Stiffed!

Went to Davis-Kidd with my son for dinner tonight. Ordered soup and salad. Soup never came. No rolls. Saw my waiter for the order and the check. My son ate his applesauce with a fork. No, I didn't raise my arms or holler for someone to help out, my son managed with the fork just fine. What I did do was watch and wait, patiently.

The check came with the soup on the bill. I subtracted it myself and sent it back with my credit card. The manager came out and apologized. Asked if anything else was wrong. That's all I wanted. Someone to say, "Is everything all right?" I waited tables for nearly two years and that's about the most important thing you can do. Communicate. Check with your customer and see if they have what they need. Nobody checked with me until I was ready to leave. That's bad service. So bad that I decided not to tip the guy. I've never stiffed someone, ever. Until tonight. Why? I love that restaurant. I really, really love it. It's probably my favorite in the whole city. But if such service (or lack of it) continues, I'll quit going. I wanted to make a statement that wasn't quickly forgotten. "You screw over your customers and you don't get paid."

I explained to the manager that I was not happy. She offered me a discount card. I declined. I don't want a discount. I just want my favorite restaurant to remain my favorite. They know me when I go in there. They know I'm a regular. They know my name. Know that I look exactly like their old boss. But I'm afraid, that with the departure of their old boss the quality may have departed too.

Davis-Kidd, I love you. You're one of the few ultra-cool independent bookstores in the country. If you don't take care of your Bistro then I'll have one less reason to visit. And by the way, I dropped around $40 on books and crap after the meal which I would NOT have spent if I hadn't gone to the restaurant to eat dinner.

Maybe I don't matter. That's fine. I'm not stupid enough to think Mr. Davis-Kidd (or whoever runs that store) reads this blog but if he does, I hope he takes care of business in the restaurant.

Oh, and the tomato soup is too spicy. Something's wrong in the kitchen. Scale back the spice.

What's Your Rank

Why are we so fascinated with rankings? I don't know but we are and we might as well learn to love it.

This site is ranked. Is yours?

(Thanks to Lady Cutie Troublemaker for more fodder for my ranking obsession)

Now This Is Interesting

If you listen to Memphis Sports Talk Radio you've probably heard of "The Rainman." He's a sports handicapper (named John Rainman) which basically means he tells you which teams to bet on each week. I believe he's a local guy and fairly popular. I don't care for handicappers since I don't bet on sporting events but I'm sure he's a fine fellow.

Now, the interesting part. Guess who owns the domain "FireCalipari.com." Yup. John Rainman. Why would a sports handicapper register the Fire Calipari domain? I guess he saw an opportunity and took it. And the domain looks like it's just parked and possibly waiting for a buyer.

Anyway, just thought it was odd that a sports guy who has a show on the local sports station owns the Fire Calipari domain. Oh, and who owns the FireJohnCalipari.com domain? Some guy in Florida who runs of bunch of NCAA bulletin boards. The domain just redirects to a Memphis Tigers discussion page.

And one last thing, the reason I was searching for these domains is I was just curious if there was a Fire John Calipari movement on the Web after the Tigers stunning and disappointing loss to Ole Miss this weekend.

The Red Light Bond

While driving home from work tonight I ran a red light. I didn't really intend to run it but it turned a bright yellow at the worst possible moment. Stopping would have been a brake-slamming experience and continuing would probably mean running a red light.

So I decided to continue and noticed that a large pickup in the left lane made the same decision. We both whizzed through the intersection at Poplar and Highland as the light glowed a rosy red and I felt a vehicular bond with my partner in crime. I glanced at him and grinned, savoring the moment. Two roadway criminals bound by our transgressions.

The Bash Review

Most excellent Blogger Bash. We had to leave a little earlier than expected (Cafe Francisco now closes at 9, not 10) but it was a fine couple of hours. We spent the time in the "lounge" area of the Cafe, sitting on comfy chairs and sofas while sipping our favorite beverages. Phil was drinking Hue Beer which had an amber Hue... har har har. That vietnamese beer spawned a conversation about good vietnamese restaurants in town and now I must visit them.

I really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere which was probably a result of being in a quasi living room as opposed to a restaurant table with waitpersons hovering about. Got to talk a bit about the Quixtar Blog which was cool because I didn't have to spend too much time giving the whole Quixtar explanation.

Anyway, I had a really great time. It's just cool that a bunch of folks who do this blog thing can get together and talk about whatever. It's this type stuff that further convinces me that there's something to this blog thing. Don't believe me? Well come down to the next Blogger Bash and see for yourself.

Oh yeah, and apparently the Blogging get-together at the BBQ Shop was a kind of Blogger Bash so there's debate about whether this was BBIII or BBIV. I say the BBQ Shop thing doesn't really count because it was to meet some celebrity blogger but who knows. Whatever this one is called, I had fun. Thanks to everyone who showed up and blog on.

PS: Almost forgot, the Fishkite dude gave us all little party favor things. How cool is that? Mine is a little fish clippy thing (like a paper clip) and I saw someone got an actual Fish game thing. That was awesome dude. Thanks. I should make some webraw gear I suppose. ;o)

Blogger Bash Live Update

Good attendance at the Blogger Bash III. Bunch of people here. Abby, Mike, Mark, Brock, Phil, Len, Mick, Peggy (who just left) and Aaron. Len and I are doing geeky computer stuff but everyone else is now talking about David Gest. He lives in Memphis now. I wish he had come too.

I'm In Early

I'm at Cafe Francisco a few minutes early and I saw a guy who sort of looks like Mike Hollihan but I don't think it was him. I gave him the "head nod" but he didn't nod back so he either didn't recognize me, wasn't Mike or was Mike who recognized me but decided it would be best to ignore me.

Oh yeah, they're out of Newcastle so I'm sipping Beck's Dark. Not bad.

DARN: Just realized I forgot my digital camera. Was going to do those "instant-real-time" photo things. I need one of those camera phones. Maybe for XMas.