Ordering Food Should NOT be That Difficult!

On today's "As the Mug Turns", ordering food should NOT be that difficult!  I often hear people complain about the stupid people that take their food order at restaurants.  Well, sometimes folks the stupid is on the other side of the counter trust me! We often say taking an order is sometimes like pulling teeth.  A customer telling us they want a Lot-O-Burger could mean that they want just a burger or a combo.  We are just supposed to know.  Granted that exchange should have them telling me if they want it dressed, with or without cheese, fries or onion rings, and what kind of drink do they want.  I guess we are just supposed to know!  If someone were to tell you I just want mayonnaise on my sandwich what would you think?  If you assume that they only want mayo you may or may not be correct.  Sometimes the genius is telling you by saying mayo only they don't want mustard.  YES I KNOW THAT IS STUPID.  I have had people tell me they want their burger plain.  So we make it plain, meat and bread, and then get yelled at because they wanted pickles, tomatoes, and lettuce.  How is that plain?  The answer to do you want cheese on the burger is often met with a blank stare or the wrong response repeatedly.  For example, do you want cheese on that.  Their answer I want a coke or I want fries.  Sigh.  The question gets repeated until I am given the correct answer.  Surprisingly I have not strangled anyone yet over this.


In addition to our counter inside, we have 3 windows outside all are clearly labeled - Order Here, Pick Up, and Phone Orders.  I particularly like the customers that literally plaster their face to the Pick Up window and wonder why no one is taking their order.  It is also always fun to have a customer ask for a paper menu and watch them read it RIGHT in front of the menu on the window in front of them. 


Another problem is the inability of people to read and comprehend.  I will watch people read the menu for over 5 minutes and then proceed to order things that simply DO NOT exist on the menu.  I want a large fry or onion ring is typical.  We clearly only have one size.  We have a large and a small burger, but we often have people ask for the medium burger.  Really?


This "As the Mug Turns", will be continued with more ordering stories soon!!

If It Isn't Nailed Down....

On today's "As the Mug Turns", If It Isn't Nailed Down....the employees version.  Well I have already brought up the customer version of this and now it is time for the things that go missing from employees!  It seems through the years a few employees have used us as their one stop shopping  I think that they thought we were FrostMart.  We have had anything from toilet paper (really if you needed it that bad just ask) all they way to an entire case of shrimp and just about anything in between.


There are the obvious incidents like taking a case of shrimp.  There are also the not so obvious like either giving away food or charging the customer and then pocketing the money.  All of these things led to cameras and having to staple the ticket from the register showing an order was rung up.  Even with all of that things go missing.  A few years back I could not figure out where the red beans were going.  I knew what would were selling and it didn't add up.  After an employee didn't work here anymore it dawned on me she was taking it outside and bringing it home at night.


I am sure there are plenty more things that don't know about.  I guess sometimes ignorance is bliss but for goodness sake just ask for the toilet paper!

If You Call in Sick - Hide!

On today's "As the Mug Turns", what happens when you call in sick and are NOT sick AND we catch you!  Ok, I am certain the number of times employees have called in sick over the years and were NOT sick probably greatly outweighs the times that they were actually sick.  A personal favorite is when an employee asks for off and we need them that day so they simply get a horrible illness that day instead.  Of course calling in sick is better than many that just don't show up. 


Well, you would think that the story I am about to tell you made me angry.  Oddly enough it mad me laugh when I should NOT have laughed and is one of my favorite memories.  I won't use his name but if he wants to confess to it he should feel free!!  Ok, the employee calls in sick on a Friday afternoon.  Great we are shorthanded - nothing new.  Later my sister who worked at LaPlace Elementary stopped by Frostop. She asked why we were shorthanded and we told her our employee called in sick.  She said that she had just passed his house and he was out washing his car.  REALLY?!?  So my Dad calls his house and gets his Mom on the phone.  She said he was out for the night and had no idea.  So wow he was busted.  What I did NOT expect was to come into work the next morning and find a note the employee wrote apologizing for what he had done.  I was FLOORED.  In all of the years and all of the employees that had NEVER happened.  You would not believe how many parents would lie for their kids.  Poor thing came into work that next morning and you could tell he was tired - I bet he didn't sleep much.  I avoided him as much as I could because what I wanted to do was laugh.  I could not be angry with him even if I tried.


So thanks for the laugh that day and every time I have thought about it since!  Tomorrow on "As the Mug Turns", employees stealing what isn't nailed down.

