I went to the pickle barrel in Vaughan Mills

and thanks to my shitty waiter I got really pissed off by the end of the night. So I'm posting the letter I sent to them about him which is more or less a play by play of my night. I don't see myself going back :C

Hello Pickle Barrel Vaughan Mills,

I want to let you know about my first experience at a Pickle Barrel, which was at your establishment at Vaughan Mills, on the evening of Saturday January 30th 2010. I was apart of a party of 12 for a friends surprise birthday which was reserved weeks in advance under "Larissa" (she let you know that we would be paying in separate bill in advance as well, this plays an important role in the story of my experience). We were seated at the bankete tables right by the external door (which by the way is kind of a chilly spot) where we could see the full scape of the beautiful interior. I really love the look of the place and the light fixtures are especially lovely (my favorite ones look like hanging birds of paradise in the little booth) but it is a little loud. Understandably of course because it was so full. The birthday girl was late, which is too bad because our waiter was so eager to start taking our orders.

Our waiter is named Quinton, he is tall and not particularly articulate or loud, and the only reason why I know his name is because I finally got the chance to read his name tag while I was waiting for him to register my bill (but that is for the end of this recount) on the count of him not introducing himself. Now, Quinton tells us that he is not going to do separate bills because "that would kill him" and that he knows this is the best way to do things, he then decides for us that he will split the bill into two so six people on each side of the table can work it out with each other. None of us can quite understand this but we go along with it anyway because we just want to enjoy ourselves and have a nice dinner without any issues (really people are afraid of their waiters or waitresses doing something to defile our food). So he mumbles something about soup of the day that no one could hear, especially not the people on the other side of the tale and takes our orders. His method was questionable, he simply asked something along the lines of "who wants to order?" and managed to miss a couple people so we had to really yell to get him to come back. On a side note, the menus are lovely, very cute and nicely designed (I got a laugh out of the bar menu being at the very front), and the variety as well as healthy choices are nice.

Appetizers came, they were so nice, Quinton neglected to ask if any one needed refills or new drinks. The food was well displayed and I had a pomegranate smoothie which was really delicious. some time later Quinton came back to clear our plates and managed to neglect to take a few plates from the same people he neglected before. Another while after that Quinton saw fit to take our dinner orders. He again forgot the old plates, but his strategy for taking orders made more sense as he asked everybody what they would like for dinner. He again did not ask anyone if they would like refills. You only ask for drinks at the same time as your food in fast food places, in a nice restaurant your waiter usually asks after they have taken orders (well the ones who care do).

Dinner took some time but the restaurant was busy so that is totally understandable, no harm because it gave us more time to talk with each other (not that anyone could refresh themselves because we had all finished our waters by then). When we received dinner that was a disorganized mess, there were two other waiters bringing out food with Quinton but there seemed to be a lack of communication as to what was going where, almost like Quinton did not bother to even try to remember where what food was going or let either of his co-workers know where to send anything. I have worked in a restaurant before, and if I forgot or was not told where what food was going it really bugged me to see disappointed faces, and when you know exactly where food is going the impression on peoples faces really make their experience good which made mine good with them. The people whose appetizer plates were ignored were still there with nowhere to go so we had to juggle them ourselves. Some orders were forgotten for a bit and brought over I guess when Quinton saw fit, I say this because the last thing to come much later than anything else was an order of onion soup (which belonged to the guest of honor on top of that). When I eat at restaurants and my waiter knows where things are going I really want to tip him, so you can imagine how I was feeling about my anonymous waiter at the time. To the chef on the other hand, I personally really enjoyed my dinner, I had the shitake mushroom chicken pene and it was really nice, my only thought is that the sauce could be a little thicker because I came close to wearing it a couple times.

I am a very slow eater, I mean very slow, by the time I am two thirds way through my meal is when most waitresses have come around three or so times to see how things are. Quinton did not come by until about ten minutes after I had finished with time to play around with the leftovers on my plate. We were expected to wrap our own take home boxes, which has never happened to me in a restaurant. He took our plates and neglected a few people again (it was honestly the same guy every time who was sitting to my right) he ordered the maple salmon. To get a dessert menu we had to seriously badger Quinton, its as if he was ignoring us, by this time the restaurant was getting clear. Logically speaking when a place gets less busy service gets better but ours just got so much worse. Eventually Quinton came around with a dessert menu and eventually he came back to take our orders. Now we had a cake waiting to bring out as a final surprise to the birthday girl but like Quinton seriously took his dear sweet time bringing around coffee and dessert. We handed him the old dinner plates as he left, the machiato to the girl on my left who is a barrista was disgraceful (there was no foam where there should be but someone obviously tried to dress up the sad excuse for a nice coffee), however nice touch with the little biscotti. There weren't enough plates or any forks to serve the cake with at first so we had to wait for Quinton to come back to get some more.

