An early lesson in Patience

Tonight was an early lesson in Patience. My sister came over today, and we decided to go for a drive to West Edmonton Mall (I needed to do a quick exchange on some pants). Well, the whole family ended up tagging along and we decided to go out for dinner afterwards. Christina suggested the Olive Garden - they are having their 'never ending pasta bowls' right now. So, I thought it would be really nice to invite my other sister Lesia and of course my mama! My mom and sister don't eat as early as we do, (we eat around 5pm, they eat closer to 6 or 7pm), so we thought a 6pm meet up would be fine. We finished at West Ed a little eary and headed off to the Olive Garden to reserve a spot. They don't take reservations and some times the wait is very long at dinner time. Once we arrive the wait was 30 to 40 minutes. That was ok. I called Lesia, and she told us they would be a little late too. No problem. So by 630 we finally had our table. We placed our orders, had our drinks and waited. The bread sticks, salad and Callym's food came. Oscar only wanted bread sticks! Then we waited. We had more salad and B sticks. Then they brought us more. And we waited. It was now a waiting game. My mom and I ended up taking the boys outside for a few minutes (a good time to have a smoke and let them run off some steam). We came back in and we waited. It was 730. An hour since we ordered, and an hour and 45 minutes since we arrived at the restaurant. After another 20 minutes, the manager came by and said that there was a slight mix-up and the food should be along shortly, He had changed our bill to only show the drinks and Callym's food. He also mentioned that any and all desserts would be on the house. Nice. But.... We still waited. (At this point I would like to mention that this is a LONG time for children to be well-behaved at a restaurant. My kids, did quite well!) By around 815, our food came. It was good, and hot. I wasn't hungry anymore, I had had 4 bowls of Salad and 3 bread sticks. (Also 2 bloody ceasers). Anyways, to no-ones surprise, Chris finished all of his dinner, well we all took our's home for tomorrow's lunch. (BTW Chris also got a dessert to go - Very smart man my Hubby). So, the lesson here? Patience, Patience, Patience. In Latin America we will be lucky to even find a restaurant that will serve us dinner before 6pm. Tapa's the local snack, which is served almost everywhere, will have to tie us over from our siesta's to dinner. An adjustment I think will go over fine. The other lesson, Maybe don't go to The Olive Garden at dinner time, and in a city that is in desperate need of staff that actually give a damn about their jobs! LOL