The End of Video Poker....

On today's "As the Mug Turns", how we got rid of video poker and almost got hauled off to jail!!  Let's go back to getting video poker in the first place.  We finally got the poker machines in 1994 after first getting a beer license and then the poker license.  You have to be fingered printed and apparently the prints were done wrong in LaPlace so my parents and I went to the State Police headquarters in Baton Rouge to do them a second time.  The trooper doing them seemed surprised we knew what we were doing and asked if we had been fingerprinted before with a puzzled look on his face.  Yes, in fact, we have been - just incorrectly.


In the years that we had the machines, there was crazy paperwork and once we had to actually prove we were a restaurant.  Seriously, can't you just send someone in here to look?  I had to send an entire years worth of bills and a menu.  What a brilliant use of my time and someone at the state level. 


We were always on top of things making sure that people didn't go into the booth with kids.  Honestly we never had a problem with underage people playing.  So we have the machines from 1994 until 2008 with NO problems.  Well in November of 2008, the state police sent in an underage person to play and we didn't catch them. Obviously the girl didn't look young but it was what it was.  We immediately said we wanted the machines out.  They didn't make much anymore and were a hassle.  My Dad pulled the plug.  The video poker company said you can't do that.  So they were plugged in and an out of order sign went up until the could be officially turned off.  Well the day they were set to be turned off was on a Monday that happened to be Veteran's Day so we would wait one more day.  Of all the days in all of the years we had them on THAT day 2 troopers come in to check the machines.  My parents and I told them what happened and how upset we were.  We did not raise our voices and of course no profanities were used.  The troopers left and the next day the video poker guy told us the troopers said we were VERY close to being arrested.  Seriously?  Can you see my Mom, Dad, and I being carted off to jail?  Well, we do know how to be fingerprinted!!  Just another day of "As the Mug Turns" the Cops version!!

Wildlife at Frostop!

Today on "As the Mug Turns" the wildlife of Frostop!  Goats, snakes, armadillos, horses, dogs, and cats are an odd thing to have turn up in your restaurant's parking lot but it happens, as least in Laplace it does.  Years ago, there were horses across the airline from the restaurant that would get loose and run up and down the Airline in front of us.  Very interesting to call 911 and have the operator immediately ask you, "Is this about the horses?" 


The horses are just the mere tip of the wildlife iceberg!  Many restaurants have dogs and cats dropped behind the building and we have had our share of that through the years.  We have actually gotten a few great pets that way.  But what goes beyond the normal would be snakes, goats, armadillos, and of course the horses. 


I once encountered a snake in the back hallway a few years back.  I screamed for my Dad who trapped in a pickle bucket and then he spent the afternoon showing it to customers he knew trying to identify it.  The better snake story happened last year while both my Dad and I were not here.  We were only gone 2 hours and came back to find out that a snake made it almost all the way from the back to the kitchen.  Apparently my head cook heard the other cook, who was 7 months pregnant at the time, screaming.  Her first thought was I hope she isn't in labor!  Well, she went to see and finally figured out that she was screaming SNAKE!!  My head cook managed to wrangle the snake into dust pan and set it free before we returned.


I have had the pleasure of poking at an armadillo to get it out from under my car and out of the parking lot away from customers!


The goat appearance happened twice last fall.  There are people that keep horses on the land behind Frostop.  Well, I guess they have a goat. I also now know that the goat's name is Jasper!  One day we are busy during lunch and I see my Dad leave the front and head out the door.  I asked what is he doing we are busy.  I DID NOT expect the response to be he is chasing a goat in the parking lot.  He along with a customer managed to corral it in the fenced in area next door.  About another month later Jasper was back and actually made it all the way to standing on the picnic table before my sister (who knew Jasper) took him back to his home.


You just never know what a day at "As the Mug Turns" will bring!!

No Sign for Stupid

Today on "As the Mug Turns", there is no sign for stupid.  We had video poker from 1994 - 2008.  It certainly brought in the money in the beginning,but it also brought in some strange people.  We constantly had to babysit the strange cast of characters that played.  Some people would insist on only playing with $1 bills but playing hundreds of them as if they weren't spending as much.  We had people bring kids and grandkids while playing and let them run wild.  Yes, they were asked to leave! Once we had a "couple" that thought we couldn't see them and would make out in the poker booth.  Duh, folks there is a camera right above your head and it is recorded.  My Dad told them that the video was monitored by the State Police.  We never saw them again.  Something tells me they were married but NOT to each other!


