Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Good morning crew,

The dining adventures this weekend didn't end with our abrupt change of venue Friday night. Saturday night the wife produced some coupons to a new sushi place in our neighborhood and suggested we try it out.

Now, brand new businesses are tricky because the people opening them never know what they're getting in to. The people running this new sushi restaurant, apparently, did not expect to get any customers, because they were woefully understaffed.

We were sitting down at a table for at least ten minutes before a young man even came over to bring us menus. And then it was another ten minutes before he came back to take an order.

To be fair, he was very apologetic about it. When we ordered he came right out and said, "You know it is going to be about 45 minutes before you get your food?"

Since we were already invested 20 minutes just to get a glass of water we figured we might as well commit all the way.

The dining room itself wasn't even all that busy, but the phone in the place never stopped ringing. And that was the problem. That, and there was only one chef, and he was spending most of his time preparing take-out phone orders.

But like I said, the waiter was very apologetic about the whole affair, and after we placed our order he kept our impatience at bay by bringing us a steady stream of Tsingtao beer.

When the food did finally come I have to admit it was pretty good, but then I had been drinking beer on an empty stomach for about an hour, so my judgment might have been a little off.

However, all was forgiven when we got the bill. It seems the waiter's guilt over the service led him to deduct all of the alcohol from the check. And considering the amount of time we spent sitting there, that was about half the bill!

Ok, maybe not ALL was forgiven. I might go back there eventually, but I think I'll give them a couple of months to figure out how to run a restaurant before I spend another two hours for a few rolls of sushi.

Laugh it up,

Joe

joe@gophercentral.com

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"Starbucks is going to start carrying coconut milk. If you want to stay competitive in the coffee business you've got to consistently provide your customers with new ways to make their orders more annoying." -Jimmy Kimmel

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"According to a recent survey, 12 percent of Americans say that it's fine to cheat a little on your taxes. While the other 88 percent know not to talk to a guy with a clipboard asking them if they cheat on their taxes." -Jimmy Fallon

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"The inventor of the soy sauce dispenser bottle has passed away. He actually died months ago but was just found in the back of the fridge." -Conan O'Brien

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A car with Massachusetts plates drove up to the Canadian customs booth I was manning. When I asked the driver his name, he looked at me strangely and asked, "How much?"

I repeated my question, and this time he answered. But when I proceeded to question him further, he told me he just wanted to pay the toll and go.

"You're not at a tollbooth, Sir," I patiently explained. "This is Canadian customs."

The man paled. He had left Boston six hours earlier--headed for New York City.


*-------------- Guaranteed to Roll Your Eyes --------------*
Stuck in rush-hour traffic, I couldn't help but stare at a burly-looking biker wearing a black leather jacket and chaps pulled up next to me on a shocking pink Harley. My first thoughts were, "Is that really a pink Harley?" and, "I wonder if he's..."

Just then the traffic cleared, and he pulled in front of me. On the back of his jacket were stenciled the words, "Yes, it is. No, I'm not."