Monday, October 02, 2006

stuff

Random recap:

Friday - out for eats with the Kaptains and Trading Spaces Kim to the cajun resto "La Lousianne" in NDG. The Kaptain told me that the last time he ate there, his food was so spicy that his head was soaked and he had a stack o' napkins on standby for dabbing purposes. This is something I really wanted to SEE, but not experience myself so I had the unspiciest thing on the menu: seared tuna. Which was totally yum (the Kaptain has blackened catfish - which required a half-stack of napkins, instead of a full).

Corn's bro and sis-in-law are in town avec spawns and we went here yesterday. It is the apple-picking equivalent to sugaring off. But it was raining, so apple-picking was out of the question. We had much more fun watching Corn's 2 yr old nephew run around with some little girls' pink rubber boots.

Made some crockpot stew.

And definitely feeling for the families of the 5 people who lost their lives on Saturday, under that collapsed overpass in Laval...including an 8 year old boy, who is now parentless. What's even more frustrating is that someone inspected that overpass the same day it collapsed when a cement chunk broke away from it - and it was deemed safe.

Sigh. Ergh.

How's youse guys?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So I've been on the phone for the last half hour trying to get through to say hi and request a song. Persistent, yes...stalker, not really. Sent my request by e-mail, but it seems you are so popular, that your inbox is full. Things here are getting back to normal. The move went well, and aside from puttung pictures and shelves up, it is home. Going back to work next week, will be nice to get back to normal. Besides, I know Pa misses me to bits and I miss my crazy co-workers. Guess I will try again tomorrow....

Anonymous said...

Hey N@

La Lousianne is one of the best places I’ll never eat at again. Why you ask?

Mothers day, some years ago I treated the mothers of my Family to dinner there, the food was great but the service was par…any who when dinner was over, and we were on desert & drinks the waiter asked if we (12 of us) could crowd around 3 tables…a bit cramped but I saw the line out side and we all agreed to the squishing. Fast forward to the end of the evening; I paid the bill, and the manager came to see me asking if every thing was ok…I said “everything was fine” he rebutted with “then why didn’t you tip the full 15% all our customers tip 15%...and you only put 12%” I scanned for sarcasm…but this was clean…he was for real. I was a little caught off guard but I agreed to that I tipped unfairly and asked if we could re conduct the transaction…so he refunded the money my card and re ran the bill this time where the tip was I put 0%. Followed by this statement…

“You know a tip is that little extra a customer gives the waiter/waitress for going the extra distance in making the dining experience enjoyable….when did it become “EXPECTED”...Since 12% isn’t favorable I hope this changes your mind.”

Was I out of line? I mean c’mon…I was raised that a Tip was a show of appreciation…not hush money or “Don’t spit in my food insurance”

Maria said...

WOW Rick I can't believe you did that. lol sounds like something I would LOVE to do(if someone said that to me) but don't think I would ever have the guts to do. Was not right for them to EXPECT the tip, although waiters/waitresses do expect it as they are not paid well on an hourly basis.

JB said...

Absolutely shocked by the overpass collapse. You're driving along, expecting nothing, and are crushed to death by 700 tonnes of concrete. Sickening reports coming out within hours of the disaster that the height of the cars under the collapse hardly came up to the knees of the people on the emergency team who found them. Horrific. An eight-year-old child's life is ruined by an experience so devastating that anyone five times his age couldn't have hoped to be able to handle the shock.
Some days it is really hard to deal with covering the news so closely.
While still processing how sad the collapse is, I'm at work reading a story about a school shooting - at an Amish school in Pennsylvania - where an armed 32-year-old sent the males students outside, and blockaded the females inside with him. Six people reported dead.
An Amish school?
How and why does this happen?

We need some good news, people.

Anonymous said...

Well that overpass is about 2 highway blocks from my house, and the 19 off the Papineau bridge is by far the highway most used by me and my family to go shopping or to go to the cottage. You can see the bridge from the front of my house. Ever since the Blvd Du Souvenir collapse on the 15 a few years back, every time I go under those overpasses, I wonder, I get nervous (and not only because of possible speedtraps on the other side) and keep a real eye on those things. Even before this horrific thing, they really scared me, and I kept wondering "if that sucker falls do I have time to break?". And now...well, it's just not one of those times that i'm glad my intuition is right.

Take care ya'll

N@ Lauzon said...

Rick - that is the best story ever.
Gotta keep that little tip in my back pocket. Hah..'tip'.