The best was a couple we had one Sunday afternoon.  They came in to play poker and immediately were annoying.  They started with why don't we have free food and beer for them since they were playing like at the casino.  Uh, because we are NOT a casino.  I was already annoyed with them when I looked up to see the man standing on the bar stool in the poker booth fooling with the ac vent.  We kept it closed so that it did not drip condensation on the poker machines.  I go into the booth and ask him to get down.  He proceeds to tell me we should have a sign saying you can't stand on the chair. That was the last straw for me.  I told him we also should have a sign for no idiots so that people like him didn't get in the building.  I then asked them to leave.  I am still shaking my head to this day

There is NO Stealing at Frostop!!

Today on “As the Mug Turns”, we need to nail it down so they don’t steal it.  It clearly seems that back in the day people really liked to steal Frostop mugs with the logo.  I mean there are many people with one or two old mugs in their possession.  I see them at flea markets from time to time and on ebay.  We even sold some with our LaPlace Frostop logo from 1993 – 2004. But the majority of mugs were stolen.  I went to someone’s house years ago and they proudly opened up a cabinet FULL of old mugs.  I think the only thing I said was wow.  I was thinking to myself – they have more old mugs than we have!  It also made me wonder how they would feel if I opened and entire cabinet of stuff I stole from them and proudly showed it off to them.   Also, one night in 1994 a customer told me that a group of guys had walked out with mugs hidden so that we didn’t see.  Well, I of course, ran out into the parking lot and asked for the mugs back.  They looked at me like I was insane until 2 of the guys that worked for me (big guys) followed me out.  I was handed back the mugs immediately!

In addition to mugs, dishes, silverware, ketchup, salt & pepper shakers, Lucky Dog painting, and the speaker from outside have been stolen.  The speakers that we call numbers on outside had been here as long as we can remember but sometime in the months after Katrina it disappeared.  We went to call out a number and guess what just wires are hanging out there.  Really?  The police said guys put them under the hood of the car for sound.  Ok so we replace the speaker and it is stolen again.  At this point my Dad is putting the speaker up every morning and taking it down every night.  Yes, there were mornings he forgot till the first number was called!  Well he forgets to take it down one night and boom stolen again.  It was at that point we had a special cage built to cover the speaker and it is bolted to the canopy.  Problem solved.  I wanted to rig it to shock someone if they stole it but apparently that is illegal.  Don’t get me started on that matter!

The funniest incident of stealing was late one night shift.  As a bunch of teenagers were leaving I went to clean their table and noticed that everything was missing – the napkin holder, salt, pepper, ketchup, and hot sauce.  I was fast enough to get their license plate as they drove off.  My Dad had a local deputy run the plate and we got a number.  It was a home in Metairie.  So, my Dad calls the house and gets the Dad on the phone and explains the situation.  The man says he had been out of town and would look around the house.  Sure enough the entire set of stolen stuff was on his table at home.  He apologized and brought back the stuff!!  He even stuck around to talk to my Dad for an hour. 

The lesson here folks is don’t steal from us and if you do steal from us DO NOT let us catch you!

So You Want me Dead....

Today on “As the Mug Turns”, I can have you killed for $50.  Yes, odd as it may seem my life has been threatened a few times at work.  Once by a former worker’s sister who lived in the apartments near Frostop.  She was on drugs at the time and I asked her to leave the parking lot.  She has since cleaned up her act but will not wait on her to this day.  I am funny that way, you know not forgetting someone wanting you dead and all.

The big story is the “I can have you killed for $50”, was directed at my Mom, Dad, and I back in the summer of 1997.  I was actually at home and got the call from one of the kids working to get to Frostop quick.  I ran to work!  A VERY irate man was ranting that he had given a $100 bill for change to play poker.  Well, the drawer had nothing bigger than a $50 in it so clearly he did not give what he thought, either he was mistaken or was lying.  He would NOT accept he was wrong.  It was so bad that instead of taking the time to call 911, I simply hit the panic button on the alarm panel.  It was before the police arrived that he popped out with, “I can have y’all killed for $50”.  We were obviously rattled.  The police got there and took him away.  Later my Dad pressed charges for disturbing the peace.   Clearly it disturbed us at the time.  I was scared enough to spend the night in Baton Rouge that evening!  Looking back now we do laugh that all three of us were only worth $50!! 

