That Takes the Cake!

The fam got together to celebrate the fifteenth birthday of my memorably adorable, but currently surly, (well, just normal teen-angst to the nth degree) niece. Because we are all congregated to celebrate the marriage of my sister, it was important that we commemorate her birth first thing so that it didn't get lost in the wake of all the nuptial excitement (read: drama).

We let her pick the restaurant; Buona Festa to you, too. All was quiet as we dug into our salad and bread sticks and when she left the table we made sure to notify the wait staff of the occasion so that she could be ultimately annoyed. Not only was she with her lame family, OMG, but she was in Iowa at a restaurant where we'd publicly humiliate her...YES!

On a side note; I thought I was fairly fast at texting, but apparently there's a reason for all the shorthand they use...those kids go through their track phone minutes in nothing flat. So much for the 'emergency contact' phone, eh?

After the entrees were completed and we'd picked out the desserts in which we all wished to indulge, the employees came to the table with a mini chocolate lasagna (the very dessert I'd been lamenting was no longer on the menu) that would feed all of us; if we had small pieces...

My sisters and I were commenting that the OG must take a hit from the cost of their complimentary birthday desserts, as it was way more than we'd expected or had received at other restaurants.

As they were passing out the checks, the waitress informed my sister that her check would be brought out by the manager. At first, Sherri seemed bewildered, but we started to conjecture that she must have been selected for quality control purposes or something. Her check was brought out with great fanfare by the formally dressed supervisor and presented Vanna White style with a flourish. And what was the dealy yo? Well, she'd been selected to participate in an online survey, for which she could receive four whole dollars off her next meal if she completed it within the next twenty-four hours...WHAT?

We sat around the table trying to contain our laughter until after the manager left. We're a small-town family of people pleasers, and we don't make waves in restaurants. I've still got the image in my mind of sitting at a table when I was about 10 and having the waitress top off my soda with water as she got the glasses mixed up...and nobody said a word...but she made it up to me by giving me a 2-liter of Sprite at my high school graduation as she is one of Sherri's dear friends.

But what was the best part? Learning the hard way that there really is no such thing as a free lunch...or birthday cake apparently, as they charged my sister for the cake we did not ask for!!!