Trip to D.C. Day 1

We planned on leaving at 6am but that would be hard to do when you don’t set the alarm and wake up at 6:30. Luckily we pretty uch went to bad fully packed so it was freshen up and head out. As I type this we are on the Ohio Turnpike. That is about the extent of the trip so far.

We are meeting my mother and grandma in DC and a friend of ours from Philly. My mom and GM flew and were departing Grand Rapids at noon. Everyone said that the drive would take around 10 hours. Some said longer, some said 9 and one person said he made it in 8 hours. My goal was to beat that time. The trip was pretty much uneventful as we got there is 7hrs and 48min. We beat my mom and GM who flew by 1hr and 30 minutes.

Once my mom and GM got to their place we headed over to pick them up and just go hang out downtown. We drove over the Washington Monument and the WW2 memorial which is why my Mom and GM are here. We headed over to the Capitol and hung out in front of that till around the time we needed to go pick up our friend Mickey at the bus station. We found her and picked her up and headed out to find some dinner.

Liz and I ate at a place last year that we loved but of course we couldn’t remember where it was and what it was called and after a half hour of searching we decided to just give up. Sadly we went to a place called Harry’s. Remember that name. If you are ever in DC never ever stop to eat at this rat-hole.

The menu is sparse. 1 Burger, 4 salads, some sandwich’s and spaghetti. That’s pretty much it. The service is even more impressive. When we go to order drinks my GM tells her that her and my mom will be on one check and us three on the other. The woman said fine and took our drink orders. 1 Sprite, 1 Beer, 1 Water, 2 Coffees. We were brought 4 Sprites, 1 Water, 1 Beer. No biggie but should have been a sign of what’s to come.

Food was okay I guess. Had a Turkey Club which was dry and flavorless. The spaghetti my wife got looked horrible. She said it was okay but it looked like noodles, meatballs, and raw steamed tomatoes for the sauce. Anyway, the bill comes and it is all one bill. My GM is a little upset and decides to take the bill back to her and ask her to split it like she was asked. 20 minutes goes by and we still have no bill. My GM gets up and finds her still trying to do the math…yes, math. Somehow they figure out their part of the bill and my GM pays her and comes back. Okay, but where is out half of the bill. 5 minutes later the waitress comes back with a napkin in which she wrote $53.40 on and walks away.

A Napkin? My bill is an amount written on a napkin. I’m sorry that is completely unacceptable. Not only has the service been bad, the food suspect, and then this? I lost it. I got up and headed after her. She got to the bar where I said out loud, “Excuse me, this is not a bill, this is a napkin with an amount on it. I want to see exactly how you came up with this number.” She said nothing. The bartender asked me what my problem was and I said “we are 2 parties, the older woman in the other party asked her to split up the bill as we are paying separately…” This is the part where she goes on the defensive and tells me and the bartender that noone asked such a thing and was lying. That prompted me to turn around and get in her face and ask explain to her that she is confused as my GM did tell her that. She called me a liar and had this shit eating grin on her face. The bartender tried to get my attention and explain to him what y problem was. I explained that we asked for this to be done at the start and she didn’t do it and it has been 25 minutes of her trying to learn math to get us separate bills. She took care of my GM but still took 5 minutes to get us our bill which turned out to be a napkin with an amount on it and I find that completely unacceptable. I refuse to pay a bill that is written on a napkin. He explains he can get me a receipt if I need one that bad and I tell him I don’t want a receipt, I want a legitimate bill. He tells me to go back and he will take care of everything.

I get back there and the waitress is trying to explain why she is a complete moron and I tell her the mamager will be taking care of this and that I want her away from the table. Everyone at the table looks at me like what is my problem and I tell them that the waitress says we are all liars that we never asked for separate bills. The fat round ass of a manager comes over and starts getting in my face. He tells me it was a misunderstanding and I need to relax and that I should have gotten his attention earlier to avoid this situation. What? Are you stupid? I have a problem and we have gotten your attention. I didn’t know that this was going to happen…how would I expect a napkin with a total. How do I know what the total really is. The bill could be $43.40 and she is going to pocket $10 cause she is well aware she lost her tip long ago from us. She calls me a liar twice and it’s just ludicrous. He says I need to calm down. Realize that I have been sitting in my seat the whole time we talked and I never even swore once. But I needed to calm down or he was calling the cops. Okay fat ass. Fine. JUST GIVE ME A REAL BILL SO I CAN GET OUT OF YOUR STUPID CRAP HOLE.

I don’t know how it all ended and I don’t care to know. My wife took care of the rest cause I was too violent I guess. Heh. So, Harry’s in downtown DC. Stay away, very far away.

So that was pretty much it. We dropped them off at their hotel and we all went back and prepared for day 2.