Last night I decided to eat at Pizza Hut for dinner on the way to Wal-Mart. I was by myself. When I got there I placed my order for a Sausage Italiano pasta and a one trip salad bar. The waitress asked me if I wanted the family size or the personal size. I WAS ALONE. I'd already told her, when I was first seated, that I was dining alone. Did she really think I could eat the big size pasta all by myself? She took my order and I got my salad. The main reason I like Pizza Hut so much is because they have the best ranch dressing I've ever had. I don't usually even eat ranch dressing, but I can't get enough of theirs.

It was a pretty big salad, and it took me some while to eat it. I ate slowly in hopes that my main dish would arrive as I was finishing up. I have found that if you wait too long between appetizer and main course you will lose your appetite. Which, I suppose, would be a good way to lose some weight if you could be satisfied with just the salad every single time.

I wanted more last night. So it was with a great deal of annoyance that I found myself still waiting for my Sausage Italiano pasta 15-20 minutes after the salad was long gone. The waitress came and took my plate, which I took as a good sign that my meal was soon to come.

It was not. I waited another 20-25 minutes and I was long past the point where I felt like a dolt for hanging around for so long. I seriously considered just getting up and walking out. Most likely I would have gone to the register and informed them of the situation, that they could just forget the whole thing.

It must have been at least 45 minutes after I walked in the doors and still I had no food on the table. Next thing I know the waitress is coming back to the table. She was NOT carrying a plate of pasta. This did not look good.

"I'm sorry, sir. The kitchen staff has been backed up and they've just now got your pasta in the oven, so it will be just a little while longer."

I watched the kitchen area for a good portion of the long time I was there. From all appearances they were anything BUT "backed up".

I began to scoot out of the booth and I told her, "No, I'm not going to wait any longer. Just tell me how much I owe you for the salad and I'll take care of it before I leave."

She said she would take the salad off of the ticket, and I went my merry way, belly only half-full.

I don't know who was at fault. The waitress? Had she not written the order out correctly? Was it the kitchen staff? If it was, I guarantee it wasn't because they were too busy. Not from the number of people there in the restaurant and it didn't look like they were sending out too many pizza deliveries. So who knows. Who cares?

There are two Pizza Huts in Shawnee and I have had problems with both of them now. I won't patronize either of them for quite some time, per my established policy of temporarily banning eateries that provide dismal service. Now if I want that delicious ranch dressing I guess I'll just have to go to the one in Seminole. I haven't had any trouble there, although there is a waitress with a bad attitude.

On another, unrelated note...the check-out lines at Wal-Mart, when I first arrived, were ridiculously long. I have never seen them so long, not even during the Christmas season. I could only assume that it was due to people panicking in the wake of the dire financial situation the country is faced with right now. The assumption seemed to be confirmed by the sheer amount of food items that were out of stock. The check-out lines had dwindled significantly by the time I was ready to leave, but, man, it's scary.

---