Saturday, October 14, 2006

Ease on down the road...

Brent says:

This past Thursday was really cool! We went to see a musical, "The Wiz," at La Jolla Playhouse.
2006-10-12 Wiz (5)

But before I get to the play, which was an awesome experience, I have to share a bit bout dinner beforehand at the Humphrey's in the Raddison-UTC. OK, so the Entertainment Book, with all the 2 for 1 coupons, is GREAT for things like Subway or Pat and Oscar's, but I have to say that if a "finer" restaurant is advertising in it, there may be something amiss!

What I'm trying to say is that we wouldn't have even known about this place if it weren't for the Entertainment Book... OK... Well, why am I complaining? Not to sound super-cranky, but the service was so rude it was almost COMICAL! Here's a rough play-by-play of our arrival.

6:05 pm - Arrive and are seated promptly - Crowd is mainly older; Restaurant has distinct "Holiday Inn Restaurant" vibe
6:15 pm - Nobody has come near us
6:20 pm - Waitress named Lucy who's nametag reads - "Bulgaria" approaches and intones, "OK, what you want?"
6:21 pm - Kat and I stammer a bit and try to buy time by asking for water. "He be here when he get here," Lucy says, "Now what you have"
6:22 pm - "Well, we thought about an appetizer..." I mention, and order the Shrimpt Cocktail, to which she grunted and then says, "What else want?" - Now we're startled a bit, especially when we didn't get the answer in fast and she started clearing all the plates and silverware off the table. We managed to squeak out an order, keep most of our silverware, and actually enjoyed the food, but MAN - talk about losing the customer from a poor customer experience. I wonder how oftn people vow to never go back to a place based on a poor customer experience?

Well, bear that in mind as we go to the show at La Jolla Playhouse. Now THIS as a tremendous experience! You walk in and first notice that the set looks like "Who Wants to be a Millionairre?" Very sleek and modern
2006-10-12 Wiz (3)
They have lots of multimedia stuff going, and the surround sound is playing a prairie thunderstorm even as you sit down.

The musical itself is a modern, multi-cultural with a heavy slant towards African-American retelling of the Wizard of Oz. The claim to fame on this show was David Alan Grier from In Living Color, Jumanji, etc. as The Wiz.

But the show really shined on its costumes, innovative set, and constantly active pace. It was really entertaining...

This weekend we are pug-sitting for Maggie, Kat's Aunt and Uncle's dog - I'll be in Colorado Mon-Thurs, so Kat will be "Single-Pug-Parenting" - I hope she'll get by! *grin*

B

2 comments:

M&M said...

That is my best friend's favorite play! Miss you guys!

Jen said...

Hysterical.

This isn't even close, but we once ate at Dominic's in Shreveport and had this water-filler we called "The Apparition." She would just suddenly appear right next to you and barely whisper "More water?" No one could ever understand her, and we were constantly freaked out by how she could sidle up next to you so unnoticed.

And then last Sunday after church we ate at Macaroni Grill where we had an oppressively nice waitress. She came around and asked us if everything was okay, if we wanted anything, if we needed refills (you're not supposed to ask that, especially for water--just bring it!), etc. Gosh, we were worn out by the time we left.

My sister theorizes that this is the problem with low unemployment rates: even people with no customer-service skills can get customer-service jobs.