Just when I think I’ve seen it all, or almost all, I get blind sighted.

Remember this post? I should have known when I’ve asked about the cake, but noooo, I was too dense. Geez at times, I swear…

You see what I didn’t tell you about "Le Quartier" (I’m posting a link, because I want everyone to know this place) is that on Feb. 20th when we were there with twelve of our friends, for Hubby’s birthday dinner something happened.

The food wasn’t extraordinary and the service overall was ok. When came time to pay, we got our bill and I waited a good twenty minutes for someone to come pick up my credit card. I don’t like leaving my card on the table while I’m somewhere else (in this case, the dance floor). A girl friend who wanted to leave because she had come from out of town and had a long drive back and I, were standing there, by our tables, but nobody was even looking at us. I did call a busboy and asked him if he could take our cards. He said he’d let our waitress know, since he wasn’t supposed to do that. The restaurant wasn’t full, not even half, so it’s not like they were super busy. He did come back to let us know, he had told her, and she had said she would come when she’d have a chance. We could see her, typing at the cash, who knows what, but she wasn’t waiting tables, that’s for sure.

She finally came, took our cards and went to do her thing, i.e. pre-authorize the transactions. She came back with our cards for us to sign. By that time, I was upset. The service hadn’t been that good and her neglect at the end like this didn’t deserve, in my book, the usual 15 to 20% gratuity. I did leave some tip but because I wasn’t completely satisfy I cut down. It is my right as a customer to do so, when I’m not satisfied. For having worked in bars and restaurants I do know tips are important, and also show the customers’ appreciation of the service they received. I wasn’t happy, so I only gave twenty bucks on a $232.20 bill before taxes, when normally I would have given at least thirty dollars. She didn’t deserve that much. I was dancing and came back to our tables a bit later. Our waitress came to see me. She explained that usually customers leave between fifteen and twenty percent and I had not. Since they had to split the tips among them all, what I had left wasn’t that much. I was shocked (to say the least), and asked her if there was a problem with my card. I think at that point, my brain was refusing to process that arrogance or something… She simply repeated that my tips weren’t enough. I took a breath and simply said: “I wasn’t satisfy with the slow service, therefore only left what I thought was fair. If this isn’t enough I can cancel the whole thing if you prefer?”. She thanked me, and walked away.

When we left, I did ask for whatever was left of that cake, since it was so friggin’ expensive I wasn’t about to leave it there. The hostess went to the kitchen and came back with one piece of cake. Again, I was shocked. How could that be? I had ordered a cake for eighteen people. When they did bring out the cake, it was a big square one. We were fourteen people, thus (the way I count) some cake should have been left over. According to the hostess the cake was cut so that there was nothing left – yeah right! By the way, how do you cut a square cake, in squares, for 14 people and manage to have one piece left? Does anybody know? I'm curious, 'cause I suck at cake cutting!

Now, back to present day: I received our Visa statement. As usual, I matched my receipts with it. Imagine my surprise when I saw this:

and here’s the bill:

The little *itch actually processed my card for $300. thus giving herself the extra $18 she thought she deserved. The nerve of her!

Oh… she’s messing with the wrong person here… I already called Visa and also left a message for the manager at Le Quartier. When asked what the call was about I simply said: “An employee who’s fraudulent” Let’s see if that gets his attention.