Bad IHOP Experience

The restaurant business is tough.  Always a new competitor, constantly changing tastes, and let’s not even talk about reliable employees.  

But enough is enough.  I had to walk out of the 24-hour IHOP at 1920 Harper Road, Beckley WV.  

The reason?

Poor service.  The manager got us seated right away.  It was 4:45 am.  We got coffee and menus right away.  They had a hostess whose job was to serve coffee and water.  She was great.  She also told us our server would be right out.

But 15 minutes later still no waitress.  I had to be in a car caravan by 6:15 AM to be escorted down to the landing zone at Bridge Day.  If I’m not there when the caravan starts down I will not be allowed down.  Since I feed the landing zone people it’s important I honor my commitment.  I’m not important, but feeding the landing zone crew is.  Without those volunteers, Bridge Day, the largest single-day money-making activity in the state of West Virginia might not be.  People come to see the BASE jumpers.  And they leave their money behind.

I know a lot of the patrons in this IHOP past 3 am are drunks trying to sober up over an endless cup of coffee.  I’ve been there a number of times over the years and I’ve seen it.  Service is slow.  I understand the servers don’t need to pay them attention.  That wasn’t the case Bridge Day morning.  There were only three tables occupied and everyone sounded sober to me.  That was a rarity at that place.  I was sure my wife and I would have no trouble meeting our deadline.

After 15 minutes of being ignored, I put 2 dollars on the table for coffee and left.  On the way out we explained to the manager, heard the waitress explain that she was in the back and nobody told her she had customers.  Despite the entreaties there was no reason to stay.  I didn’t hear the one thing that would have gotten us back into those seats.

It wasn’t about free food.  I always prefer service over free.

Promise to do better next time means nothing.  Next time doesn’t feed the cat today, does it?

What I needed to hear was the staff will rush your order through and get you out of here in record time.

So there you have it.  If you want to be ignored or treated like a drunk, go to the IHOP at 1920 Harper Rd in Beckley WV.  But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Around and about town

My father called me the other day from Florida with a question about math.  I suspected it might be about work or taxes.  Of course I’m flattered.  What child wouldn’t be when a parent asks for help?

“So,” he says, “how much dirt is in a hole 4 ft by 4ft by 4 ft?”  Now I’m thinking about footers and dry sumps and buying fill to plug a Florida sink hole.  Did someone cheat my dad by selling him 600 cubic feet of soil for a 64 cubic foot hole?

I tell him.  64 cubic feet.

“There is no dirt in a hole,” he responded.

So true.

Well, at least it wasn't this deep!

I’ve started ordering knives for upcoming shows.  I have a table at the Medina Knife gun show as well as a table at the upcoming OGCA show in Cleveland.  The Ohio Gun Collectors Association is one of the biggest gun shows in Ohio and our adjacent states.  It used to be in Cleveland at the IX Center, a big empty, hulking building used by General Motors to build bombers during WWII and later tanks.  That should tell you it’s big. 

I’m not sure who owns it now, but it was incorporated into Cleveland and of course Cleveland wanted nothing to do with guns, so good-bye to tax dollars, good-bye to local income from vendors, visitors who need to eat, sleep somewhere and buy gas.  I used to have a table there every show.

Well it’s back.  And frankly, the attendees have a little more pocket money and know that price and value are connected.   

This little guy  has a retail value of $40,000.  Yeah, that's a comma  not a decimal point.

They often buy a better knife.  So my dilemma is if I under-stock the expensive knives, I could run out.  If I over-stock expensive knives, I might not have a market for them anywhere else.

The opposite of expensive is cheap.  There is market for cheap, but... do you really want to be known a a cheap knife buyer.  Me?  I want to be known as a quality knife owner.

Purchasing knives is always a gamble.  Granted, if you’re big enough, what doesn’t sell in Ohio could be a hot item in Maine or Wyoming.  The problem is how expensive is it to get those knives out of your Ohio stores, ship somewhere else, and then sell ‘em.  

If you’re a little guy, well, all you can do is drop your price and hope the right person comes along.

I just placed an order and we’ll see if I guessed right. 

I just read that Servotronics has sold Queen Cutlery to Daniels Family Cutlery.  I understand DFC is in southern Ohio.  I had no idea that Queen was owned by another company, especially one that is a “distributor of fasteners and electro-mechanical hardware for aerospace, military, medical and commercial industries.”

I wish them Good Luck!

Medina Gun Show

I was at a knife gun show last weekend.  There has hasn’t been a show in this area for several months so I expected a good turnout of tire kickers and browsers. 

I used to do the same thing myself.  For a 5-spot I could look at stuff, ask questions, swap lies and have a good time.  I’d take a little extra cash in case I saw something I liked, but my little extra was 60 bucks.  I seldom found anything I couldn’t live without for under 60 bucks.  Under 500 bucks, there are a lot of once-in-a-lifetime deals in that range but beer budget doesn’t support champagne taste.

On the whole I enjoyed the show.  I sold a few knives and swapped a few stories. Bumped into a few-off the-wall conversations with customers.

“Got any full automatic knives?” he said.

“Yes, I just happen to have two.  One from Spyderco and one from HK.  Benchmade makes the HK line.”  I did my Vanna White imitation and gestured at the knives.  She is much better at that than I am.  He looked confused.  So I picked up the Spyderco and plugged on.

“I like the Spyderco because they put the safety next to the release button.”

He takes the knife opens it and said, “But you have to close this yourself!”

He grins and shows me a Microtech out-the-front and flicks it in and out.

“Very nice.”  I said.

“And your prices are too high.  I paid a lot less,” he gestured with the open knife blade, “for this than you’re asking for that.”  He points to my price on the Spyderco.

I try being nice, but I like the role of the curmudgeon too much to not play that part.

“That’s great.  Too bad you didn’t buy two of them when you had a chance and then you wouldn’t have to spend your time bothering me.”

Well, as Groucho Marx said, or maybe it was Karl, “Don’t just leave in a huff, leave in a huff and a half.”  And he did.

Later I see a fellow check my prices online with his smart phone.  That almost always means I won’t get the sale.

“Will you take $15 for that knife?”  Something about gun shows makes people think it’s a flea market and we will haggle like two Armenian rug merchants.  I’ve gotten used to it to some degree.

I look at the price.  I’m asking $24 for a nice Kershaw folder.  I typically mark my prices reasonably below MSRP.  I also pay sales tax out of that and of course I have to pay for it in the first place.  I don’t have a lot of room to wiggle.

“No sir, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“Well, I can get it on Amazon for $17.”  (I checked later.  It’s a close-out and it’s a good price but you have to pay shipping and tax.)

“Well sir, in that case I think you should.”

He wandered back a little later and said, “Don’t you want to make a little money right now?  I want that knife, but I don’t want to wait two weeks for delivery."

Of course the answer was I couldn’t help him.  I also didn’t tell him that SIR stands for Simpering Imbecile Retard.  (No, it’s not politically correct, but it is true.)

If I was smarter I would have said something like:

“Yes I’d like to make a little money.  I’ll sell it you for the internet price of $17 but I have to charge you $7 shipping and handling, a buck for tax, grand total $25.  Oh, and you have to pick it up at my house in two weeks.  Or you could just pay me the $24 now and walk out owning it.”

That’s what I write this blog for.  To get it out of my system.  Someday, I’ll actually say that to some hairball.

I over heard this snippet of conversation at the show:

One man to another:

“I have to get home before the third quarter to protect my TV from my wife.”

“Oh, is she a football fan?”

“No.  She’s a Browns fan.”