Letter of the Week – Incensed Over Ice (Water)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WdfQDPIx8kk/UGGtj1Uq2mI/AAAAAAAAGuM/l-qxPV2R8Gw/s1600/michael+douglas+falling+down+1993.jpg

ELV note: Some may feel “Mr. IAIOI” has gone a bit “Dog Day Afternoon” or “Falling Down” over this problem, but it will be 117 degrees in the shade today, so we will leave it to our loyal readers to put it all in perspective.

Mr. Curtas,
With your wide reader base, many of which are actual restauranteurs, maybe you can address this immensely prevalent problem and get it solved.

The following is a synopsis of what happened at four restaurants in the last two weeks (each time it was a female server, so maybe it’s an estrogen fear of ice).
Each time, it was the same ARGUMENT to try and get ICE in my drink!
The “offenders” were: Firkin On Paradise, Blueberry Hill Family restaurant, Riv Buffet, and Gordon Ramsay!


QUESTION:
If pouring a glass of ICE WATER  or a COLD drink is too difficult for you, what will my meal be like?
How INCOMPETENT do you have to be to screw up ICE WATER!?!?!?
Why do you think they call it “ICE WATER”?  Because you are supposed to put ICE in the WATER!

This hold true for a glass of Coke, Pepsi ,ICED Tea, or any other COLD drink!

It’s 110 degrees in Las Vegas and the “server” brought a glass of water with THREE ice cubes floating on top.
I asked her to put more ICE in the ICE WATER and she responded by telling me she would bring me a cup of ice.
NO! I don’t want a cup of ice! I want ICE in my ICE WATER!
(Really!?!?!? I have to MAKE MY OWN ICE WATER!?!?!?! REALLY!?!?!? You’re going to ARGUE about ICE?)
If I asked for two scrambled eggs, would you bring me a live chicken and tell me to wait for it to lay the eggs then cook it myself?

Since so many servers are too INCOMPETENT or too LAZY to properly pour a glass of ICE Water or a COLD drink , he’s detailed directions.

THE WHY: The purpose of putting ICE in a drink is to keep it COLD! You have to put enough ICE in the drink to keep it COLD, otherwise all it will do is melt and make the drink watery and WARM!

THE HOW:
1) Start with a CLEAN glass
2) Fill the glass approximately 2/3 of the way full with ICE. This way when you pour the drink over the ice it will make the drink cold, AND, you have enough ice that some ICE will melt but there will be enough ICE remaining to keep the drink COLD!
3) Pour in the drink.
It’s that easy!

If you are too INCOMPETENT or LAZY to follow this Three-Step process, then you have no reason to gripe about being in a low paying job earning lousy tips!

In case you haven’t figured it out, the term is CUSTOMER SERVICE. I’m the CUSTOMER and YOU are the “service”. Notice how the word CUSTOMER comes FIRST! YOU are there to SERVE ME! Not the other way around!
Learn it, know it, live by it!

Signed,

Incensed and Irritated Over Ice

18 thoughts on “Letter of the Week – Incensed Over Ice (Water)

  1. I had the SAME problem at THESE restaurants that INSIST on using those REUSABLE grolsch bottles.

  2. I like the comments: I miss America …. You will find this type of comment only in The US . You definitely got the wrong waitress . 3 restaurants in raw.. Hum. I doubt ( sorry ) . I am European and always ask : easy ice. Drinking very cold or very hot has always been a mystery for me. Your taste bud must be destroyed… And the service side, you are right, this is why Vegas need a school of service.

  3. This is a matter of the server being lazy. If they use less ice, they don’t need to refill the drink as often. I’d suggest sitting at the bar to eat. Bartenders know how to make a proper drink.

  4. The writer/complainer sounds like a real schmuck! Two of the restaurants are PUBS and one is a freakin Buffet and the other Blueberry Hill ( yes that “family” joint!) Hello Mcfly, Hello! Are you there Mcfly? So what… they bring you extra ice in a glass and ask you to top off your drink. Makes sense to me, allows you to add as much or as little ice you want. Now, at really high end dining ( Picasso…Le Cirque) the waiters bring a serving of ice and if requested top off the patron’s glass using tongs. These other joints are serving bar food at best….even Ramsey’s Burger joint isn’t catering to Mary Astor!

