Now, THAT' S service....

I spent part of Friday night hanging out with BSOM - he had been wanting to show me this store in Towson/Parkville called Rugged Outfitters. It's one of those stores where fashion goes to die - brand-name clothing at super-cheap prices. Some decent stuff, but much of it in odd sizes or in styles so ugly that you wonder why anyone would have thought someone would buy it. We also ended up going into Ross Dress For Less, a similar idea, where I made my one purchase, a belt which I am hoping will resolve my recent pants issues - when you lose a couple inches in your waist, it gets hard to keep your pants up (although the way I've been eating the last week, I'll probably wind up gaining it back anyway...)

We then figured we'd grab some food, so we decided to go to the Bill Bateman's in Parkville. I'd spent many a night at the one in Towson, but had never been to the one in Parkville.

The first event of the night was when I decided to order a beer and got carded. I showed my license to the waiter, and got a puzzled look - the kind of puzzled look I stopped getting once I finally got a Maryland license to replace my New Jersey license, which was valid but, being a New Jersey license, looked like it was made with a copier and a pair of gardening shears. Then I realized why he was puzzled - in the picture on my license, I have brown hair, but a few months ago I bleached it, then died it red a month later - so it looks different. I'm also a few pounds lighter than I was in the pic.

So I figure I'll get something reasonably healthy, and get a chicken breast sandwich. I notice they have baked sweet potatoes, and ask if I could sub it for the fries (yes, I know it's covered in sugar and butter and thus only marginally better for me. But I like baked sweet potatos).

So my dish comes out, and it's got fries. Mention to the guy who brought it (not the waiter) that it was supposed to come with a sweet potato, and he wisks it away. Like 15 seconds later, the manager was next to our table asking why I had sent the sandwich back - what was wrong with it. A minute later the waiter is back asking if everything is OK.

Yes, I know they messed up, but I was amazed how seriously and quickly they were on it. I tend to buy a lot of stuff, and many of my retail experiences are less than pleasant. Maybe Best Buy managers need to take a lesson from Bill Bateman...