 

What Happened to the Bathroom?

On today's "As the Mug Turns", bathroom horror stories.  This one leaves me shaking my head for sure!  The majority of these stories occurred in the mid 1990's.  I have NO idea why in that particular time frame people had such difficulty with using something that most toddlers master.  There were a few explosions - I WILL NOT go into detail let me just say I DO NOT pay anyone enough money to clean that up.  Yipee that means the task falls to me.  I am left with HOW IN THE HELL does that happen.?!? 


Then there was the woman that came to the counter to tell us she witnessed a woman tell her kid to just use the bathroom in the hallway.  Really was she raised by wolves?  Sigh.


But by far the BEST or WORST was the guy we called the pukemeister.  EVERY single time he came in he managed to vomit in the sink in the bathroom.  No idea why other than he was crazy.  I mean the toilet and the sink are VERY close.  There is NO way it was an innocent mistake every single time.  Yes, we cleaned it up and never said a word.  I mean how would one go about bringing that up exactly.  "Excuse me could you please refrain from being a pain in the rear and puke in the toilet bowl like a civilized human being."


Also, how many times do you flush a toilet that doesn't go down on the first flush?  One, two, three, or till you are standing in water up to your ankles?!?


Yes, I may have gotten to meet some celebrities and appear on Memphis Beat (way cool) but I also get to clean a FUNKY bathroom from time to time.  See you tomorrow with another "As the Mug Turns" story.

The "Hostage" Situation!

Today on "As the Mug Turns" I bring you he "Hostage" situation.  One thing that can be certain at the 'Top and it is nothing can be certain.  This night is one for the record books.  I can still see bits of it when I close my eyes all these years later.  It was a routine night shift in the fall of 1996.  Back then we closed at 10pm so I assume it was between 9pm and 10pm because both my Dad and I were at work.  Suddenly police start pulling up across the street at the furniture store.  Yes, the same building that played a role in the crap kicked out of someone story.  FYI, the building was torn down in 2001! 


Next thing you know our parking lot is filled with police cars as well.  We are told to close and NO one could leave.  Luckily we only had one couple in the dining room at the time.  We are told that there is a hostage situation at the store across from us.  REALLY?  It was unclear as to why police ended up there but a man had shot at them from inside and he had a hostage. So, we get everything cleaned up and then watch the situation unfold.  Swat teams start to assemble around our building.  We hear them on the bullhorn, "come out with your hands up". Side note - I got a call from the guy I was seeing at the time and I told him I couldn't talk because there was a hostage situation across the airline.  I am sure to this day he thought I was lying!! Finally after a few hours they escorted the couple that was left out of the building and a few of our workers.  The rest of us were watching and playing travel Trouble.  (I bought it for the rare occasion when the lights go out - always fun). 


 After a few hours, they resolved the situation.  How?  There was never a hostage - just a paranoid guy with a gun.  It never made the papers or TV from what I found.  I think it was all a big mistake but it made for a great "As the Mug Turns" story!

 

Crap Kicked out of You......

On “As the Mug Turns” today, yes you can actually get the crap kicked out of you.  The fact I now know this statement to be true should have had me rethink the career path I picked.  Well, in all fairness every single story I have written about so far should have been a HUGE RED FLAG as to my chosen path in life.  This is truly an all-in or all out business.  It is a passion you either have or do not have.  These stories to those that love the restaurant business are just our war stories.  You better have a sense of humor or it will crush you.  With that in mind I bring you the crap kicked out of someone story. Next week a few more bathroom horror stories!  Sigh.

Ok, so there used to be a building across the Airline Highway from Frostop – it was the St. John St. Charles Club, Chez Ami, Star Light Lounge, and a furniture store from what I remember.  This would have been 1994 and it was the Star Light Lounge.  It was NOT a fancy place.  Anyway, around 4pm one afternoon a guy walked across the Airline for a burger with us.  He left a $5 tip – clearly he was DRUNK!  Later that night about 10 minutes before we closed I left to run to Blockbuster.  It was right after our 10pm closing that I came back to work to see police cars filling our parking lot.  I thought to myself what could have gone wrong in the 10 minutes I was gone.  Well…..  The guy from the bar from earlier had run across the Airline Highway and into our bathroom.  Police followed shortly after him.  So, the guy finally came out of the bathroom and my Dad goes in to check it and finds blood everywhere and soiled undies.  My Dad comes out and asks are these yours?   Of course they were his.  He had been in a fight at the bar and knowing they would take him to jail chose to run to our restaurant to remove his dirty drawers. People I can truly say I have seen it all.  Yes, indeed you can have the crap kicked right out of you.

