Resolution #683

Do you ever look back on a time and wish you had been more like George Costanza?

Yesterday, we were dining at Carrabba's for lunch. My friend, M, orders a smoothie. It came with a straw. The waiter left for a few minutes and then came back for our orders. When he returned, M asked him for a spoon. The waiter's response was this: "We only provide spoons when you order soup." Then, he left and never brought us a spoon the whole time we were there. We ended up paying for our meal and giving him a decent tip. We also made excuses for the guy saying things like: "Well, he's new." Or "It's the company's policy."

At the time I actually mentioned that it would be nice to have someone with us who has a confrontational personality. Now, that I look back on it, I should have said this: "Are you really not going to bring him a spoon? What? Were we supposed to bring our own spoons? I didn't see a sign outside that said: Unless you are ordering soup, no spoon will be provided. How is a smoothie not soup? It is like a fruit soup!"

This was definitely a get the manager over there and cause a scene type situation. Maybe it is a manners thing and the fear was that he would slurp the smoothie. But wouldn't there be a greater fear in someone slurping soup? I would think that the policy would be to not bring out the spoon unless requested. I seriously doubt that they only have 3 spoons back in the kitchen and they are rationing them out to just soup buyers...

We all sat there being whiny, sarcastic programmers making fun of the situation, but doing nothing about it. So, from now on, I resolve to make situations uncomfortable in the name of ridiculous policy...