I ate out back behind the Outback Steakhouse, AT WENDYS

Seriously, people, DO NOT JUST SIT THERE AND BROOD!

There was obviously a mistake, Stephanie. It was not the great Outback
Steakhouse conspiracy to leave you sitting there. Someone didn't
realize your table was in their section. It was most likely an honest
mistake which would have been remedied after say, five minutes, if you
had just approached the polite hostess and explained the situation.

Good grief.

Oh and PS. the corporate offices of Outback do not need your Monday
morning quarterbacking on how to train their staff. They have training
manuals just like every other restaurant and even with the best of
training, mistakes still happen.

Stop being a victim and get off your duff and do something about it.
While still in the restaurant.

And PPS. The comment about the tipping just received a big fat
eye-roll to the computer screen from the customer service rep who
received your email.

Is it possible that they were just opening and maybe just got busy and
forgot about you? Still, you should have said something.

Did you ever ask for a manager???

So why didn't you speak up when you made eye contact several times?
Whould it have been that difficult?

is at WalMart. That is ridiculous!

I just think there was a mix-up in communication. Sometimes eye
contact (which I noticed a lot going on) isn't enough and us consumers
have to speak up.

Perhaps the passing waitstaff thought you and your party were being
waited on by someone else, since there was only eye contact and no
signal on your part that no one took your order. And with the hostess
directly behind you, it would have been easy to keep an eye on your
children while telling her you needed service.
It's a long time to wait and especially after the table next to you
was getting service-- I don't blame you for being upset.

The only thing I don't understand is how you surmised you probably tip
better than anyone in there. What criteria brought you to that
conclusion? Just a hunch, how they were dressed?? Just curious.

Your suggestions to the store are not unreasonable and I hope you get
a response.

i'm confused...does this outback open for lunch. i am assuming this
happened on a sunday. it is the only day i can see outback opening a
bit earlier because we usually open later. we prepare everything fresh
for the day during the morining hours. 25 minutes is waaaaay too long
for someone to wait. you could have easily called a server over and
told them you hadn't been served. i find it hard to beleive that you
were there for 25 minutes. sometimes there are mix ups with who gets
to pick up a table, but by 25 minutes someone would have acknowledged
you. the fact that someone was seated next to you doesn't mean that
that was your same server. sure i agree a mistake was made, but it
wouldn't have cost you anything to let them know that you had been
there for a while. restaurants are not perfect, people make mistakes.

25 minutes is quite awhile to wait sitting there with hungy kiddos and
getting more and more upset without being acknowleged, and NOT saying
anything. You should have spoken up sooner. WAY sooner....
I am a server and bartender at a neihborhood bar/grill in MN. We are
very team oriented....as in...if I'm working in a certain section or
even behind the bar, and I see a table sitting there for a couple of
minutes without being greeted, I will either tell the server she/he
has a new table...or if she/he's too busy at the moment, I will give
the new table menus and get their drink order. We all work at the same
place, and we WANT repeat business. I hate places where the servers
are very territorial of their sections and do not want to venture out
and help other servers in other sections. In the long run, if we help
each other out, it comes back to us. (And the entire place runs much
more smoothly...) ...(Other servers that come on here...am I right?)

Just for example... tonight....I punched out at 11:30, and the closing
bartender ended up having to manage at the last minute. She was busy
doing manager "sh-tuff".., and she asked if I would watch her bar
after I punched out. I thought it would be about 5 minutes and it
ended up being longer..(about 20 minutes or so...)I took off my jacket
and jumped behind the bar and worked off the clock. Did I have to?
No.
Was I getting paid? No.

Am I crazy?

Yeah...a little.

I didn't think she would take that long to count my till and do other
manager-type stuff...but I still worked. (Drank a cocktail while I
worked, yeah...but still worked. And kicked out the drinks and kept
everyone happy.)

Now I'm blabbing....

My point was...yes it sucked that servers noticed you, but you weren't
being helped. It also sucks that you didn't do anything about it
yourself.
Yes, you were there to spend money, and enoy....but speak up! Tell
someone you are unhappy. Don't leave a place of business unhappy with
the service, and not tell anyone why and then vent about it on the web
later. Deal with the situation while you are there. The hostess could
have vouched for you about what time you were seated. Talk to
management right away.

Am I wrong?

If your religion, no matter which one that is, is so important to you
that you let your kids go hungry, then you shouldn't COMPLAIN about
your kids going hungry.

Your letter was treat until you wrote. I'm so offended. I probably tip
better than anyone in there.

You see the wait staff had no way of knowing your background story:
you skipped breakfast, were starving, looking forward to ordering lots
of food, you are a big tipper etc. so they did not rush to serve you
for those reasons.

The fact that you were waiting for a long time indicates that there
was probably a mix-up in which wait-person had your table. Eye rolling
doesn't really mean anything. The people who caught your eyeball
gyrations probably thought you were doing eye exercises or something
like that.

What you should have done after waiting 10 or 15 minutes was to find
the hostess and tell her you have been waiting a long time and could
she please find out what was going on. I'll bet that would have
worked.

Where do you live? Neither Outback or Wendy's serves breakfast in my
area (nor any area I have ever lived in).

I don't understand why you felt the need to tell them you "probably
tip better than anyone in there." You don't know that there aren't
other generous tippers, and that, combined with you talk of
"overindulging" just smacks of waving cash around in the hope that it
will impress someone.

I never experienced anything like that at Outback and I have been to
different ones throughout the country. Were your daughters sitting
quietly and being respectful? Sounds like you or your family might
have done something to cause you not to get good service.

I agree with the others. I can't imagine sitting there like a lump for
half an hour without saying something.
And there's something kinda smarmy about mentioning that you were
going to 'overindulge'. It's tantamount to waving a handful of cash in
front of someone's eyes and saying, "Look at what you coulda had!
Oooo!"
It just struck me as tacky is all.

After waiting for a time, say 10 minutes, did you go to the hostess
and ask to see the manager? I'm assuming it was close to opening and
there might have been some confusion over table assignments. I would
have simply asked the manager to send someone over.