See y’all Monday with more “As the Mug Turns” stories.

                                                                       

Diner is Bug Dinner

On “As the Mug Turns” today, what happens when you are changing out the roof of your restaurant and they get the entire roof off and it rains a good Louisiana summer rain? I can tell you friends it ain’t pretty.  Let’s go back to 1996 and finding out we had Formosan termites.  Sigh.  They started to swarm out of our lights at night that spring. A week into that we started to see the wings and thought well they are dying.  Nope that just means they have gone to eating the wood. We developed a plan to change the roof which was flat and holding water to a pitched roof.  We were also going to put in a new floor and have the entire building treated.  It was in one of the first days we were closed and I was taking up the old floor that two woman came in through all the mess and asked if we were open for them to play poker.  There are NO tables, half the floor is gone, and the poker machines are covered in plastic. As I stood there covered in sweat and dirt, I wanted to hit them with something!

 Ok, we were set to be closed 10 days.  My Mom, Dad, and I go to the Hill Behan on Jefferson to pick out what would take the place of Formica on the walls.  It had been a VERY dry summer.  We leave Hill Behan and look back toward LaPlace and the sky is DARK.  I felt my heart drop.  We drive home in the pouring rain.  When we got back to LaPlace, the ceiling was collapsing, the walls were buckling, and they had thrown the breaker to have no power in the building. 

I was set to meet friends in Baton Rouge that night and my Dad said go.  I can remember watching from my window at home before I left.  So, I met my friends and had MANY margaritas.  The next morning I woke up to the article on the front page of the Times-Picayune – Diner Is Bug Dinner.  Really?  That is really kicking you when you are down. Oddly, the article had my Dad and Mr. Larry Brock pictured on the roof.  Years later his son, Andre’, would marry my little sister Tracey.  (little silver lining)

Well, it turned out that the rain was a blessing in disguise. We found out that we had termites in every wall.  Thus began a 6 week rebuilding of every wooden wall in the building. It seems we had been running our own LaPlace Disney World for termites.  Our flat roof was like their own little water park.  We were also lucky given the damage that none of us were crushed by the air conditioning units that had been on the roof. 

So, the roof had to be put on at night since it was so hot during the day in July.  They rented lights and got to work.  I could hear them working from my house every night.  The roof went on, the walls went up, and the floor went down.  The building was finally put back together; we had a big party on a Friday night to celebrate with the crew that rebuilt the building and our workers who were ready to come back to work.  That Monday we opened back up and the mug kept turning!

Don't Pull

On today’s “As the Mug Turns”, why I should NOT have pulled the thing that said pull. Let us go back in time to early September 1993. I had just graduated in May and was home working full time. Back then full time for me was 7 days a wee...k and 13 hours a day. It was a night shift probably around 5:30pm. There is a big thunderstorm happening. Huge lightning and thunder and then we start to smell smoke in the kitchen. 23 year old Terry panics. We all seem to think there is a fire above us in the hood system. I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off. One cook is actually yelling what is the number for 911. (911 was new in LaPlace at that time) I announce to the dining room everyone out. A kid that worked the front is saying I paid for 2 burgers tonight but only ate one don’t forget. (SO not at the top of my worries at that moment) Then I do the thing that I will never do again. I pulled the pull switch for the fire suppression system. I do not think I had any idea what would happen next. The system shoots foam everywhere – both fryers and the grill. The entire kitchen is covered and some of the front. The fire department, the police, EMT’s, and my Dad get here. Guess what we can still smell smoke. Crap. The lightening had gotten the dishwasher. We were shut down for the night and the cleanup that will take hours begins. One cook goes to empty the fryers – she decides to empty the 350 degree grease in to a plastic pickle bucket. The grease melts the bucket and now the kitchen is covered in foam and grease. Sigh. Finally about 4 hours later and everything is cleaned my Dad says to the crew what have you all learned. Terry – don’t pull the pull thing. (In case there really is a fire in the hood, fryers, or grill the system has sensors and will go off on its own), others lessons were the number for 911 is 911, don’t put hot grease in a plastic buckets, and yes we know you only ate one burger but paid for two.
The next day the fire suppression company came out to recharge the system and said they had never actually known of someone to pull that thing before me.
I have had many a stupid moment in the last 20+ years but this was the crowning jewel of my stupidity. There may still be a VHS tape of this event but I do NOT ever need to see that again.
Tune in tomorrow for more "As the Mug Turns"!

