Friday, November 11, 2005

party's over

who would bring their baby to a bar?! ah, eric and i in search of a good time with friends! okay, it wasn't as bad as it sounds ... it was a restaurant / bar, and i would do it again (when jack is older though). we decided to meet some friends for dinner, and attempted to be not so "geriatric" and made plans for 7 pm (note: jack's bedtime is 8 pm SHARP!). we agreed to bring the babies jack 5 months, and their little girl, Sylvie 2 months. i was AMAZED ... there were several babies and even more toddlers at this place. if i was into "picking up" playdates, this may be the place to hang! hahaha.

BJ's (the r/b) had a fun atmosphere, and they weren't afraid to play loud, hot music and keep the tempurature even hotter. it could have been that eric and i were holding our SCREAMING child for an hour, or that i had on too many layers because i misunderstood the weather guy!

jack was a sweetheart in the beginning, hanging out, smiling and then ... PARTY'S OVER! At 8 pm SHARP, our dearest son let everyone know that he needed to go home. the service was so SLOW ... our waitress had a difficult time looking any of us in the eye (when she was actually at the table), and would take her sweet ass time filling our pitcher of beer (we needed all we could get), serving our food, etc. damn kids! i feel myself getting bitter as i reach my 30's.

i wish all restaurants, or anywhere for that matter, that may be serving people with children would put into their orientation a lesson on serving families. for those of you with toddlers ... chime in ... i am sure you have been here, and under worse circumstances. here is what i would teach:

1. communicate if the kitchen is behind, and see if the customers need anything like a babysitter or a couple shots!
2. if the parents order alcohol or beer, make sure their glass is always full ... there is a reason they are drinking!
3. MOVE IT! your tip will be bigger if you can get the family through this with little stress.
4. if there is a toddler at the table, bring their food out first. when we have dinner with friends, family, it amazes me how the servers don't think of doing this and it can make everyone's life so much easier.

sylvie did awesome, especially once she had a good burp. eventually jack was fine, but not until he spit up all over eric and i, was walked around outside and got some fresh air. eric and i ate in shifts ... i love my husband. thankfully our friends were understanding, as was the table behind us that had a 3 year old and a 7 week old. we were also fortunate because of the loud music ... nobody else could hear mr. jack SCREAMING! it was quite the experience, and i would not recommend pushing the limits at such a young age if your kiddo is on a tight schedule. naps are fine ... don't mess with bedtime if you don't have to!

we finally got the check, that was the fastest i saw the waitress move all night and we were outta there. jack screamed in the car ... wow, i did not realize how loud he was these days! then i found some magic in the diaper bag ... the pacifier! yep, jack has not used it in a couple of months, but it was just what the doctor ordered! when we got home the kid was all smiles, and drifted off the dreamland with little trouble.

what a night! i did have a nice time, but it was a learning experience. thank god for babysitters!

party's over.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

We have ALWAYS had slow service at BJ's! The food and beer has always been good but we won't go back because their service SUCKS! When we go out we end up eating ordering food that won't take long to prepare and eating very fast. Then we are chugging the last of our beer and head out the door. You never know when your precious ticking time bomb will go off.

11:51 AM CST  

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