We went to Perkins tonight for dinner, since everything else closes at 9 pm, and we didn't want fast food. We eat at Perkins about once a week, and while the service is usually semi-spotty, it hasn't been this bad in a long time.
Walked in, and were "greeted" by our server from 1/2 way across the restaurant.
Server: "TWO?"
Us: "Yes"
Server shows us to booth, and then starts sweeping the floor. A couple minutes later, she's back.
Server: "What you want to drink?"
Boyfriend: "Mountain Dew or Mello Yellow, NO ICE."
Server: "Do you know what you want to order?"
Me: "I'll have the open-face turkey sandwich."
Server: "What to drink?"
Me: "Rootbeer, no ice."
Server: "And you?"
Boyfriend: "The turkey and dressing."
Server: "What sides?"
Boyfriend: "Caesar Sa.." (He doesn't even get it all the way out.)
Server: "Do you want that ahead of time?"
Boyfriend: "Yes, bring it out first. For the 2nd side, I'll have the rice."
Server: "We out of rice, whatcha want instead?"
Boyfriend: "What are the options?"
Server: *points at menu*
Boyfriend orders Mac n' cheese.
Server brings drinks, boyfriend's has ice. Boyfriend doesn't say anything because it's just a small issue. We don't see server again for 5 mins. Server comes back.
Server: "We's out of stuffing too. What you want instead?"
Boyfriend: "What are the options again?"
Server: *lists options including breakfast potatoes*
Boyfriend: "What are the breakfast potatoes?"
Server: "Uh... potatoes... I don't know. Let me go grab some to show you."
Me: Explains breakfast potatoes.
Server: "Yeah... that's right."
Boyfriend: "OK, those."
Server leaves again, and you hear her yelling at the kitchen to do breakfast potatoes instead of stuffing.
Server comes back several minutes later.
Server: "I forgot to ask what you want instead of stuffing."
Me: "Uhm... Do you still have the carrots?"
Server: "Yeah."
Server disappears. More yelling in kitchen.
Server brings out food and starts to walk away.
Boyfriend: "Uh... I had a salad too?"
Server: "Oh yeah. Damn, why didn't you say something sooner?"
Server brings out salad and disappears.
I finish my dinner, boyfriend finishes his drink and his dinner, I finish my drink. We sit and wait. Server comes back.
Server: "Are you ready for the check then?"
*No offer of desert. Perkins servers are required to offer you a piece of pie or you get one free. She didn't even wait for us to respond. I didn't pursue it because I didn't want to deal with "We out of that" or what I'm sure would have been a 15 minute wait for a slice*
Server disappears for 5 minutes, brings back check, and then disappears again. Perkins has a new thing about paying the server... it used to be that you paid the host at the bakery counter.
I get out my wallet, put the money in the tray, and we get up to leave. I notice there are no employees around, only our server on the phone at the bakery counter. Boyfriend walks out in front of me, and server tries to stop him to ask where our payment is. I had grabbed the tray with the money, and he pointed at me as he walked out the door. I hand her the check, and she responded with a sort of grunt and went back to her phone call with, "Damn... I thought you's was gone by now. What we's doin' tonight foo?"
Didn't see the manager at all, and didn't want to interrupt her obviously important phone call to ask about him. We probably won't go back to that one for at least several weeks, but we're right in between 3 so we pretty much rotate through all of them anyway. I filled out the online survey, but I'm not sure if we'll get a response or not. Oh well.