Too lazy to write

So I've been really wanting to post an entry these past few days. But due to laziness, I've avoided it and have been instead reading other people's journals. I was reading Lok's recap of her year where I stumbled upon a great story. A TRUE story experienced by me, Lok, Jen, and Kristina back in Guelph. It's a long one! Lok wrote it, so it's all from her point of view. This story is entirely true, a horrific yet funny story. Read on if you dare.

Lok (March 2005):

I've had the most screwed up day.. that I can remember. I can't even believe half this stuff actually happened, and was not a fabrication of my imagination.

There were 2 stories I was going to tell you guys, but seeing as they're long, I'm only writing up the one that was just.. god.. horrible.

It's a long read, but trust me, it's.. different. Not your typical, oh the food was cold kinda deal.

Okay, so I agreed to meet Jenn, Ruth and Christina for dinner, since we hadn't seen each other in a while (definitely before reading week) and it was kind of a late celebration for Christina's birthday. I told them about this restaurant that I had gone to before with some other people, that I had really liked. Their service was pretty decent, and the prices were well within our budget range - especially considering how much food they give you. Anyhow, we get there at around 7pm and things seem okay, they seat us in a room and such, and we decided what we wanted to eat and everything.

It became apparant after a while that their service was really slow. Okay fine. Like how slow can it get, we figured. We order the food maybe.. 7:15pm. Christina asked some details about the bento boxes (just in case people don't know, bento boxes have some sushi, a main course (chicken, beef, whatever), salad, tempura and comes with soup, rice and dessert) we all ordered, and the waitress told us that it came with california rolls. Christina said she really didn't like them and if she could substitute them with anything. The waitress asked what she wanted, and Christina said salmon rolls and it works out. Okay, so Christina gets the salmon rolls and we all get california rolls. Whatever works.

So we sat.. and waited. And waited. And waited. We ordered an appetizer before our bento boxes so we were kinda expecting the appetizer to come sometime soon. Christina goes to complain, and they finally get us the appetizer like around 7:50pm. Yes, more than half an hour for an appetizer. Okay fine, we let that slide. Give them a benefit of the doubt you know. Despite the fact that they had a 6 year old doing the cash, but we figured family business, whatever.

We wait some more, and the dinner doesn't look like it's arriving. Jenn goes to complain and the Manager comes by with an explanation.. but right then, Ruth's food arrives. We all notice that it comes with salmon rolls instead of california rolls. I know it's not a big deal, but Jenn doesn't eat raw fish, so she said she was going to ask them to change it, if they brought it - the meal IS supposed to come with california rolls, they said so. So we wait some more, and the rest of the food arrives eventually, after a long time, and Jenn's food comes with salmon rolls so she sends it back asking for california rolls. So the following convo ensues:

Manager: We have a lot of orders, very busy.
Jenn: Okay, but your waitress said that the meal comes with California Rolls, we asked her before. I don't eat salmon, can I have California Rolls instead?
Manager (getting angry): We have a lot of orders, very very busy. Will take a long time.
Jenn (getting pissed off): But your waitress said that it comes with California Rolls, I would like California Rolls.
Manager (getting really angry): We have so many orders, it's very busy. Just very busy.
Ruth: Okay, but she doesn't eat raw fish, and your waitress had said previously...
Manager (screaming): WE ARE VERY BUSY. WE HAVE LOTS OF ORDERS. IF YOU WANT CALIFORNIA ROLLS YOU WILL HAVE TO WAIT. IF YOU DON'T LIKE, YOU CAN LEAVE! *storms off* - everyone in the restaurant stares at us.

Uh okay. You know, a simple 'okay, but we're kind of busy, it might take a while, sorry' would have done quite nicely. What's with the yelling? So anyhow, we figure that we'll just eat quickly (by now we've been there for like an hour and a half) and we'll just leave. You know, forget about it, just go, no sense in arguing. So we eat, even though our rice is missing and the food is so salty you can't really eat it by itself - not to mention it's not even hot at all. Totally different from what I experienced last time at this place, they were honestly really decent. Dunno what happened. Eventually the California Rolls arrive, but Jenn won't eat them 'cause she's not sure if the Manager did anything to them... can't blame her, you just don't know sometimes, you know?