  5. It’s “restaurateur”. Not “restauranteur”. You lost me there.

  6. Anyone with any shred of decency and or self respect knows that a proper fill of ice is 4/5ths full. 2/3rds…???…what are we a bunch of freakin’ animals?

  7. “THE WHY: The purpose of putting ICE in a drink is to keep it COLD! You have to put enough ICE in the drink to keep it COLD, otherwise all it will do is melt and make the drink watery and WARM!”

    DAMMIT!!!! I HATE IT WHEN MY WATER GETS ALL…WATERY!!!!

  8. Get a life or go live in the woods…. far enough away from the rest of us who’d never be exposed to hearing your abhorrent complaint in a restaurant. I really hope you were kidding.

    KIKI

  9. The only thing more comical than this person’s rant (and unfortunately he/she is right on target), is the number of those that commented wanting to argue about it or insult the author for speaking out.

    If putting enough ice in a glass to keep a drink cold is a problem for you, then please get a job completely outside of the food industry because you are obviously too unprofessional and immature to even handle a position where you need to ask “Do you want fries with that?”. (It’s called the “Service” Industry for a reason…)

    The whiners are probably all waiters and waitresses that get off work and go to a bar where they waste the few dollars they made on their shift getting drunk and moaning about the terrible customers they had to put up with and the pittance they got for tips. Maybe the problem wasn’t the customers, maybe it was your bad service and narcissistic attitude?

    But feel free to prove everyone wrong. Tonight, go to work and show the world what defiant a child you are by making a point of putting as little ice in as many customer’s drinks as you can. You can laugh about it later at the bar when you have to ask someone else to buy you a drink because your pitiful attitude resulted in a sum of tips that won’t cover gas money for the drive home.

    The old adage says “There’s no excuse for bad service”, but it looks like there are actually quite a few

  10. Entitled, mouth-breathing dip-shits like this are the reason I have to dodge the forks and ice water thrown at me in chinatown.

  11. HA HA HA! Gonzo always was my favorite muppet! The entire argument is absurd to begin with. 2/3rds a cup of ice? The use of meaningless qualifiers like “cold”. Keep the drink cold they demand. But cold by what standard? is 42degrees cold, 35? shall I come by with a probe and temp check you? Oh, and how about in the winter? Do the same temperature rules apply? If it’s 40 outside do you still demand your 2/3rds cup? And most importantly, WHY DO YOU THINK EVERYONE WANTS TO LIVE BY YOUR STANDARD?? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TO DICTATE WHO HAS TO DRINK WHAT AND AT WHAT TEMP? If you want your water colder…ask for it. I, as a server, will not assume to know you preferred water drinking temp. Maybe you prefer 55 or 48 or hell maybe you like to drink room temp water no ice. That’s your right. I won’t judge you but I won’t assume I know. You want more ice? Ask for more fucking ice. It’s not that hard. On the flip side, your steak is coming out hot…careful, would you like me to blow on it for you?

  12. Its fair to say Mr Iceman is what is referred to as a high maintenance customer. I would like to give him some advice with that. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with being high maintenance as long as you are clear with your wishes upfront and they are reasonable for the standards of the establishment. Most in service industry jobs never have issues with people requests as long as they are made upfront and reasonable . Mr Ice when you go to eat tell the server when they greet you that you like your drinks totally full with ice. Most of the time I think you will get your way. To assume that there is a social norm about ice that must be followed will leave you disappointed alot of the time.

  13. I can almost be certain the troll of this article, a person that has the aquired tastes of the low budget epicurean affairs and that of one who possibly fancies the pastries conviently inside that of the vendor machinas.

    Although this cannot be established. What can be established from this article alone is that people like him/her do exist. And they, the lowest common demoninator of customers, are the pettiest in their minute/trivial
    complaints/grievances. The very customers that the low crop of the casinos have been marketing here in the recent years.

    I can almost say is probably an elite from yelp that wrote to Mr. Curtas in obvious anguish and of possible disgust to strew out comments from the rest of the board community here. To rally or burn the outspoken consumer, troubled by not being able to be served a glass of iced water.

    Carry on.

Comments are closed.