Norman Bates?

Today on “As the Mug Turns”, the story that I am surprised doesn’t still give me nightmares. This story goes all the way back to a Saturday in the spring of 1987. I am working the front with Paul Lowry and he leaves me in the front to go t...o clean tables in the dining room. At this point a regular customer comes to the window and to say he was acting strange was an understatement. Before continuing, I must point out that I had just seen the movie Psycho a week before this incident. The customer, normally a VERY mild mannered man, starts yelling at his mother, “go back to the car Mother” in a way that sounded to my 16 year old ears just like Norman Bates. I leave the front unattended and go to get Paul. I mean I ran to the dining room and grabbed him and said come up front NOW. I am already freaked out at this point. Next up the guy asks for his “small Pepsi please”, he always said that. I have no idea which one of us got it for him, but he proceeds to crush the cup in his hand – drink everywhere. He then manages to start to eat the dollar bills in his hand. Once again, have no idea who called my Dad. By the time he showed up the guy was in convulsions outside. Paul and I are completely freaked out, Betty, behind us, is worried too, and the best was the electrician Trevor Taylor from Jamaica who I swear to goodness turned white while this was happening. Well my Dad comes from home and manages to get the money out of the guy’s mouth. The police and Baloney’s ambulance show up. We later found out he had diabetes and didn’t take his insulin. The EMT’s gave Jimmie a lecture about sticking his hand in a stranger’s mouth (remember this was 1986). Paul and I, of course, had to tell everyone this at school on Monday!!
Tomorrow on “As the Mug Turns”, I will go back to more funny stories!

Really You are Throwing That at Me!!!

On the last episode of “As the Mug Turns”, I said I would explain just how the various items were thrown at me by customers. So here you go….
If I recall correctly, all of these happened within about a 2 year time frame – 1996-1998. Ok, first up was me getting soaked by 24 ounces of root beer. During the summer, back when we were open at night, we fought little bugs outside that were attracted t...o the lights. On our end of town we are about the only thing this bright so we are like Disney World to these bugs. We even had fans installed above the windows to try to keep them outside. Fans and all we still had to go outside a few times a night to wipe the counter down. Well, I sent one of the kids outside to do just that. Next thing I know the kid is back inside saying the woman cursed her out claiming she pushed the bugs on her on purpose. I had waited on her a few minutes before and she was not very pleasant. Well, I am not about to let someone curse out a 16 year old employee. I open the window and explain we do not tolerate her behavior and language and refund her money. Now, let me go back and mention I had already served her a large root beer. She then proceeds to throw the drink in my face and curse me out. She also managed to get root beer on the next customer. I so DID NOT see that coming. Police came and both I and the other customer who witnessed the incident explained what happened. In the end we could not press charges because the woman claimed the kid assaulted her with a bug. Really?
The next drink thrown at me was because after 3 attempts to make a man’s burger as well done as possible (short of actually cremating it I could do no more) I finally just gave him his money back. Seconds later I was wearing his Sprite that had been in his mug. Way to man up fellow!!
The shake and shrimp burger were both the same person and actually neither got on me. Just in case you ever want to throw something the soft drink makes a bigger impact! The shake is just too thick and I am fast enough to avoid a shrimp burger.
Finally, the story you have all been waiting for – the unused tampon used as a projectile. I can still see these two winners as clear as it was yesterday. How do I put this delicately? The not so classy woman was not wearing underwear and we could all see this. GROSS. They must have been high a kites too. So it is a Friday night and I have a dining room full of families. Luckily none of them were seated where they could see what the crew in the front could. But what they could see was the classless couple all over each other. Finally, I went out to the dining room and quietly asked them to leave. They had finished eating by then. They walked out the door and I thought it was over. Next thing I know the man opens the window and throws the unused, THANK GOODNESS, tampon at me. The one good thing that came out of was a customer came up to me before he and his family left to compliment me on how I handled the situation. Honestly this was a story that you had to be here to really get. It was the kind of night that if you were here you would NEVER forget.

