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February 13, 2005
Aquarium and the Making of the Weekend
Saturday we got up early and went to the aquarium. Our plan was to spend some time there and look around Cannery Row. The aquarium was fantastic and we spent about 3 hours seeing the sharks, the jelly fish, and all kinds of neat sea creatures. I cant explain it but there was some kind of magic in the air. Everything seemed to be going right.
We hit Cannery Row, which was a dissappointment. Mostly touristy stuff which I thought would be great if we were there with someone from out of town but alas we werent and it was rather dull and traditional. We left quickly as we were hungry and the sun was going to set in about 2 hours.
We headed back toward the hotel, went to the Art Museum briefly to pick up some info about an art walk and then off to a restaurant called Rosines for lunch/dinner. Dinner was ok, the waitress wasnt all that into things and I hate when you look at someone and you just know they are faking their smile. That was the impression I got from her.
So this evening after all was said and done, we took a drive down the beach to look for the best place to take a picture of the sunset. It was cloudy but we were hoping to find the right place where the sun would set so beautiful and capture the moment. The clouds seemed way too thick, a bit hopeful, but not so promising. The water was beautiful, and the sounds of the ocean seemed to put us at ease. Relaxing more and more with each crash.
We finally parked and sat down at a bench. We stared at the ocean for a bit through the thickened clouds which now had a slight pink hugh from the sunset (or lack of). It was still pretty. It started to get a bit cold and after finally losing faith of capturing the sunset that was originally going to make the weekend even more special than it has already been, I decided I didnt want to stay for the remaining 1/2 hour to wait and find out.
As we stayed a moment longer, and caught one last look at the horizon, Josh handed me a bar of chocolate and a card. As I read it, tears came to my eyes as I could hear his voice in my head telling me how appreciated, how loved, and how special I am to him. Its funny but sometimes, although we know these things, it really means so much just to read the words that you know came from the heart. The love, the emotion, the feelings of being with someone you care about.
This moment was my "sunset" of the trip. It was the moment that captured our Monterey experience. It was the moment that was that made everything feel perfect and right. I was truly beautiful and I cried.
When we got back to the hotel room I was figuring out my budget for the weekend and seeing how close I was to staying within it. I noticed the charge on hold from Rosines (the restaurant we at lunch at) and the charge was higher than it should be. It was exactly $1.66 more which surprised me. I left the waitress just a hair under 15% because I wasnt completely satisfied with the service and when I calculated the amount that was on hold, it was exactly a 20% tip. I was a bit ticked.
I called them up asap and here is how the conversation went after explaining the situation. I heard first that it was my bank that automatically does that. I responded by telling her, every other restaurant Ive eaten at didnt do that. She explained that the charge went through fine in which I asked to come down and let them print me out a receipt showing the correct amount. She said I could come down and she could show me but couldnt print me a receipt that had the correct total.
At this point it was getting a little heated and I said it wasnt the $1.66 issue that was the problem and if they corrected it, thats fine but I just wanted them to admit it was their fault rather than continuing to make excuses. This was when she told me I was becoming annoying.
Well that would say enough (if you know me) and I asked for her name. I was delivered with a "Why do you want that?". Why are people so bold and so strong until you want their name? I explained that if I was coming down to take care of this issue, I would want to speak to her since she was the one who knows the situation.
At this point the tone of the conversation changed. She explained that their machine automatically sends this amount. Yes! "Your Machine". Now hearing this, it was my turn. This was the admission of guilt I was looking for. I said "ok, now let me explain something to you. I have worked in this kind of industry before accepting credit cards and know that its a button on your machine that automatically calculates the 20% tip and that it was your machine that is programmed to do that." I explained "Most restaurants will hold the amount of the bill without gratuity unless there is a large group. If they are adding in gratuity (which the bill didnt reflect when it was brought to me to sign), then they should be advising their customers. Otherwise all other restaurants Ive been to put the actual amount of the bill into their machine and then adjust the amount up to include tip.". She played stupid and surprised to hear that information. She changed her tone and apologized (which was all I really wanted to hear). Finally I felt like I won the battle.
The rest of the night was pretty smooth. We went to another coffee shop and realized why the stores in Monterey seemed to be full of rude employees. The reason being, a tourist town, the jobs are probably occupied by locals who get fed up with people from out of town. They get irritable and expect people to understand how their business works. This just isnt going to happen. My thought is "You wanted your business in a tourist area for the money, then you need to have your help accomidate the tourists as well as the locals".
With that, it was now late and we went back to the room, stayed up for a bit and then went to sleep so we can leave Monterey.
Posted by Des at February 13, 2005 06:01 AM
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