The NHSA Family Engagement Conference is a great opportunity to get to know some highly dedicated and passionate people who care deeply about educational issues. But everyone needs to take an occasional break so Sharlene and I joined our co-worker Ellie and our friends Manuel and Amanda for what we assumed would be a quick lunch. 

We ordered the Spuds (baked potato with various meat toppings). After about 30 minutes, our waiter (let’s call him Justin) came and told us they were out of spuds and asked us to select another dish. We consulted the menus and picked out another meal. thirty minutes later Justin came back and told us they had found some spuds after all and our first order was back on. He must have heard some of my companions very pointed comments because after that he brought the manager over who gave us a salad and some tiny plates to “tide us over” till our meals arrived. 

When the meals finally arrived, some of us (me) tried to make poor Justin feel better by gushing about how delicious the spuds were and how they were totally worth the wait. Others (Sharlene) grumbled about the delay and dropped several strong hints that the meal should be provided at no charge. Eventually the manager came back out and said he had reduced our tickets by 30% “just because”. Sharlene began repeating “Just because? Just because?” while I kindly assured him that we were ultimately delighted with our meals and though I was prohibited from tipping more than 20% on my business credit card, I really felt Justin had done an exceptional job and deserved some sort of recognition for his hard work and perserverance in ensuring we acquired a spud. While Sharlene’s eyes rolled around in her head, the manager said he would reward Justin with a gas card and thanked us again for visiting.