[TheVillageChicken]

Decided to take advantage of a 15% Military Discount and went to Outback for lunch. Asked for a table because I'm a big ole boy and booths and I don't get along. Was promptly seated with my back to the rest of the customers...I later found out there were five tables of customers already seated. Once we were seated, I noticed that someone was talking pretty loud. I thought to myself, "Someone's talking pretty loud." The loud talker continued and the context piqued my interest, so I turned around to find that we had been seated next to a sales pitch for cremation...complete with visual aids. We were the only non-prospects in the room. We got up, told the host that we wouldn't be dining with them today due to the circumstances. He apologized and said that area was the only one with tables.

Off we go to Longhorn.

Again, we were seated promptly, and again I heard a loud talking customer. This one said that he had a comment to make. This guy was talking to our waiter, who looked over at me and non-verbally indicated that he would be with us as soon as possible. The customer proceeded to spend nearly three minutes telling the waiter that the description for the Seven Pepper Sirloin Salad was "boring" and gave him tips on how to enhance the presentation. He compared the description of that salad to the one for the Grilled Chicken and Strawberry Salad and said that the strawberries, grapes, mandarin oranges, and feta cheese painted a picture that was appealing while the description of the Seven Pepper Sirloin Salad only mentioned the steak, diced tomatoes, and crumbled bleu cheese on top of hand-chopped greens. The waiter listened politely and responded that both descriptions accurately portrayed the two salads.

The poor waiter finally escaped to take our order. When he asked if we were ready to order, I responded in a loud enough voice to be heard by the salad critic, that yes, I was ready to order but that I had no comments and would that be OK. He snickered but Salad Critic Guy pretended not to hear me. Lunch was nice, but I did have to tell the waiter that my iced tea was boring.

While we were dining a guy and a gal wearing bad ass biker costumes came in and sat at the bar. I was shocked when the guy dressed up as a biker got a cell phone call and actually went outside to take it.

After lunch we went over to Verizon. I offered to take the wife home first, but she foolishly decided to go with me and.....that's another story.

I am not really ranting. I am a people watcher, and actually love these kinds of experiences. They are interesting and entertaining.