The Not So Subtle hint

Last night my husband and I went to Marie Callendar's with his mom and dad. It was the first time I've seen her since we got the news of her tumor. She looks so healthy and beautiful and amazing! I mean, I was telling Josh afterward, she was even glowing. A pure, healthy, radiating glow. It did our hearts good to see our beloved mother looking well, even though we know she has the tumor.

It was so nice to sit together and chat and cry and tell each other how much love and thankfulness we have. The service, however, left a lot to be desired.

First of all, when we walked in, I about keeled over from the smell. It smelled like a very, very morbidly obese person who had become unable to wash themselves. It was so nasty; so sickening. I smelled it the whole time we were there.

Then, once we were seated, we got Dumbest Waiter of the Month. I mean, really. He smelled like cigarette smoke and had greasy, slicked back hair. He was twitchy and mousy. He asked us what we'd like to drink, and I ordered coffee. Mom wanted a glass of red wine.

The man actually suggests cabaret. That's not a typo. Instead of offering her Cabernet, he offered her this:



I mean, seriously.  The man should not have chosen a profession where he can mix up words like cabaret and Cabernet.

He then proceeds to ask us approximately every 45 seconds whether or not we're ready to order.  By now we're all looking at the guy like maybe he's got a screw loose somewhere.  I mean, CLEARLY we are sitting here with our menus open, perusing the selections.  NO! We aren't ready to order. 

I did ask for cream with my coffee, which he forgot to bring the first 3 times he came back to our table.  Finally my husband said, "My. Wife. Needs. Creamer." through gritted teeth. 

A while later he comes back with the wine.  In a champagne glass.  I couldn't make this stuff up, guys!  He says to us, "We were all out of wine glasses."  Um, what!? In the whole establishment you can't find one wine goblet!?  We didn't pay for a champagne flute of wine, we paid for a goblet of red wine.  Dummy.  Mom, being the gracious, forgiving, loving person she is just let it go and didn't make a big deal of it.

We order some pie, which he actually brings out amazingly fast.  He also adds ice cream to two of the pies.  We did request ice cream with one, but whatever.  We're just glad he didn't decide to serve our pie in a coffee cup with a side of cabaret.

Looking back, I think maybe he was in a hurry to leave?  We got there at 9pm and the place was open until 11pm, so there really shouldn't have been such a rush from greasy Neanderthal man.

Despite the service, it was a lovely, sweet time together with mom and dad and I'm glad we got to see each other.  Her surgery is Tuesday at 10a.m. PST, so if you think of her, please pray all goes well, they get as much as the tumor as humanly possible without messing up her brain/personality/speech/motor movements, and that the most skilled surgeon in the state does his absolute best work.  That's not too much to ask, right?