Don Pablo's Story Time!
I recently became a server at Don Pablo's, thinking it would be much better than hosting. No dealing with people crying for a booth, no one stranding me in the middle of the restaurant with nowhere to go because they don't like "this booth". No more "I've been waiting for an hour and you said 45 minutes, how HARD is it to tell time". ANYWAY. Here's why my night as a new server almost killed me and how I really can't wait to have a REAL JOB.

I have a 4 table section. My 3rd table sat is a white trash mom, 18ish year old daughter, and 16ish year old son. I greet them with chips and already know I'm in for it when the mom asks for 2 waters, with lemon... and sugar, and a coke. Free lemonade, how creative. Whatever, not a big deal. The next time I come back to the table she wants free soft tortillas. She's already pissing me off so I tell her they only come with dips. "Well... I know if you ask for them, you get them for free" WHATEVER LADY. I get her her free tortillas. I come back. This time she wants HOT chips, and BUTTER for her tortillas. Umm what? Well lady, I'm not sure if we even have butter.. but ok. So I get new chips, it's really not up to me if they're hot or not, they're all kept in a chip warmer. And my manager finds me margarine.

I come back and they need more tortillas, but they're ready to order. She orders combos, but changes all of them. "She's gonna get this one.. but instead of chicken enchilada, she needs a bean enchilada... and instead of a beef taco, she needs a bean one. And since we're getting no meat, they always courtesy us with free avocado and like an extra spoon bread"

No they don't! WHAT? So I'm running around like crazy because I still have 3 OTHER tables of normal people who might actually give me a tip, but I really need a manager's help to put this nutty order in. The boy got 3 tacos with no vegetables, at least that one was easy enough.

I bring out their food and explain that the avocado cannot be free, but I can send a manager over if they have a problem with that. The daughter complains that "beans are cheaper than chicken" and the mom says "yeah it's cheaper.. and you can go explain that to your manager, we don't need to talk to him" OK?

So they call me over again.. the boy won't eat the "disgusting" tacos. He doesn't like the chicken in them, he wants fajita chicken meat. That's more expensive, and I explain that. He doesn't really care, he just wants better chicken. So I take his plate, go into the kitchen and tell the manager that I need 3 new tacos with fajita chicken.

They eat, they want boxes for their tacos, CHIPS, AND SALSA.. (are these people homeless?).. THEN the mom asks "so.. what do you do for birthdays?" OMGodzilla. I explain the free sopapillas. She asks what they are. I tell her. She says "well, it was his birthday a few days ago" with a like "didn't you know this already? smirk" LUCKILY the boy says "no.. i don't want people singing to me" THANK YOU.

So I bring them their check.. She gives me a crumpled up coupon that expired close to 2 years ago. My manager said she was so cheap that they don't even MAKE these anymore, and she most likely ripped it off. Their check ends up being $16 and I get a $2 tip for all the torment.

Meanwhile I'm getting yelled at to slice more lemons, fill the ice, and stock more tumblers in the kitchen because that's my sidework. UGH. No one should get paid $2.13 an hour for all the manual labor this place makes you do.

It's much worse than I thought, of course, but I'll save more stories for later!