Nate's Story
Happy Monday morning everybody. Well...both of you anyway. I've got a story here that I wish I could take credit for, but it's my friend Nate's story and I've got nothing else going on this morning so here you go.
Background - Nate has been my friend for close to nine years now. We started working together at an overpriced steakhouse in college and I was a server/bartender and he was a cook/kitchen manager. Nate is a hell of a cook. He's good in a restaurant kitchen as well as his own kitchen. We both left that place and ended up at a Tex/Mex place...probably wouldn't be nice to say the name of the restaurant on the blog...let's just say they're famous for their chili's and leave it at that. So he takes a job as a cook there and I work there to finish out my career as a waiter and graduate college. He stays on while he's going to school part time and takes a management position. They transfer him four hours from here, then move him one hour from here and that's where he is now. So...on to the story.
Nate has a closing shift on Friday night and there is a parking lot across the street from him that they have to use because their building has no parking lot. He pays like $5 a day to park in this 24 hour parking lot. Friday night after he's done closing he comes out and his truck is gone. So he calls the number to see if his truck has been towed...it has. The lady on the phone says "Well, they probably towed you because you didn't pay." He had the receipt in his hand from where he paid so he offered to bring that to her. She said she wanted to ask the driver about it so she put him on hold. She comes back and says "The driver says you were their past your 12 hour limit." So he informs her that the sign says 24 hours and she says it's not really. So then he says "Fine, I got there at 3:00 according to my time stamp on my receipt. It's now 1:15 so I haven't been there 12 or 24 hours yet and you guys have towed my truck. What gives?" The lady says "well, the driver says he saw you leave and come back and you didn't pay the second time you got there." Confused Nate says "Let me talk to your driver, I think he's got me confused with someone else." She says "He's not here right now. It will be $90 to get your car out of impound and you need to come get it soon because I'm not going to wait up all night on you." Then she hangs up. Nate gets $90 out of petty cash and gets his truck. He tells the lady that he's now going to get his company's high powered lawyers on her if she doesn't get his $90 back to him. They argue, and Nate eventually gets the district manager to call and say he needs to be reimbursed or she'll be in court. Nate calls again to say that it would be all over the news if she didn't cough up the $90. She said "Well, we can reimburse you this time. Our drivers get to keep the $90 when they tow a vehicle so a lot of times they just tow one because they need $90 and nobody disputes it." Nate was blown away and said "Why would you tell me that? Are you crazy?" They argue for another minute and she tells him that he needs to let the driver know he works at the restaurant when he parks there. This seemed to be his last straw. Nate, now red in the face says "You crazy bitch! Do you honestly believe I'm ever going to park in this lot again? You just screwed yourself out of a ton of money because if I'm making it a store policy NOT to park in your stupid ass parking lot. If you, your drivers, or anyone affiliated with this scam of an organization EVER come in to my restaurant I'll have you thrown out on your ass." I'm sure it escalated from there until Nate hung up on her, but that was his Friday night. Ours was uneventful. We did a lot of yard work and Jeep work this weekend so I'm caught up until at least next weekend. I hope everyone else had a great weekend.
Background - Nate has been my friend for close to nine years now. We started working together at an overpriced steakhouse in college and I was a server/bartender and he was a cook/kitchen manager. Nate is a hell of a cook. He's good in a restaurant kitchen as well as his own kitchen. We both left that place and ended up at a Tex/Mex place...probably wouldn't be nice to say the name of the restaurant on the blog...let's just say they're famous for their chili's and leave it at that. So he takes a job as a cook there and I work there to finish out my career as a waiter and graduate college. He stays on while he's going to school part time and takes a management position. They transfer him four hours from here, then move him one hour from here and that's where he is now. So...on to the story.
Nate has a closing shift on Friday night and there is a parking lot across the street from him that they have to use because their building has no parking lot. He pays like $5 a day to park in this 24 hour parking lot. Friday night after he's done closing he comes out and his truck is gone. So he calls the number to see if his truck has been towed...it has. The lady on the phone says "Well, they probably towed you because you didn't pay." He had the receipt in his hand from where he paid so he offered to bring that to her. She said she wanted to ask the driver about it so she put him on hold. She comes back and says "The driver says you were their past your 12 hour limit." So he informs her that the sign says 24 hours and she says it's not really. So then he says "Fine, I got there at 3:00 according to my time stamp on my receipt. It's now 1:15 so I haven't been there 12 or 24 hours yet and you guys have towed my truck. What gives?" The lady says "well, the driver says he saw you leave and come back and you didn't pay the second time you got there." Confused Nate says "Let me talk to your driver, I think he's got me confused with someone else." She says "He's not here right now. It will be $90 to get your car out of impound and you need to come get it soon because I'm not going to wait up all night on you." Then she hangs up. Nate gets $90 out of petty cash and gets his truck. He tells the lady that he's now going to get his company's high powered lawyers on her if she doesn't get his $90 back to him. They argue, and Nate eventually gets the district manager to call and say he needs to be reimbursed or she'll be in court. Nate calls again to say that it would be all over the news if she didn't cough up the $90. She said "Well, we can reimburse you this time. Our drivers get to keep the $90 when they tow a vehicle so a lot of times they just tow one because they need $90 and nobody disputes it." Nate was blown away and said "Why would you tell me that? Are you crazy?" They argue for another minute and she tells him that he needs to let the driver know he works at the restaurant when he parks there. This seemed to be his last straw. Nate, now red in the face says "You crazy bitch! Do you honestly believe I'm ever going to park in this lot again? You just screwed yourself out of a ton of money because if I'm making it a store policy NOT to park in your stupid ass parking lot. If you, your drivers, or anyone affiliated with this scam of an organization EVER come in to my restaurant I'll have you thrown out on your ass." I'm sure it escalated from there until Nate hung up on her, but that was his Friday night. Ours was uneventful. We did a lot of yard work and Jeep work this weekend so I'm caught up until at least next weekend. I hope everyone else had a great weekend.
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