Way Better Than Leaving A Tip

About ten years ago, I was managing an Asian fusion restaurant. It was a weekday and we didn’t have a bartender, so I would handle the bar. Our bar was separate from the dining room, so I would go between, making all the mixed drinks and checking on the servers and kitchen. You know, manager stuff.

A couple sat down at the bar and ordered a couple of drinks and appetizers. I placed the order and made the drinks and then a server had an issue that took me a while to solve. We had a good team there, so another server saw that my apps were up and took them out for me. She then came and found me.

Server: “I took your apps to the bar but the lady looks upset. She said everything was fine, but you might want to check on her.”

“From one problem to another,” I think.

Back at the bar, the man was nowhere to be seen, and the woman was typing angrily on her phone. Her drink, a cosmo, was empty and the man’s was barely touched. The apps were untouched. I prided myself on knowing what my customers wanted before they did, so I started mixing the woman another drink. She put the phone down and asked for another cosmo just as I was garnishing.

Me: “You mean this one?”

And I set it in front of her. She gave me that surprised look that I absolutely loved as a server.

Woman: “He left, didn’t he?”

Me: “I don’t know, but I can find out.”

I did check later and the hostess said he bailed only a few minutes after they got there.

Woman: “You would not believe what that a**hole asked me!”

She then explained that that was supposed to be their first date. They had met through friends and had been talking for some time, but this was the first time for the two of them to go out just the two of them. After hellos, the first thing he did was ask, “Am I getting lucky tonight?” Needless to say, the woman reacted negatively to this. He said he needed to pee and proceeded to leave the building.

Woman: “Can I get another drink?”

Me: “Sure, but you do need to eat.”

It was a slow night, and I figured she could use some company, so I spent most of my time that night in the bar chit-chatting and polishing glasses and such. Eventually, I said something and I saw an abrupt change in her demeanor. Never before had I seen such a clear indication that a woman was interested in me. She was attractive and I was flattered.

She ended up hanging out until closing and having five or six drinks and a full meal in four hours, and she was not a small girl so she was probably feeling pretty good but not drunk.

I called her a cab, and when she left, she asked if I would come by later.

Me: “No, you are ahead of me on the drinks, but here is my number. If you still feel the same way tomorrow, I would love to take you out some time.”

We ended up dating for a year and a half until we had an amicable breakup. We still talk often and are good friends.