Now, I have a favorite karaoke place in DC, but unfortunately, it's 21 and up. One of the interns at my work suggested we attend this event at the National Museum for Women in the Art, which sounded great, but the rest of us had already made plans to go karaoking that evening. We decided to find a place that she could get into (she's only 19) - and the only one in the entire city was called Cafe Japone, down by Dupont.
We get there and are informed there is a $15 minimum to sit down. Cool, I guess, except it was already 1 am, and what, the girl under 21 was going to order a million and two cokes? Whatever, we say that's fine, and we tell one of the bartenders/hosts how many people we've got in our group, and that we'll be needing a table.
He stares at us and walks away. We're left standing in the incredibly crowded entry to the bar, waiting for him to come back and say "Oh, I've cleaned off this table for you," or "Sorry, we're actually at standing room only right now," or "That table in the corner is yours!"
He comes back, stares at us again, and stands behind the bar.
Somehow, I was the designated spokesperson for the evening, so I approached him and asked "Hi, sorry for interrupting you, but were you going to show us to a table?" He stares at me like I'm dumb and says "Uh, that's why I walked away from you."
I'm sorry, I assumed that, I don't know, you'd say something along the lines of "Oh, sure! Follow me!" Even a simple "This way," would have sufficed. And now, for those of you who think that it's likely that he did say something like that and we didn't hear him, I totally thought that too!
I say, "Oh, I'm sorry, we didn't hear you say anything, that's why we didn't follow."
"I didn't say anything, I assumed you guys like, I dunno, actually go out sometimes and understand the way this works."
I was livid. "No, actually, when I go to bars and restaurants, I expect the person helping me to actually tell me what they're doing so I don't stand there like an idiot, or follow them when they're just going to look for a table. You know, that's the way these things actually work."
He stares at me like I'm stupid again.
I make one of those "Okay, you've pissed me off, but whatever, I'm here to have a good time" face and hand-movement combinations, and go to the only empty table in the room. I figure, if this is the table he intended for us, awesome, and if not, at this point, I don't really give a shit.
As we're walking away, the girls nearest to him hear "Stupid bitches". I see his lips move, and it's pretty damn obvious what he said.
I'm more than livid at this point. We sit down, still in shock, and a waitress comes up to us. "Uh, I hope you know this, but you all have to buy at least $15 worth of stuff." My friend Jackie reassures here that yes, we do know, and thank you for reminding us.
Waitress huffs away. "Well, I was just SAYING." Brings back a wine menu, and slams it down on the table. That's right, one wine menu for like, ten people. Not neccessarily OMG HORRIBLE SERVICE, but annoying. She leaves, and comes back literally thirty seconds later. "Can I take your orders now?"
I'm fucking furious at this point - and I'm in BA in Women's Studies mode at this point, but I'm sorry, I don't want to spend money at a bar that thinks that not only is it okay to be generally rude to their guests, but call their female guests "bitches". I politely tell her that we'll need more time, and can she come back in a few minutes. She sighs loudly, and walks away.
After a quick conference with the rest of the people there, we figure, $15 minimum be damned, we're leaving, and we don't give a shit whether or not they expect us to pay for just sitting there. We hadn't ordered yet, so I figured there was nothing they could do.
We get up to leave, and the guy bartender yells "Hey, you guys didn't pay! Stop!"
Yeah, dumbass, I didn't pay because I didn't order anything yet, and I sat at your stupid table for all of 5 minutes.
We kept walking.
I'm thinking about calling today and complaining with the manager, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the guy was, in fact, actually the manager.
We get there and are informed there is a $15 minimum to sit down. Cool, I guess, except it was already 1 am, and what, the girl under 21 was going to order a million and two cokes? Whatever, we say that's fine, and we tell one of the bartenders/hosts how many people we've got in our group, and that we'll be needing a table.
He stares at us and walks away. We're left standing in the incredibly crowded entry to the bar, waiting for him to come back and say "Oh, I've cleaned off this table for you," or "Sorry, we're actually at standing room only right now," or "That table in the corner is yours!"
He comes back, stares at us again, and stands behind the bar.
Somehow, I was the designated spokesperson for the evening, so I approached him and asked "Hi, sorry for interrupting you, but were you going to show us to a table?" He stares at me like I'm dumb and says "Uh, that's why I walked away from you."
I'm sorry, I assumed that, I don't know, you'd say something along the lines of "Oh, sure! Follow me!" Even a simple "This way," would have sufficed. And now, for those of you who think that it's likely that he did say something like that and we didn't hear him, I totally thought that too!
I say, "Oh, I'm sorry, we didn't hear you say anything, that's why we didn't follow."
"I didn't say anything, I assumed you guys like, I dunno, actually go out sometimes and understand the way this works."
I was livid. "No, actually, when I go to bars and restaurants, I expect the person helping me to actually tell me what they're doing so I don't stand there like an idiot, or follow them when they're just going to look for a table. You know, that's the way these things actually work."
He stares at me like I'm stupid again.
I make one of those "Okay, you've pissed me off, but whatever, I'm here to have a good time" face and hand-movement combinations, and go to the only empty table in the room. I figure, if this is the table he intended for us, awesome, and if not, at this point, I don't really give a shit.
As we're walking away, the girls nearest to him hear "Stupid bitches". I see his lips move, and it's pretty damn obvious what he said.
I'm more than livid at this point. We sit down, still in shock, and a waitress comes up to us. "Uh, I hope you know this, but you all have to buy at least $15 worth of stuff." My friend Jackie reassures here that yes, we do know, and thank you for reminding us.
Waitress huffs away. "Well, I was just SAYING." Brings back a wine menu, and slams it down on the table. That's right, one wine menu for like, ten people. Not neccessarily OMG HORRIBLE SERVICE, but annoying. She leaves, and comes back literally thirty seconds later. "Can I take your orders now?"
I'm fucking furious at this point - and I'm in BA in Women's Studies mode at this point, but I'm sorry, I don't want to spend money at a bar that thinks that not only is it okay to be generally rude to their guests, but call their female guests "bitches". I politely tell her that we'll need more time, and can she come back in a few minutes. She sighs loudly, and walks away.
After a quick conference with the rest of the people there, we figure, $15 minimum be damned, we're leaving, and we don't give a shit whether or not they expect us to pay for just sitting there. We hadn't ordered yet, so I figured there was nothing they could do.
We get up to leave, and the guy bartender yells "Hey, you guys didn't pay! Stop!"
Yeah, dumbass, I didn't pay because I didn't order anything yet, and I sat at your stupid table for all of 5 minutes.
We kept walking.
I'm thinking about calling today and complaining with the manager, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the guy was, in fact, actually the manager.
