn lobster, but a lobster that I had not ordered. No vegetables anywhere. I told the girl that I did not order lobster. Margaret agreed. I had ordered crablegs. She said she would just leave it there and go get some crablegs. I figured that would take an hour, so I told her to just take the plate back and bring what I had ordered together on the plate -- including the steamed vegetables.
Margaret ate while I watched her. About 15 minutes later, the waitress arrived with a plate containing the same lobster, the same steak, and some broken crablegs. No steamed vegetables. Margaret asked the girl where they were. She said they were coming. From WHERE she did not say, but it must have been from the Farmer's Market downtown.
While the waitress was still standing there, my lightning fast mind noticed the little bowl that the drawn butter was supposed to be in. It looked like an empty bowl. Margaret and I looked deep into the bowl, and we decided it must have been accidentally brought from another table after all the butter was used. Margaret asked the girl if I could have more butter. She said she would go get some.
Don't you LOVE how Margaret takes care of me?
The girl comes back shortly with ANOTHER butter bowl with barely any butter in it. I am NOT kidding you. I took a picture of it. Here it is:
That is the two bowls BEFORE I used any of the butter inside. We asked the girl what was going on with the butter rationing. She said that Corporate gave them a chart or something to go by and they could only put ONE SCOOP of butter in the bowl. Well, WHAT are they using for a scoop, a thimble!!! The waitress said she would go get another bowl. Bowl #3 arrived with lettuce baked on the inside of it. I tried to scrape the lettuce off with my knife, but it wouldn't all come off. I put that one aside.
About that time, a man came to our table who we found out later was a manager. His name was Isaiah. A nice looking black man. He asked if we were having a problem. By that time, Margaret was tired of taking care of me, so she left me on my own. I explained to the guy that there wasn't enough butter to dip a flea in, never mind crab legs and lobster! I also mentioned that I wasn't given one of those little forks they give you with crablegs.
He gave me the same Corporate Law explanation for the butter, but his explanation for the forks was even crazier.
He said, "Oh, a lot of our customers ask for those little forks. We ordered them about six months ago but we don't know where they were put when they came in. We can't find them anywhere."
I believe Margaret did speak up here and inquire as to the location of my steamed vegetables.
He tells me he is terribly sorry that my order was wrong, and he hopes I will come again, blah, blah, blah and he walked away.
I ate the lobster dry, and I SCRUBBED the little bit of crabmeat I was able to get out of the two pieces on my plate that could be fanangled without a fork in the bottom of the butter bowls. When I was about done with my dinner, someone arrived with the steamed vegetables.
A bit later, our waitress made a BIG MISTAKE! She came back to our table and asked how everything was.
I told her I wanted to talk to the manager.
She asked which one.
I said the HEAD manager.
She said there were two.
I told her I didn't care which one, just send one to my table.
Shortly thereafter, Isaiah and Craig arrived at our little table. Our table was one of those small tables that I hate for just two people. Isaiah and Craig started the conversation in a STANDING position, but before they left, they were both in a KNEELING position. I told them that I wanted the name and address of the Corporate offices so I could write a letter. They, of course, wanted to know what I was going to write a letter about. I told them that I was going to get them permission to go to Dollar General and spend $5.00 on small forks, and I was going to ask that the customer be allowed to have enough butter to actually apply it to the crabmeat.
They laughed. They said they would get that for me, but they never did. We ended up talking so long, it was forgotten. I really am writing the letter though. I looked up Corporate online when I got home.
They both apologized and offered me a free dessert. At first, I said no. We talked longer, and I told them that I was actually there to celebrate my birthday. They felt even worse when they heard that, and they asked again if they could get me ANYTHING at all. I asked what the desserts were. They went down the usual list of weird cheesecake dishes, but then came to Chocolate Thunder Downunder. I looked at Margaret, and she looked at me, and we squealed! Yes, we'll share that. Bring 2 spoons. And they did. It was W O N D E R F U L !!!!!
Isaiah or Craig, one, came back to our table to see how we liked the dessert. I think I had chocolate on my boob by then as well as my chin! He told us that our bill was entirely taken care of. Margaret said that she wanted to pay for hers as it was fine. They said, "No!" It is all taken care of.
So, how nice was that!? My first birthday surprise.
This morning, Phylly arrived here about an hour before we had to meet two of my other employees at Cracker Barrel for brunch. Phylly gave me the new fitting book by Sarah Veblen (?) and a wonderful jewelry making book for beginners. I really like both of them! Thank you, Phylly! We went together from my house to Cracker Barrel which is only a few miles away. Only Lu and Carol could make it. Two other girls had conflicting issues come up. The four of us enjoyed an amazing breakfast. Lu bought breakfast for all of us, and she gave me a Gerbera Daisy plant. Carol gave me a gift card to Olive Garden. We talked for two hours and then parted ways.
After that, Phylly and I decided to go to Hobby Lobby to buy some half-price beads so we could make some jewelry. Lu's birthday is next, so I bought some Autumn-colored stones to make her earrings and a bracelet to go with her waist-length gorgeous red hair.
Then Phylly had to leave, so I sat and read the books she gave me and waited for Jerry to show up. Jerry showed up about 3:30 and announced to me that he is going to buy me a gun for my birthday. I have wanted one forever, so I am actually happy about that. He has been on the computer researching guns ever since!
Gotta go. Dinner with Deanna and Robert tonight!!!
Hugs, Joy
I didn't have near this much excitement for my birthday. We ate at the MCL Cafeteria in Carmel, IN. Happy Birthday - you have earned it all..........Lydia
ReplyDeleteIs Outback's headquarters in New York City? Maybe Mayor Bloomberg's next edict will be only 1 teaspoon of butter per serving of crabs legs or lobster, and Outback is just trying to beat him to it. They are taking care of your health, Darling; we all know that you are not responsible enough to do that. We wouldn't want Obamacare to have to pay out anything extra now that you are of a certain age, "you know".
ReplyDeleteI got Roger all excited last night. No, not that way! I told him you are getting a gun for your birthday; so he figures that since you will have a gun I will have to have one, too! He is searching online for a pink handled, small gun that packs a big bullet. I told him if I have to use one, it has to stop whomever is coming at me and put them on the ground to stay. I can't aim; never could. I probably need a shotgun. A big one!
I hope you had a great birthday, my Chosen Sister.
Hugs, Phylly
Gun shopping has to wait. Jerry thinks I am kidding about the pink part. He wants to go to Bass Pro to look for a gun, and I know they have pink ones because I saw them there before. He has to work on YOUR computer today, Phylly, so we can't go shopping yet.
ReplyDeleteHugs, Joy