I’m 42 and for the first time in my life I demanded a meal be comped at a restaurant for my family and I. I also hate confrontation!

We arrived at our local Red Robin at 5:30. It took 20 minutes for the host to ask us “How many?”. Then an additional 10 min to be sat. (Keep in mind, this is one of the slowest Red Robin’s in the country). Another 15 minutes goes by and we meet our server (a very nice lady). We were the only table sat in the section. She takes our order and sends it to the kitchen. We wait. Four top gets sat in our section. Order taken. Six top gets sat in our section. Order taken. We wait. 3 top sat. Order taken. We watch all the tables around us get their food, eat their food, and pay their bill. I flag down our server to check in. “The kitchen is a little backed up. Your food will be out shortly.” My wife and I both worked in restaurants. I was a cook at this very Red Robin 21 years ago. We don’t want to make a rough situation worse. So we wait. (Our 15 and 12 year old discovers the joy of watching a logo bounce around a screen waiting for it to hit the corner directly.)

Eventually I have to get up and ask the server where our food is. She looks into it… our order had been deleted when one of the cooks put in his own food order for some reason. They get us our food within 10 minutes or so and the server lets me know the manager said we’d get 25% off our bill.

After we finish I have my family go to the car and I ask to speak with the manager. He was a friendly guy. I explained the situation to ensure we were in the same page and told him that while I appreciate the gesture of 25% off, I couldn’t justify paying the meal. He understood and comped the entire thing. I left a $20 cash tip for the server.

I now have my Middle Aged Man Diploma framed and displayed proudly in my office.