Here's a Tip

This year for my birthday, I decided that I wanted the family to go to "The Cracker Barrel". Nothing fancy, just a good filling meal. I've eaten there many times and never had much to comment on in regards to anything customer service related. This day was different though. After taking our order we never saw our waitress again. We were able to flag down some of the other waitresses and get what we needed but it was a bad experience. I could have talked to the manager but it was my birthday and I wasn't in the mood for getting all worked up. Sometimes when I get fired up I go a little too far. So basically, I just payed for my meal and let it go. But I couldn't let it go, it was festering inside of me. Finally about 2 months ago (my birthday was 10 months ago) I sent an email to their corporate office. I had an email response within about 1 day and the particular location that I visited had their manager call me a few days later. He talked to me about my experience and then mailed me a card for 2 free meals. Well I took advantage of it last night while my two older kids were spending the night with friends. All I should have to pay is for 1 kids meals. When I went to pay the cashier wasn't sure how to handle my card so the manager came over. He looked at the ticket, fiddled with the register for about two seconds and turned to me and said, "If the kids meal is the only thing you're paying for then we'll just get that too". Awesome. One problem though. I still need to leave a tip, and I have no cash. I was planning on putting the tip on my credit card. I stood there for about 10 minutes while they tried to figure out how to ring up an order for $0 so I could then add gratuity. Apparently it's impossible. But they were coming up with some clever ideas. One that made me laugh was when they attempted to charge me for a to-go order of water. The manager finally gave up and told me he'd just take care of the tip himself and asked me how much I wanted it to be. So I got out of there with 3 drinks, 2 adult meals, 1 kids meal, and 2 desserts, for $0, including tip. So the next time you get bad service somewhere dont be afraid to write to the corporate office.