This afternoon, we had reservations at Serendipity. We ordered lunch (meat loaf and a chicken pot pie). We each had appetizer salads.
When the waiter came to pick up our salad plates, he spilled an entire jar of dressing on the table. He looked at us for a second, not sure what to do. So, he looks at me and says, "Let me have your napkin. I'll bring you another one." (It gets better.) I hand him my napkin and he starts cleaning the dressing mess. Then he looks at Katie for her napkin. She hands it to him, he finishes cleaning up and begins to walk away.
As he's walking away, the manager (this 75-year old woman who smokes, easily, 8 packs a day) begins to scold him. We can't really hear what she's saying, but she talks to him in a rough tone all the way back to the back of the restaurant. Katie's watching and says, "Oh, he's getting in trouble". (It gets better.)
We're sitting for a few minutes and the waiter comes back out to our table. He stops next to me with two new napkins and says,
"Do you think it was wrong for me to clean up the dressing?"
I say, "What?"
He says, "She said I should have taken the dishes to the back and come back to clean it up. I think she's wrong. What do you think?"
I look at Katie, totally unsure what to say.
Katie can't totally understand him because she's on the other side of the table and it's loud in the restaurant and, really, who in their right mind would come out and ask the guests if the manager was wrong to scold him?
So Katie's response is, "Well, it's clean now. So no big deal."
He continues, "Yeah, but do you think I was wrong to clean it when I did? She says I was wrong."
As he's asking this, the manager walks up.
She sees him talking to us, and sees both of our faces in a look of "what the heck is going on here" and she's mad. She comes to our table and says, "Is there a problem here?"
Katie and I say, no. They walk away.
The busboy disappears. We don't see him again until the very end of the meal.
We were pretty sure we had gotten him fired.
So, evidently, it's proper restaurant etiquette to take the dishes to the back before cleaning up a dressing spill on the table. Oh, and you should never ask the patrons for their napkins to do the cleaning.
For dessert, we shared a frozen hot chocolate and a peanut butter hot chocolate. So tasty.
We also made a stop at FAO Schwartz before walking through Central Park and coming back to the hotel for a nap...Such a fun day already!
7 comments:
Hilarious story...glad it ended with the most delicious beverage known to man!!!
Have so much fun guys! Don't get mugged, although that would make a great blog story. wish i was there (not for the mugging part, just want to be with you guys).
oh wow that is a great story, you should have taken a picture with hermoinie though!! haha, well dont get anyone else fired!!
was that R2D2?
An R2D2 replica, and a lego Harry Potter...what a glorious day!
Did one of you make the Artoo noise and the other respond with a Wookie growl? Were they selling the Artoo? I really like R2D2...the central figure of both Star Wars trilogies, in my galatic opinion.
Now about the story...
Was he a waiter or a busboy? Because the answer might really influence my opinion of the chain smoke manager. Either way they should have comped the meal or at least the hot chocolate.
And what kind of dressing was it, and did it get on your clothes? Because I had Ranch spilt on me before and that recking smell never goes away.
I really wish I could have seen how this all played out.
And is Serendipity the place from the movie Serendipity?
And do you think there is some serendipitous meaning to the whole story.
Be careful. I saw this video last week, and it was filmed by these friends in NYC and there was this massive thing tearing up the streets eating people. So...watch out for that.
Oh... and buy some gloves in Bloomingdales, because you never know...fate may want to play a cruel game on you.
It actually depends on the dressing, is the true answer. Ranch, Blue Cheese, Thousand Island any of the thick dressings can remain on the table as they won't run easily. Now, your vinaigrettes, italians, french's, those you do have to clean up immediately. But you should never, ever use the customer's napkins, he should have used his socks.
clumsy people shouldn't be working in a restaurant. hope he got the boot
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