I'll be honest, I've always known that I'm pretty good at getting things that I want, especially when it comes to retail or food service. However, last night took the cake. I was at my finest.
Eric's parents came into town last night for his step-brother's birthday. Dan and Chelsea live up in Andersonville, so they made reservations at Anteprima on Clark St. Eric and I got there a little early and went next door to Acre for a drink. Once Kathy, Bob, Chelsea and Dan arrived I talked the host into getting us a table (there were none left that sat 6), and we sat down for drinks. And sat. And sat. Anteprima was supposed to come get us as soon as our table was ready (they're owned by the same people), but at about 8:35, five minutes after our reservation, she came in and said that the people at our table just ordered dessert and they weren't sure how long it was going to be. So we started scrambling, as by now we were all hungry. Bob and Kathy have some dietary restrictions, and it was 9:00 on a Friday - neither of which left us with many options.
We decided to go over to the restaurant and stand in the waiting area in hopes that it would spur on a little movement from the host or the people at our table. I went inside to talk to the host, and the manager happened to be standing right there. I think I've figured out the key is to start a little bitchy, but then start kissing ass as quickly as possible. So that's what I did. I asked him about our table and told him that we were already 20 minutes past our reservations, and that we had shown up at 7:30 and been waiting for the past hour. Then I turned on the charm and told them how our parents were in from out of town and had been driving all day, and were starving. I said no matter how much we desperately wanted to stay and eat there, we were going to have to cancel our reservations. The manager told me to wait, that if we had to cancel he at least wanted to give us a gift certificate. He left for a moment and came back with a hand-written $100 gift certificate. That deserved a hug.
I walked out and handed it to Danny with a "Here's the best birthday present ever." It was pretty amazing, I have to admit.