At 9:25 we were ready to get our bill and go, I did not get out until 5 after 10, and I was the first to leave because my father had been waiting for me for that whole half an hour. It is one thing to make me wait but to make my father wait is flat out disrespectful. The reason why we had to wait so excessively long is all thanks to Quintons better way of organizing the bill. Firstly Quinton came out with one large bill, and then asked us to separate with 1 and 2 beside each item what belonged to who so he could split it into two. This alone took him a long time, and what I cannot understand is if he was going to split it up into two why not take the extra 5 minutes and split the bill into 12 (we had thee couple so it would only have been six anyway) but no, and then he comes back with the bills all mixed up anyway. My smoothie, espresso and pasta were on two different bills. So my father had to wait longer while Quinton fumbled around with the machine like it was his first day (I asked him, he has been there a while). Can you believe waiting half an hour to pay and leave? That is wrong. And, I am so incredibly offended at the fact that I had to pay a gratuity tip, FORCED to tip the worst service I have ever received from someone over the age of 15. Tips are earned by deserving people, they are NOT a right. Quinton never once apologized for his tardiness and was extremely rude right up until the end of the night. What offends me even further is that I honestly believe that he thought he could take advantage of us because we are students. It is the only thing I can think of because I cannot believe that such a nice restaurant could possibly hire and keep an employee like Quinton.

I do not believe I will ever be returning and if anyone asks me all I will be able to tell them is what I know from experience. If I ran a restaurant I would seriously reconsider Quinton as my employee. Thank you however to your chef for such great pasta.

sincerely,
Miss A. Paglia

I Really Need a Time Machine

Not the fast forward/rewind create a time paradox or visit alternate universes type of a time machine, I need a time pausing machine. I just want to be able to pause time for a couple of hours here and there so I have more time to be able to sleep or work (especially work). Now this machine will probably work by speeding me up faster relative to (mostly) everyone else. Now you might say that I will age faster than everyone else because I am receiving more time to work with but what actually happens is (because physics is totally bonkers) time will pass normally in my eyes which means that time has slowed down for me relative to someone else where time is moving at regular speed. I will actually age slower and when I turn the time pauser off I will actually be younger than someone who has been passing time normally. Now someone looking at me will see me being significantly sped up (if I am understanding the physics correctly). The end result is me having reached my goal and actually be biologically younger. Feels like a win-win situation to me. Heck I could have delt with aging, its not as if I will constantly abuse the time pausing machine. I would use it to make those hard to achieve deadlines or so I can balance my time better between work and play and for those time when I've taken on just a little too much.

My only problem now is not having one of those machines :(

Levels of Douchebaggery

I feel like I need to highlight the levels of Douchebaggery, this being because I would like everyone to call the people who deliberately try to piss people off for no apparent reason on their shit properly.

Firstly, there are three levels: Jerk, Douchebag, and Asshole.

A Jerk is a guy who is deliberately pissing people off in small scales, on occasion, generally that every now and again when immaturity strikes.

A Douchebag is for the large portion when a guy is just not quite an asshole.

An Asshole will go above an beyond to really make somebody miserable, like driving 90 in the fast lane, harassing a group of girls for over an hour, kicking out the canes from old people, and so on. Not fun, and they are like this 24/7. If they are not then they want something and once they get it, the asshole is full swing. I do believe that if I witness an asshole in action I will punch him in the nads, because he isn't good enough to receive my fist in the face.

Now Jerks and assholes are small margins compared the the majority of Duchebags. Douchebag covers enough that there are degrees of douchebaggery. Your average douchebag is probably somewhat tolerable enough for short periods of time, until he starts boasting about his latest act of doucebaggery. A really huge Douche will never stop the douchebaggery and occasionally cross the line into asshole. Then there are the in-betweens. I am convinced that all douchebags have fluctuation in their degree of douchebaggery. Douchebags hang out together, like in packs for two reasons, one because they can increase the amount of douche damage done in one sitting, and two because no one else will hang out with them.

The worst part about Douchebags is for some reason in places of concentrated immaturity (aka most high schools) are accepted and praised. It is not good cognitive development because they will be destroyed when they make it into the real world. So, for everyone to reads this post please, if you see a douchebag flag him to everyone around you to save yourselves all a little hardship and to hopefully save that damned personality from further haring themselves!


And that is all I have to say about that, tune in next time for my ramble on how much I wish I had a ime machine so I could write more blogs

21 days now...

it has been 21 days since my last blog update and I am SO SORRY. It's not as if I don't want to blog, I do, but my issue is time. I just don't have the time to blog as frequently as I would like. Right now however I am making a Deviant Art portfolio that I can submit as my portfolio for my design application (huzzuah, interview on February the tenth!). So while I wait for every image to load individually, I have blog time. So, to make up for the lost time, I'm going to have a few separate blogs tonight!

I wrote the date on my notes in class today

and i had to think twice about writing 2009 or 2010. I got it right of course, but that second of doubt make me remember the annoying thing where you have to get used to writing a new year at the top of things just like how when the month changes you feel like a total dumbass if it goes right over your head. And again looking at the numbers 2010 I feel an exciting change on coming guess we shall see. I want to add a new years resolution to stay connected with all the friends I reconnected with at the end of 2009. (la la la) <3 (on a side note I totally thought the <3 was a kiss for the longest time, but its a heart! Imagine that?)

