Snarky Prick

I got to my room on Friday afternoon and got all settled in.
I had a great room. I had gotten up at 5AM and was so hungry by the time I got there.
I went downstairs and had a great salad and a class of Cabernet.
I sat at the bar and chatted with the bartender and we had some good laughs.

I went up stairs to my room. I had hours to wait for my friend coming in from California.
So I began to read and just appreciate the quiet of no phones, no dog that needed walking, just the sound of nothing.  I fell right to sleep.  I woke to the sound of my phone. It was a text telling me that she was on the train on her way to the hotel.  She'd be there by 5:30p Perfect timing. 

As I told you yesterday the hotel was fabulous. But in my room my windows were sprayed with the frosted look. How bad was the view that they felt they had to do this? I was dying to know what was out there. Funny huh?

 photo removed

I knew that my friend would probably be awake longer than me being that she was a few hours behind so me having a nap gave me the ability to stay up with her. 
You know, my old lady logic.

We hung out in the room getting caught up while she unpacked. We went down stairs to the lounge and had a few. We mingled with folks from around the world. Then we went to dinner. We talked and talked some more.  Years of catching up had to be done. And being done over wine was even better.

Saturday morning she slept until a bit past 9:30am. I haven't been able to do that since I was in my 20's. I was up at 3:30 central, fell back to sleep, awoke again at 4:30a, then feel back to sleep again until 6am. Now I was really awake. There was no way I was going to able to sleep anymore. To me I slept in until 7am my body clock time. I took a shower and got ready for my day. I made the coffee in my room. Yuk. I went downstairs and walked to the corner to Starbucks and read the paper there and drank a big ole cup of coffee.

Went back to the hotel and wondered what the hell will I do until she wakes up?
I was now a bit hungry but we said we would go to breakfast  the night before so i felt I should wait. By 9am I was wanting breakfast. I text her. No response. Finally at 9:30 she text me and says, she's up! YIPEE. We eat "breakfast" at lunch time.  Then we hit the streets.

We had a great time in Chicago.  I always do. Such a great city.

A couple of things happened in between our eating, drinking, shopping and laughing.

I had a hard time with the wifi there or getting my 4G as well. If I were in the lobby I was fine. If I was in my friends room it was fine. Just my room. The encased fortress I suppose.
I asked at the front desk if this was caused by what was behind the frosted window and he laughed along with me and said, "no"  and acted surprised. So he gave me 2,000 points for my inconvenience. I told him it wasn't a big deal I was just wondering. Well okay I can live with all this nice customer service. I wasn't complaining, just wondering, and I sure didn't expect that but it was a very nice gesture on their part.

We had tickets to a show at Second City and she really wanted me to go to the Metropolitan Club for dinner. She is a member of this club in Seattle and California etc. So I would be her guest here. It was atop the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) Before we left for the trip I went online and looked at the menu. 
They actually had a gluten free menu so I knew this ole Celiac Gal would be fine.
They also had a dress code. Men in coats but no ties necessary, business casual. No jeans, that kind of thing. Good excuse to wear my new dress. 

We got a bit behind in our day and we were rushing to get to our show.  We arrived and we realized that this show was not the main stage. I told her that I saw they were sold out at all shows. She told me she got us 2 seats. But what she got was not the main stage. I had a bad feeling. I have always only seen shows on the main stage and they have always been great entertainment. Normally we leave there having sore face muscles from laughing so hard. Not this time.  Awful with a capital A. We left at intermission. We went to dinner. At this point we were both starving so it worked out great except I just wasted $35 for an unfunny show.

We get to the top of the tower. We were seated right in front of the windows. 
It was a bit gray and cloudy by now but still a great view.
It was going well until our mean old waiter came to the table.
From the get go this old man had an attitude with us. He took a drink order and left.
My friend said to me, "Was that my imagination or was he a smug bastard?"
That made me laugh. "No, it wasn't just you Therese."

He came back with our drinks and he handed us menus. I told him I saw online that they offer a gluten free menu.  He then rolled his eyes. Yes, this old coot rolled his eyes at me while he said, "We don't offer that any longer so we'll just take the gluten out"
Now I wanted to ask how the hell he planned to do that but thought better of it.
Later Therese said, "I saw him roll his eyes at you, did you see that?"
She was shocked. I've had this before when i tell them I need gluten free or that I'm celiac.

