A Pizza Hut (Pre)Occupation

Hmmm, she must have a good memory if she doesn't need pen and paper to jot down our order.

That's what I thought when the Pizza Hut crew member assigned to our table took our order and even repeated the whole thing twice. I wasn't concerned at the least, and contentedly sat back to wait for the ten-odd minutes it would take before we could dig into our repast of BBQ ribs pizza, ravioli, chicken and spaghetti.

The kids were happy, there were not a lot of people inside the resto, and hubby and I looked forward to a relaxing dinner. Or as relaxing as we could get with two kids under the age of seven in tow.

The iced tea and the red iced tea (what can I say, we wanted variety!) were given to us without too much delay. Coming from a hectic workday without any breaktime, hubby and I slurped away. Our little girls also lost no time in drinking their share. In just a few minutes, we were asking for refills. Ah, the joys of bottomless drinks!

After around fifteen minutes, another crew member brought a piping-hot pizza to our table. We were famished and were ready to tuck in when what she was saying registered: "Three-cheese pizza, your order Ma'am." I was puzzled and looked to the lady assigned to our table (let's call her "M") and told her that we had ordered a BBQ ribs pizza.

Which she confirmed to her colleague. Who then promptly removed the pizza. After which we were told it would take another fifteen minutes of waiting. We would've accepted another pizza variant if it was to our liking. But that night, three-cheese pizza didn't quite cut it.

And so we settled down to another round of waiting. The toddler was getting antsy by this time. The little girl had luckily brought along a book that was keeping her occupied. We satisfied ourselves with drinking a bit more iced tea, which were served in glasses that were smaller than I remembered, resulting in either more refill trips by the crew. I guess the management thought that there would be a psychological barrier of sorts that would prevent people from asking for more than two refills regardless of the size of the glass. We didn't have those barriers, by the way, so we asked for refills galore, haha!

I was half-expecting that they would offer us some complimentary bread sticks, but no, they were apparently oblivious to their customers' plights. It was the same story when we asked for water to be served -- we did not catch sight of a single glass of water throughout our stay there.

The ravioli, chicken and spaghetti made their appearance not long after, so we started eating even without the pizza. Maybe they were ravenous already, but the kids were easy to feed! Baby Girl took a liking to the pasta, and the chicken did not escape her notice either. Little Girl did not complain when I asked her to taste the ravioli, and even said that she liked it and asked for more! So far, so good.

After double the wait, the long-awaited pizza finally came. Little Girl was so hungry she finished almost two whole slices by herself (this was already a lot for her). I asked for catsup. I am, after all, a catsup-holic. I eagerly put catsup (preferably Del Monte tomato catsup) on  pizza, fries, fried, roasted and grilled dishes.

I could not, would not, start eating pizza without the catsup.

"M" passed by our table several times, and we caught her attention for another round of refills. After which I asked for the catsup again. Which seemed to jolt her out of her reverie: "Ay, oo nga pala."

With bellies full and iced tea glasses emptied, we asked for the bill to be brought already. It was given to us very promptly, which was a happy surprise. The credit card was handed over, which "M" then brought to the cashier.

More than five minutes had already passed, and we were wondering what the hold-up was -- there were only a few of us left in the resto, and there was nobody at the counter. We reminded them about the card, which "M" then retrieved from the counter. She asked for the signature, all the while she was talking with another colleague of hers, and the receipts and slips were spilling out of the black signing folder.

No, we didn't make any fuss about the whole situation. We were too tired from a looong workday, we just did not have the energy nor the inclination anymore.

We just chalked it up to "M" being too preoccupied. Maybe she had something on her mind that was bugging her, maybe she had loved ones with pressing problems, maybe she was tired after a long day (we could relate to that), perhaps she was not very happy with what she was doing anymore, or it could be that we were viewed as necessary nuisances that could barely be tolerated.

In the end, what mattered most was that we had our dinner, we had good food, the kids were satisfied. Sure there were delays, but were not really intolerable aggravations.

I only hope that this kind of service does not drive Pizza Hut customers away. And that those who experience this kind of service respond as sanguinely as we have.