Speaking of class its the second day of school and lo and behold homework rears its head. I don't mind its not that intimidating and I'm prepared this time around for the stress. I got an A on my art history midterm so I'm for sure feeling cocky. I imagine this is how a guy feels if told he has the biggest penis on the planet (and that he knows how to use it). Hmm, so how would I describe an A+? You feel like you can do back flips off a waterfall and fly gracefully to safety, however I don't recommend acting on that impulse. How does everybody else feel about it?
(The A+, not the impulse)
((well the impulse can also be counted in the discussion))
(((that's right I'm starting a discussion)))

Yesterday I had my first Design and Image class and it is going to be fucking amazing. For the first assignment we need to pick an object that has/is part of alot of connotations, detonations and, metaphors. I want a really awesome one that isn't quite obvious but not limited, but if all else fails I'm doing cats. Cats rock and if Doug wants to draw up instructions on how to jerk cats then I will add that in. I wouldn't mind seeing my classmates cry/cringe in fear. Either way I'm open to ideas.

On another note I watched Breakfast club yesterday while catching up on web comics. The guy they labeled 'the criminal' is poorly named. A)He is not a criminal by definition, and B)He should have been 'the douchebag' but I will forgive that because when the book was written (WHOO KURT VONNEGUT!) that word didn't exist then.

k, see you next blog!

Happy New Year Internet!

Well it is the new year and I feel like I have hit it off pretty good! It is officially the third of January so my salutations are a bit late but too bad because I don't have a time machine! Now the time machine is for a whole other post and will no doubt come when I'm overwhelmed with work and not enough time to get it all done comfortably. Any How, I am proud to say that I have hit the year off playing video games! So far I have personally enjoyed RE5, Fable, and currently a little bit of Dragonage. I'd like to get in some Oblivion and RE4 but we will see how things roll tomorrow. The only 'bad' thing to report is the strange disappearance of my toothpaste. How does someone loose toothpaste? It is honestly like my toothpaste just up and left some time before I got up new years day. I can't explain it.

Now here is an interesting prospect I bet everyone is either wholeheartedly accepted or is still trying to suppress, school is back in Monday Morning. I for one am unsure of where I stand because I understand that the day after tomorrow is school...

hmm actually school technically starts tomorrow. Scratch that, I have obviously been suppressing the knowledge of the on coming date so... sad face. I would have really enjoyed a much longer break. I really haven't finished everything I wanted to get done but I'm no stranger to my over ambition. All that can be done is to overlap the beginning of classes and what is still on my to do list. Speaking of which the highlight of the next couple months for me are on coming and I have much to prepare. The goal was to finish preparing before the end of the break but I really did need this to be a break for me.

January the 24th is my graduation from the Barbizon School of Modeling. This summer I chose to take on an extracurricular activity with the Barbizon School of Modeling, realy the prospect of a job in media was very appealing to me so of course I went and stuck it out. Even if it turns out to be a scham I figure I'm only 19, I can afford to make mistakes early in life, I will have more time to make up for it. And if it does then HUZZAH! Anyhow I have some minor prep for the show like the last little bits I need in my makeup kit and what to wear and say, but most importantly is my "Model Magic Magazine" which besides the practicals, quiz and exam its the thing that we actually hand in for marks and if its not done we don't graduate. I'm not to worried I know I can get it done but I would love to have the best because there is a prize for the best magazine. What I've more or less got from it is how to be a girl properly well look like one at least, and be able to apply it when I choose. Very nice, so Barbizon was alot like a finishing school type deal thing. I had fun!

Then, more importantly, on February 10th is my third portfolio interview with the design program at york. I'm still mulling over what I want to show and how. I really wanted a web page I designed myself, however Deviant Art has a portfolio page or I can actually print everything out. I am super nervous but extremely determined. And even if I don't make it this time (not that I wont btw) I'll be back and even if I end up with my bachelor in visual art I'll get a second bachelor or just do my graduate studies in design. I plan on getting my masters anyway and I'm going to be a designer (professionally I mean), period.

Side Note: how freaky Univeristy will be over in the next two-three years. We don't get a choice we are growing up. 2009 was kind of a write off year for me and it went by fast so I think that speed of time scares be a bit (damned relativity!)

Wintereenmas is the last week of January and there are plans to do our best to celebrate it, and that makes me really happy because even a couple days out of the whole week will help fulfill one of my resolutions.

Speaking of resolutions my resolutions this year are as follows:
1. Get into the Design Program
2. Get to a better level of fitness
3. Play more video games (make up for last years fail)
4. Enjoy more Metal

I don't see any of those as too hard to achieve and they are good reasonably goals.

Finally the last thing I'm anticipating for the new year is turning twenty. I will be an official numerical adult. Its a little intimidating because I don't know what is expected and I can leave behind childhood but maybe not youth? Who knows? In fact looking at the year, 2010 I cant help but anticipate change. What the future may hold is something I would like to think about and discuss in a future post.

Well its late/early now I think its time to end this post, in the men time happy adventuring to all until I write again!