$34.95!

Hey everyone! We're back from Vegas! What a whirlwind trip that was. I'll have to fill you all in on the fun of the trip after I get some of my pictures back. I just wanted to check in and share a little story from our trip.

So, it's Sunday night, our last night in Vegas. We are headed out to have a nice buffet dinner with two other couples. One of the couples and G and I decide to head over to the Rio casino early to watch a little bit of the Raider game (my poor Raiders). Anyway, we were supposed to meet two other couples at the buffet, but somehow we missed them and they started without us about 45 minutes before we got there. Since one of the guys called someone from the other group, they asked their waitress if she could hold a table a few tables away from theirs for us. They were a group of four and we were a group of six. Their waitress said no problem! So the six of us get in the plentiful buffet line, pay our $22.95 each, and wait in another plentiful line to be seated. As we get to the front, one of G's friend tells the hostess, who come to find out is also the manager, that our friends are seated over in that area, and the waitress was holding a table for us. She tells us, that if we want to sit in the same section as our friends, the dinner is going to cost us $34.95 more! Now mind you, we are not sitting at their table, we are not sitting right next to them, we are just asking to be in the same section! They tell us, that even if we are not at the same table or even next to each other, if we are seated in the same waitresses section, then we have to pay the extra gratuity! I couldn't believe this! I was flabbergasted! I guess the waitress had already warned our friends who were already there, that it might happen like that, but that she would talk to the seating hostess to try to accomodate us without the gratuity. So nice of her.....she was heading for a huge tip for being nice.

Now, I completely understand the concept of large parties at tables and then the wait person gets stiffed for having to work very hard to serve a large party. This however was a buffet......except for non-alcoholic drinks, I had to serve myself! Where's my tip? As G's friend R said, I fully expected that once I crossed the line to be seated, that the manager was going to grab me by my ankles and shake me out for any coins or money I might have left in my pockets! Okay, just a little vent, I promise something more substantial tomorrow!