When my friend said, "I can't decided between the steak (of some kind) or fish what would you recommend?"  He responded with a loud sigh and a snarky, "well it depends on how you order your steak are you someone who wants it dry and dead or Medium rare?"
She said, "I like medium rare" 
"Then get the steak"  he said

Now what a way to say that to a customer. So if she had said she wanted it medium or worse yet medium well he has just insulted her. Really was that necessary? He could have just said, "this steak is best medium rare so if you don't like your steak like that you may want to go for your 2nd choice."

It wasn't always WHAT he said but HOW he said the things he said to us.
My friend called him smug old fart. I called him snarky arrogant old coot.
Either way it's the same right?

I asked if I could get my meal not on a bed of risotto since it is gluten. 
I asked if I could get it on the garlic mashed potatoes instead. 
He again rolled his friggin' eyes and said NO. Just No. 
 Okay I did not want to eat another damn salad which is always my choice when out to eat. Then he says, "well we can make your risotto with gluten free pasta."  I said, "that will take awhile. I know how long risotto takes unless you have it already made."
He shrieked, "why would we have THAT made? of course we have to make it."
I said, "No that's okay I'll just take the meat and the vegetables that it comes with and leave out the risotto. 

We get out meal in record time. My veal was sitting on a bed of Parmesan risotto.
First of all there would not have been enough time to even make this with gluten free pasta.
Second of all I was pissed that he was giving me this. I told him I had Celiac Disease for petes sake. Jeez, do you give a kid peanuts who has a peanut allergy? WTH?
When he put the plate in front of me I said, "You gave me risotto."  
He says quickly, "yea we whipped some up JUST for you" as he turned around and left our table.

My friend looked at me and said, "They didn't just make this Peg."
"No shit. I know there wasn't enough time to do that and I'm not eating it, damn prick!"  
I wipped off my veal and put it on my bread plate, hoping I got enough ristotto off it. 
I gave my friend my risotto. 
I didn't get my veggies either.
But I sure as hell wasn't bringing it up to the waiter. I just didn't want to see his face again.

My friend got dessert. I thought there would be nothing there for me to have. 
But I got some coconut gelato with berries that was great. She ordered the tiramisu.
It came in a mason jar and she took one bite and crinkled up her nose.
She said, "This is awful Peg and it doesn't even taste like tiramisu, it just tastes awful"
She asked me if I wanted to taste it.
I laughed and said," gee thanks for the great offer but I think I'm glad I can't eat gluten. We both laughed.
At that moment the waiter walked by and heard her. 
He said, "Now what is wrong?"
She meekly said, "Oh I just didn't care for this and... before she could get out more he responses with - "Well it's a modern take on tiramisu, let me guess you want something else."(read that line with an attitude and tone) 
Now she's fired up.  She said to him, "now that was rude. Yes, I'd like what she's having."
He brings it to the table and says nothing to her. 
At that point I said to Therese that again it's not what he said but how he says it that was the issue. He could have said, "This is our modern version of the tiramisu. I'm sorry you didn't care for it may I bring you something else?"  
She didn't ask for anything free she paid for both of them.

The tip is already calculated in the tab. 20%. If I have good service I always tip more than 20% so I never understand why establishments would choose to do that. But in this case it was a damn good thing because there was no way he would have gotten that much from us.
This old coot needs to retire or find another job.

We both were so mad that we each wrote a review. 
They have contacted me to speak to them. I am sure Therese got the same. 

I do have to say that I get so incredibly sick (no pun intended) of people who make light of Celiac. It's real and it's awful and I sure as hell wouldn't choose this life if I didn't have to. Sadly there is a fad right now of gluten free this or that. So maybe this waiter thought I was being a fad type gal. But after a few times of him being an ass my friend spoke up and said, "She's got Celiac this isn't a fad for her" when he was being rather mean and snarky.  I told her to let it go. I'm used to this. I can't eat out anymore because I don't know what is in food that is made outside my home.
I don't want to be "one of those"
I have been feeling terribly for the last few days because I know I ingested things I shouldn't have without knowing.  Yes, it will pass but it does so much damage to me and that is what I can't make people understand who don't understand the disease.

I wish more people understood this disease so they wouldn't be so mean.
But bottom line is that this guy was just a snarky prick.