Greetings everyone! I know the initial title may be offensive to some Cafe Rio lovers at first, but I must explain the situation. On Saturday night, Chelsea, Carolyn, Heather, Heather's mom, and I had a girls night out and enjoyed seeing "Becoming Jane" at the Dollar Theater. Following the movie, we went to Cafe Rio for dinner because it is so yummy. I was especially excited for two reasons:
(1) I had bought 10 entrees, so this one would be free!
(2) On Saturdays, they offer wheat tortillas!
Well, we got there and it was not very crowded, so we were pretty excited because we were hungry. I got up to the front of the line to order, and they informed me that they did not have any wheat tortillas available. You have to understand, I was very much looking forward to having one. I was going on and on to the other girls about how neat it is that they started offering wheat tortillas a few days a week. So, I was clearly slightly disappointed at this point, but it was not going to ruin my evening, after all, the meal would be free!
Easier said than done!
Chelsea had a free meal voucher, and she easily received her free meal in a matter of seconds. My turn next! This was several month's worth of eating at Cafe Rio, all to enjoy this free meal. I had noticed that the card didn't really look like it had 10 stamps on it because two of them were really close together so it threw the other ones off. But, I thought to myself, no problem, as long as they can count to 10 everything will be fine. I explain the situation to the lady at the counter, and she tells me that, in fact, they do not go by the stamps, but the lines drawn under each stamp. Apparently, that is standard procedure, but I showed her that mine only had 4 lines on it. Surely there was just some misunderstanding. There were three stamps in a row without lines under them, and that was clearly not my fault. She proceeded to tell me that they could not accept my card, and that I would not be receiving a free meal. Trying to keep my cool, but being quite vexed on the inside, I had to assure her that I had indeed purchased 10 meals. I did not feel I deserved to be punished because of incompetent or rather forgetful employees. Why do they even stamp your card if this is the case? Why don't they just draw lines because clearly that is a more important factor? (That doesn't make sense!)
I'm not saying I will never eat there again because that would frankly be a lie. I love those yummy salads too much! But, I will be more cautious in the future of inane policies that almost cost me a free meal!
So, a word to the wise: when receiving stamps at Cafe Rio, please make sure they draw a line under it too!
12 years ago
3 comments:
Never underestimate the negotiation powers of a Malouf--even if they don't always win---
I bet you just let out a little known secret. It actually sort of makes sense that they would go by the lines because otherwise people could just run around putting stamps all over their cards. Sad, though, that they wouldn't let you get your free meal.
AND sad that they were out of wheat tortillas. I love the wheat tortillas.
Yeah ... that was too bad. Cafe Rio is just TOO good of food for something negative like that to happen! I'm glad you talked them into the free meal though ... doesn't it taste even better when it's free? :)
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