[Blarg]

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Blarg,


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To answer the question, yes, we would have most likely gone to one of the other places that were within 10 minutes of driving distance. This was a special night for his son, not for the rest of us. We aren't so lazy we would refuse to take the 1 minute walk back to the car, followed by the 10 minute drive.

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Also, you realize if the dad had called ahead, the person who answered the phone would have most likely been the same hostess?

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No way to know that one way or the other, but there's certainly a good chance. If the dad called ahead and got misinformation, he would be blameless for acting on misinformation. I'm still not a fan of his escalating the matter, though.

I may not be a fan of the manager/owner for not making sure his staff is better trained, too. As a general policy, any employee pretty much anywhere should know not to say you're going to do something for a customer unless you're absolutely rock solid positive you can do it. Otherwise you just get in a jam and everybody looks bad and has hard feelings, and sometimes you're out of some money.

For instance, simply registering a complaint can cost 75 bucks or more in some chains. They can mount up quickly and result in very steep fines and, in surprisingly short order, costly remedial programs. They do not have to have ANY merit to do so.

Maybe the hostess was just stupid. If so, she'd better get on the ball before she loses the joint any more customers, goodwill, and cold hard cash.