No Free Lunch?

Marilyn and I were part of the administrative team at our former worksite. I did words, she did numbers. With Jackie, our boss, we made a heck of a team. Since Marilyn and I retired, we make sure we meet for lunch around the holidays and near our birthdays.

So yesterday we had our birthday lunch at the Tualatin Applebees. We arrived at 11:30 to beat the lunch crowd and told our harried waiter that we would be yakking and he didn't have to worry about getting us in and out within the 30-60 minute lunch hour. So we perused the menu, received our ice teas, ordered our salads, and started catching up.

Marilyn's son is employed at our former work place, so she had news about some of our former co-workers. We were intent upon our conversation until we realized the staff was delivering delicious-looking food all around us and we were getting hungry. So we flagged down our waiter who apologized and dashed off to check on our order.

It seems there was a miscommunication in the kitchen that delayed our order and our salads came almost immediately, followed shortly by Marilyn's extra shrimp. We had started in on our huge salads when a young woman came over to check on our orders and to apologize again for the delay. She indicated our lunches would be on the house due to the mixup. We indicated that wasn't necessary, but she said it was a done deal.

A free lunch!

My previous experiences at other eating establishments have included meals that arrived luke warm and/or soggy after sitting forgotten under the warming lights. After nabbing our server to enquire about our order, the food had been retrieved and deposited before us with a hurried apology. This was the first time I've ever received sincere and profuse apologies plus having the tab picked up because of the error.

Needless to say, I am now a fan of Applebees. At least -- the Tualatin restaurant.

Our salads were generous in proportion, the makings fresh, and the dressing on the side. We celebrated with "shooters" for desert (shot glass-sized sundaes). However, I have to say that Applebees has a golden brownie desert to die for!

Anyway -- sometimes there may be a free lunch!