We finish our food quickly and we just wanna get out of there. They bring us the bill, and Jenn asks if she'll get any reimbursement/discount for getting yelled at and bad customer service. Haha. The Manager comes back and says something like "NO DISCOUNT, IF YOU DON'T LIKE, YOU CAN SUE ME, DON'T EVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN".. or something to that degree. Uh okay. So Ruth, Christina and me just wanna pay and get out of here, bad experience, won't come here again kinda deal. Jenn decides to take advantage of the Manager's previous statement of 'IF YOU DON'T LIKE, YOU CAN LEAVE' and refuses to pay, and goes right out the door with Christina. Ruth and I pay up, and the Manager comes storming out to see if Jenn paid. Of course, she finds that Jenn didn't pay. So here's where it gets scary:

Ruth and I go toward the door. The Manager and her husband starts screaming at us about paying. We both go 'we already did'. So then the husband proceeds to blockade the door and says we're not leaving. Ruth tries to leave, and the Manager shoves her back inside, hard.
Ruth: DON'T TOUCH ME.
Jenn (by now, getting dragged back in by the husband): DON'T TOUCH HER. This is Canada, that's harassment.
Manager: PAY THE BILL
Jenn: No, apologize.
*Manager shoves Jenn*
Jenn: STOP THAT. That's harassment.
Manager (makes a slapping motion with her hands): I can do what I want if you don't pay
Husband (starts pointing a finger in Ruth's face): PAY THE BILL! PAY THE BILL!

At this point in time it's just a back and forth screaming thing, but honestly, the Manager and the Husband look like they're gonna hurt Ruth and/or Jenn. So the first thing I can think of is to get between them, because I'm taller than all of them, and bigger, so you know, no one hurts anyone else sorta deal. So I kinda walk in between them and kinda just put my hands in between.
Lok: Okay okay, this is getting out of control, let's all just calm down here.

Before I know it, the Manager and her Husband are shoving me into Ruth and Jenn. Hard shoving. I didn't expect that, and they did it aggressively for a few pushes. It totally caught me off guard and it really ticked me off. Previously I wasn't really mad about the whole thing, but them shoving me was un-needed. So I turned around and said loudly: DON'T TOUCH ME. DO NOT TOUCH ME. DO YOU HEAR ME? GET OFF ME.
Manager + Husband: WE'LL CALL THE POLICE! CALL THE POLICE! NOT PAYING!
Lok + Ruth + Jenn: FINE, CALL THEM! GET THEM ALL HERE! We're not the ones being violent!

After that they didn't seem that violent, and Jenn and the Manager were still going at it about the bill. Jenn demanded an apology, the Manager refused, then accused us of stealing the bill so that they wouldn't remembered what Jenn ordered (we had seperate bills by the way). Yeah. Because we like to steal bills. Please. The waitress says that she called the police and they were coming, so we said we would wait for them. We didn't touch the Manager or her Husband, what were we afraid of. Jenn pays after arguing with the Manager some more, and we wait in Ruth's car for the police. The police (4 cars!) got there after like 2 minutes, and we talk with them about what happened, word for word as I've told you guys.

The outcome? The Manager and her Husband said they only did all that stuff because NONE of us paid, which was bullshit. The woman cop that was talking to us said that the Manager was allowed to make a citizen's arrest, even tho she 'had' said whatever she said before. We could sue them, but it would take a year or so. The best bet was just to avoid the place, and to tell everyone else we knew to avoid the place. The cop said she wouldn't go there either, after what happened. Haha.

I know the whole situation sounded like the ultimate cheesey script you see on TV, but it actually happened. I know, it seems like I'm fabricating it, but I'm actually not. It's actually really sad that it even happened in the first place, I totally didn't even expect it to get to the stage it did. I mean, at the beginning, I found the whole argument between Jenn and the Manager amusing, 'cause I mean, it's sushi, right? But when they started pushing and shoving and we didn't retaliate, it got to another level. And that just really made me mad. And afer the whole thing I had a group meeting, so the adrenaline was still going and I didn't even think about how serious the whole situation actually was.

When I was going home tho, I realized how violent the situation actually could have gotten. Like how dangerous it actually could have been - it is their restaurant you know, I'm sure they know where the knives are stored. And I dunno what I was thinking, stepping in between them. When I actually did it, I was just thinking - these are my close friends, if you try and hurt them I'll kick your god-damn ass. But geez, they could have really hurt me, especially since I had my back to them. They could've hit me over the head or something. Aiyes.

And to make it more disturbing, the Manager and such are god-damn chinese people. I have never felt more embarassed to be chinese till today. F-ing geez. What does this say about chinese people? Not to mention this is Guelph. GUELPH! What happened to Guelph being a decent place? Don't all the restaurant horror stories come from Toronto?

In case any of you were wondering, Christina was outside during the ordeal because she wanted to make sure she could call 911 if they hit us or locked us in or anything. So we had a lifeline. Heh heh. We're all joking that we'll definitely tell this story to our kids tho, it's memorable. I still can't believe it happened, to be honest. But we're going to call the better business bureau and everything to report those people. Shoving and pushing took it to a completely different level.

Beware of "Fu Sushi" if you ever happen to wander past this seemingly harmless restaurant! Although I can laugh about it now, it was definitely one of the scariest experiences I've ever had.