On the next episode of "As the Mug Turns", the Norman Bates - Psycho - go back to the car mother- small Pepsi please- scared us all to death story. Until then STAY CLASSY people!!

Customers From Hell....

Today on “As the Mug Turns”, I bring to you crazy customer stories. There are SO many of these it will be its own little mini- series. Thanks to some of the “kids” that used to work here for reminding me of some of these gems. From the lady that claimed she had a baby in her purse, to the my fish be stank lady, and all these insanity in between. I will share 3 gems with you today.
One busy Satu...rday a woman that I will say politely seemed a bit off came in and ordered a burger combo. She said her “man” was outside and he would be in to pay. I figured I would get the money by the time I served it. Not quite, I went to serve it and no money no food. Well she starts screaming at the top of her lungs that she had a baby in her bag. Wait what you ask? So of course the police are called. There was NO baby. They made her leave. There was NO man.
One weekend I was away at a wedding and came home to this lovely story. A man had ordered a burger with bacon. He called back ranting and raving that we did not put the bacon. He comes back causing a commotion and the police were called. Before the police got here he opened up the burger and smeared it all over the window. The BACON then fell off. He left without another word before the police arrived.
My final story for this Friday is the “my fish be stank” woman. She had a problem EVERY time she ate here. Well she gets her catfish on toast, leaves, and returns with a piece of the crust of the bread. There is it nothing else left and claims at the top of her lungs the fish be stank. Yes, clearly it was so horrible you managed to eat the entire thing except for the tiny piece of crust. Hello police called. They told me she was banned from most restaurants in LaPlace.
The answer to the how many times have I had things thrown at me is 5 – two soft drinks, one shake, one shrimp burger, and one unused tampon. Just how those things happened on Monday!

Former employees......

On today’s episode of “As the Mug Turns”, we have crazy former employee stories. No names will be used to protect the not so innocent. Well, in all honesty I don’t remember some of the names! First up will be the call I received on a Saturday afternoon ten years ago about my crew for that night. I would have NO crew in the kitchen because one cook was in jail for stabbing another woman with a ...shower curtain rod. The other cook would not be in since she rode to work with the one in jail. Oh, did I fail to mention that the woman that was stabbed had worked for us for a few days a few weeks before this happened. Ok take a minute to let that sink in.
We have had an employee that kept setting fire to the bathroom. According to the police, we could not prove it. Well, the bathroom is not on fire and when she leaves the bathroom it is on fire. I am no detective but whatever. About the time this was happening in the early 1980’s, we got a bomb threat. It was Andouille Fest weekend and we assume someone wanted the night off. Nice. What your childhood memories don’t include bomb threats to the family business?
There are countless other stories. There was a woman that lasted 1 hour and 9 minutes on the job. Yes, we called her the 69 minute woman. She came back three months later for her money. This was 1993. I handed her $5 and walked away. Yes indeed!
Tomorrow on “As the Mug Turns”, I will bring you wacky customer stories. I will answer the burning question of just how many times I have had things thrown at me by customers!

"As the Mug Turns" the game!

Today I bring to you the “As the Mug Turns” game. Questions include but are not limited to….
1. What comes on the bacon-cheese-green onion fries? Apparently the answer bacon, shredded cheese, and green onions was NOT an acceptable answer to one customer.
2. What time do you close? Extra points when they ask standing next to one of the signs with the hours posted on it. Double bonus points for a...sking if we are open when all the outside lights are off AND it is dark outside AND the closed signs are up.
3. Do the crawfish balls have pork in them?
4. Does the GRILLED ham & cheese come grilled or cold?
5. Does the clearly antique root beer barrel not attached to anything have root beer in it?
These friends are but a mere sampling of the questions we have compiled. Enjoy!

How It All Started.....

My family owns a Frostop Drive In Restaurant.  My Grandfather built it in 1958 as an investment and my Dad took it over in 1973.  Since then the restaurant has been owned and operated by my family.  In the early 1980's a worker came up with the phrase, "As the Mug Turns" to describe day to day work and stories at our Frostop.  Recently, I started telling some of the old stories on Facebook.  The first post:
Love the question "Do you have root beer?" No, that GIANT rotating neon sign that has root beer on it is merely an illusion. This moment has been brought to you by "As the Mug Turns". Tune in for tomorrow's episode - "Is the grilled chicken salad grilled or fried?"
And with that post, the "As the Mug Turns" blog was born.
Enjoy!!!