When I ran in the Pints to Pasta 10K a while back, one of the prizes was a gift certificate for a free entrée at Old Spaghetti Factory. Today I used it; it’s been a while but between the combination of my being fairly broke, having a car, and getting a day free from counting calories due to having run a race today (the Run Like Hell 5K – see my unofficial results here) all led me to a gianormous, delicious, pasta lunch. I had the Half and Half – half spinach and cheese ravioli, and half spaghetti with meat sauce, along with delicious bread (I LOVE BREAD) and a salad. I passed on the ice cream because I was too stuffed full.
The waiter was a nice kid, and I knew that even though my dinner was paid for, I’d still leave a tip. When the check came, I had no cash, so I put down the gift certificate, and a credit card for the drink, and on which I’d add a nice little somethin’ extra.
When the waiter returned (his name was Mo – can you believe it? Sounds like an old man’s name, but this kid was barely old enough to shave) he said, “I didn’t even need the card! I kinda forgot that you had the free meal.” He set down the little black tray, with the receipt and my card and a pen.
“Oh?” I asked. “But the drink…?”
“No worries,” he said, “I took care of it!” He seemed so proud. He wandered away. I looked in my wallet. Nope. No cash. And I looked at the receipt – sure enough, the total was $0.00. There wasn’t any space to add a tip.
Damn if Mo wasn’t so nice to me that he screwed himself out of a tip.