June 20, 2000

Garcia's Restaurant
2501 West Memorial
Oklahoma City, OK 73134

Marcy:

First let me apologize for calling you by your first name only.
The girl who answered the phone at Garcia's was unable to recall your last
name.

I am writing to inform you that last Saturday, while at Garcia's, I
encountered the worst dining experience of my entire life.  A group of my
very close friends and I who get together about once a year decided to come
to Garcia's.  Our name was placed on the list at 6:40 p.m. And we were told
it would be about an hour wait.  Since we had party of eight, we understood
that it might take awhile to get a table.  After about 45 minutes we looked
at the list and noticed that our named had been passed because there were
still no large tables available.  However, at least 7 or 8 parties of four
were seated before us, that had put their names on the list after us.  I
would have thought that some of these available tables for 4 were close
enough together that they could have been pushed together to accommodate a
party of eight.  Maybe I'm wrong on this issue.  Eventually, the manager
found out how long we had been waiting and tried assiduously to get us in
as soon as possible.  There's more though.

After waiting an hour and a half, we were finally seated at 8:15.
We made it very clear to the hostess that we were in a hurry and had to be
somewhere by 9:00.  After being seated though, we watched as a number of
waiters argued over who was going to have to take the table.  Our table was
eventually pushed off onto a waitress that was obviously new, and was
training.  We waited at least 5 minutes for the waitress to come to the
table.  We told her immediately that we were in a hurry and we ordered our
drinks and food right then.  Fifteen minutes later we got our drinks.  I
need not tell you how ludicrous it is that we had chips and hot salsa, yet
nothing to drink for at total of 20 minutes.

In the meantime, busboys came to ask us if we needed more chips to
which replied in the affirmative.  The boy brought one basket of chips to
our table, tossed them down and walked off paying no attention to the fact
that we were completely out of salsa and the other end of the table had no
chips.

At approximately 8:45 we got our food which considering the
circumstances, was pretty prompt.  However, 2 of the people in our party
did not receive their order.  The waitress told those two that their orders
were on their way out.  Ten minutes later, they got their food.  By this
time it was 8:55 and we knew we'd be late for our other plans.  We asked
for our checks and we got them about 10 minutes later which was fine
because we asked the waitress to separate the checks for each couple.
Shortly after we all handed our credit cards to the waitress, she brought
one of them back and said it had been declined.  She was then given
different card by that same person.  Come to find out, the credit card
machine had run out of paper and didn't print out a receipt for the first
card she was given.  She took that to mean that it had been declined.
However, she charged the new card again for the same amount AND for some
reason, she put another couple's check on that credit card.  So, one person
got charged twice for his own meal and once for someone else's meal.

By 9:20 we had gotten everything worked out and walked out the
door.  Obviously, we were late to our next engagment.

I write this letter not to request an apology, or compensation.  I
write it to inform you of what is going on in your restaurant.  I have
never in my life been so offended by the lackadaisical attitude of
restaurant employees.  Our waitress did the best she could despite the
situation in which she was placed.  I cannot say the same for the other
members of the waitstaff who refused to wait on us, or the busboys who
didn't seem to care when we ran out of chips or salsa.  Both my wife and I
work for Ackerman McQueen, an advertising agency in Oklahoma City.  We both
understand that the best kind of advertising is word-of-mouth advertising.
So far, we have spoken so negatively about your restaurant that I can
almost guarantee that anyone that has heard us will ever step foot inside
your restaurant.  I usually find it hard to pass judgement on a place based
purely on one visit but I cannot imagine myself spending money to eat there
again.  As the old saying goes, "If a someone wrongs you once, shame on
him.  If a someone wrongs you twice, shame on you."

Sincerely,

Zachary Logsdon


cc: Vince Orza