t.o.s.h.

Two (or three) Fridays ago, the team decided to have lunch at a fancy restaurant just to break the monotony of eating at fast food establishments, food parks and JolliJeeps (?). We trekked the length of Valero to dine at The Old Spaghetti House. Bad idea. The long walk made us really, really hungry and we were hoping that we'd be able to sit in the comfort of the posh place.

Wrong. We were second in waiting. Worse part? We had to stand as the bench was already fully occupied. By a couple, the typical skinny guy, fat girl combo. My issue is not whether he's thin or she's fat, or that they are both old. God, that bench is good for four persons. Were they not taught how to sit properly? Manners people. Also, the other bench was occupied too by the group of ladies who came third. Not their fault. They came in from that side of the street.

The waiter walked over and handed the menu. Before he left, we specifically requested for a table inside the restaurant as it was scorching hot outside.

After a few minutes the waiter, let's call him Meatball, returned directing us to the table to our right. Right. Right outside. While the group of ladies (the supposedly third in waiting) was neatly escorted inside the restaurant. Infuriating.

"Excuse me? We just mentioned that we wanted a table inside. And we came in before them? How come nauna pa silang nakaupo?" I asked.

Meatball just stared and nodded as he scurried inside.

"Upo na lang muna tayo doon tapos lipat tayo if ever." Bettina said. Bettina is my officemate who resembles Joyce Jimenez. She recently joined the group as a replacement of JoyC. As a consequence, I tend to call her JoyC most of the time (to her utter dismay). Hence the name Bettina, just to avoid the confusion. Bettina is a nice girl. She should hang out with me more often.

And so we waited. Until a new set of crowd sat on the waiting area. Five minutes into our discussion about corruption, Bettina's resort in Mindoro and Naruto, Meatball came back and told us that our table is already ready inside.

Finally. And not long after, our food was served. It was already past 1 PM.

As we sat comfortably dining, and reveling in the cool breeze coming from the air-conditioning units, Bettina casually mentioned that she heard that the ladies sitting on the right bench complained amongst themselves why we were seated first.

"Walang karapatang [magreklamo] kapag hindi kagandahan."

What? I was hungry.

And it's true.

And they thought it was funny. Aw.

Anyway, the pasta wasn't all that delicious. And I bit an onion ring mistaking it for a calamares. Eewness.

We requested for the bill. And we didn't give them tip.

We decided to buy ourselves an ice cream at Mini-Stop instead.

We won't be coming back to T.O.S.H.-Valero anytime soon.

Their service sucks.

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POSTSCRIPT. Come to think of it, siguro totoo nga na nakakalungkot kapag gutom. And sorry for this. I just want to rant.