The day after my post about entitled tourists and their being unable to be patient while waiting for their meals in restaurants, we had an experience of our own.
Eight of us decided to go to Cuastecomates for lunch and time on the beach. It took two trips for me to pick them up and get them all there. We arrived around 11:30. I had an appointment at the dentist at 1 pm to fix a chipped tooth so hung around for a while.
At 11:45 I thought I had better order lunch as I needed to leave in 45 minutes for my appointment. After I ordered, I waited, and by 12:30 my lunch wasn’t there so I had to leave and let Rosalie eat it as we were going to share. I got to the dentist a bit early, she fixed my tooth and I was out of there by 1:10. (Cost of 300 pesos about $21.)
I got back to the beach about ten minutes later and there was my lunch, still hot as it had just been delivered. It had taken an hour and a half to get it to us. They had obviously forgotten our order even though they had been reminded several times. The rest of our group who had ordered after me had been served and finished.
While eating lunch, I wanted to order a drink. After half an hour the waiter dropped by and I asked for a glass of white wine. They didn’t have any! I asked for red, and they only had a little drop of that left, so Rosalie let me help her drink her margarita.
After finishing our drinks, we paid the bill leaving only a small tip and headed for Papa Gallo’s for a much-needed glass of white wine to calm me down. I didn’t get mad at the meseros; I didn’t disrespect them; I just paid a smaller tip than usual so perhaps they got the message.
When we first got there the rest of the group was complaining, as tourists do, about the wait time and I was trying to calm them down and get them to remember that this is Mexico after all. By the time we left, I was furious, this was bad service even by Mexican standards.
Even so, it is all part of the Mexican experience.