Blog Number 86

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well the mother-in-law and sister-in-law arrived this afternoon for a week long visit.  To my wife and I this means one thing, no more bath duty for us for a week!  We even gave each other a high five tonight in celebration.  The sister-in-law drew the short straw tonight.  The daughter has been in super happy mode ever since they arrived at the airport.  Evidently "out of town grandma/aunt visit" is some sort of crack for preschoolers.

We went out to eat at Bennigan's for dinner.  I stepped up to the greeter and notified that we needed a table for 6.  He asked how many kid's menus we would need.  Now it was apparent to me that there were 2 kids in the party.  I answered that I needed zero kid's menus.  He kind of paused like he was not sure how to proceed.  I assured him that no kid's menus were needed and he cautiously took us to our table.  Our waiter then came to our table and I ordered water for my wife, kids and I.  This always gets the "Oh, great" look from the server.  Ordering water evidently signifies to the waiter that we are cheapskates and this will undoubtedly be reflected in his tip.  Combine our water order with the fact that the kids had no kid's menus and this is like an alarm to the waiter.

Now, I am not a cheapskate (really) but the portion sizes that most restaurants serve nowadays just beg that sensible people share a plate.  Also, after an hour at a restaurant, all you really have is a full stomach no matter what you ordered.  The wife and I share a plate all the time when we go out.  We order a more expensive platter and share.  It is not our fault that we cannot consume enough food for 3 people each (some of the things on the menus could feed an army)!  Bennigan's has these new cheeseburgers that they serve on pita bread.  I ordered a BBQ Bacon for the wife and a Peppercorn Bleu variety for myself.  After they arrived, I cut them up and passed them out to the kids.  Everyone was full and as a bonus, Wednesday specials include any burger for $4.99 each.  So before tax and tip, we got out for $10.  The daughter decided she wanted what grandma was having so the son consumed a little more burger to make up for it.  I do reward waiters and waitresses with good tips for good service.  By not spending $2 each for drinks and $10 for kids meals, I have much more available to me to tip (assuming the service was good).

In the end, the mother-in-law paid for dinner.  If I had know that ahead of time I might have ordered the steak.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon