[REDCART]

One of our favorites in TV has always been Carrabba's. Since 2005 both the food and service there have been consistently good. Our only disappointment came this past Tuesday. We had a Carrabba's coupon for a free calamari appetizer which we gave the server initially. When we got the bill I noticed a charge for the calamari and called it to the attention of our server. Her response was somewhat cryptic, "I took the calamari off but I didn't print the check." Twenty seconds later she comes back with the adjusted check. My first thought, well it's an honest mistake but her comment didn't make any sense to us and didn't appear sincere. I suspect she had already printed both bills but decided to give us the higher one. Where there's a discount involved, I believe it's their standard practice to give you both the original and the adjusted bill so you can see the discount and of course base the tip on the original bill amount. My guess, she was going to turn in the lesser bill with her receipts for the night. Am I overanalyzing this incident or is this a scam by a server to pad the bill for herself? If she had said, "I'm sorry, I forgot about your coupon," it would have made more sense. An accountant once commented to me that "many employees will find some creative way to steal from a business. You just hope it's not too much!" No, I did not call the manger over. If it's a pattern, I'm sure someone else here on TOTV will share a similar story.