SHIRLEY TEMPLES

This is an awful complaint. If a place serves cherries only in
alcoholic drinks,that's kind of how it is. Isn't a valid complaint
something like every other person got cherries but you? You could
always ask for a few.

I can understand the frustration at the no cherry issue. I rarely let
my kids drink soda, when I know we are going someplace and they are
going to be expected to behave and sit still maybe a little bit longer
than a faster service restaraunt, I will break out the bribery and use
Shirley Temples with gasp, extra cherries. I will go so far as to ask
for extra cherries. I don't care if their is alcohool in the drink or
not. They buy maraschino cherries in bulk, if they're running low
they are running low for ALL the drinks. I think the writers problem
is that she didn't get up and go to the bar and ask for a small side
dish of cherries, which is what I would have done!

NO CHERRIES? HOW WILL THEY EVER GO ON?!

This mother of 5 says leave your kis @ home.. you seem to whine enough
for the whole family!! You are lucky to get 6 sodas let alone Shirly
Temples W/O cherries for $13!

THE STAFF READING THIS MAY BE MORE RECEPTIVE TO IT IF YOU'RE NOT USING
ALL CAPS.

This is a very legitimate complaint. If you'd have wanted 7-Up, you'd
have ordered 7-Up. A Shirley Temple or a Kiddie Cocktail or a Roy
Rogers properly consists of a 7-Up clone, grenadine or cherry juice,
and a cherry. A really good place will include an orange slice.

I agree that the caps are really hard to read. I'm glad your letter
was not longer; I'd probably have skipped it. But I'm not seeing
which restaurant or chain, or which specific location, you dined at.
This would help your case.

For those who claim this isn't a big deal: Would you complain if your
martini contained no olive? No onion in your Gibson? No veggies at
all in your Bloody Mary? Lime and Corona?
No pineapple and cherry in your Pina Colada?

Many drinks include the garnish in the recipe/definition. This should
apply to both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. I'd be might miffed
if my Virgin Mary contained only tomato juice, and no celery or pickle
or olive, or any combination of the three.
Same with the virgin Colada, or Coke instead of rum and Coke.

Did the Shirley Temple cost more than a plain soft drink? This would
definitely be something to bring up with management. If I hadn't
gotten my fruit with my alcoholic drink, I'd complain. The bar should
have served cherries, or limes, or olives, until they were out,
without regard to the alcohol content of the drink. I'm guessing
they'd have sent an employee to Walgreen's or Wal-Mart or a 24-hour
grocery to get olives for someone's martini or cherries for a
Manhattan or lime for a Corona. (I think--I vaguely recall my
parents' drinking brandy Manhattan sweets with cherries, but I
couldn't tell you what a "Manhattan" is, other than it had brandy and
a mixer and cherries.
Not that I really care. I'm a wine or Captain's girl.)

They should have served cherries until they were out.

Please rewrite your letter listing restaurant and location, and using
both caps and lower case.

I'm not a fan of kids, so generally I find the "the kids really like
it" reasoning a little annoying. But I have to agree w/ this, a
Shirley Temple is just overly sweetened 7-up.

When I saw this letter in the Top 25 and in all caps I was afraid it
was going to be some party pooper saying that kiddie cocktail
encourage kids to drink. I'm really happy it's not! My family was on
vacation on my 14th b-day and I whined enough to get my dad to agree
taht we could have dinner at planet hollywood. It was insanly crowded
of course and my mom waited outside w/ my little brother while my dad
and I waited in the bar area. My dad bought me a Shirley Temple and
we stood at the bar and I remember thinking that I must have looked SO
grown-up. Hee! Fake alcohol = family bonding.

I TRIED TO READ YOUR LETTER. HOWEVER, IT WAS IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.
I DON'T LIKE TO BE SHOUTED AT SO I AM GOING NOW. BYE!!!!!!

the only problem with your letter is the caps. makes it hard to read.


i do agree about the cherries. what a way to be cheapskates. if
cherries are such an issue, why not charge a few cents for some extra
cherries?

Shirley Temples are free with the kid's meal at the place where I
work, and the same price as a soda (which is $2.19) for adults. They
come with free refills. Sometimes we do run out of cherries, because
we get a lot of greedy customers that ask for a cup of cherries on the
side. I appreciate the fact that you are only looking for one cherry
in each of your kids' drinks.
Come to TGI Friday's and I'll hook you up!

BOO-FRICKIN-HOO

I really have to agree with you. However the use of caps (shouting)
may not help it get the attention it deserves. I understand being
upset and even angry, this policy is not correct. That expense for a
childs drink that traditionally is garnished in that manner to make
the child feel "included" while adults are having their adult
beverages is a bit high, about the ONLY thing that makes it worth it
IS the marschino cherry.
Good Luck and Please let us know of any response. I do hope they have
the decency to at least respond.

$2.19 is a lot for a little 7-up with a splash of grenadine. It's not
a Shirley without the cherry.

I think that this would have been a stronger letter if you'd left out
the bit where the kids' drinks cost $13.14. They cost $13.14 because
there were 6 kids, not because they were ridiculously overpriced. In
addition, you'd already pointed out that the drinks cost $2.19 each,
and that's really the price that matters: otherwise you would deserve
cherries more than a customer with 3 children but not as much as a
customer with 9. I think we can both agree that the restaurant
shouldn't have a policy like "If you have 7 [or 5, or 10] or more
children in your party we will put cherries in the Shirley Temples."

If you'd done that and used lower-case letters where appropriate, I
would be complimenting you on the this letter without reservation -- I
really especially like that the waiter who told you you couldn't have
something that you wanted didn't get described as "rude" for that
alone, and that you are capable of seeing the cherry issue in context.
A surprising number of people turn out not to be able to do that, and
I think it's so sad that they miss out on all the good parts of events
when one thing doesn't go their way.

Caps aside, I agree with you. The cherry is what makes it a Shirley
Temple, and at that price, the drink should be made correctly. And I
understand the kids' disappointment too. I would have felt the same
way.

WHY DO PEOPLE WRITE IN CAP LOCKS ABOUT STUFF LIKE THIS?! COME
ON!!!!1!!!

Quite frankly, you wouldn't think a cherry would be much to ask for,
but perhaps they were running low on them that night and could only
spare enough for the more expensive alcoholic drinks.

This letter reminds me of me and my cousins fighting over who got the
sole cherry in the can of fruit salad...

this letter is over a stickin' cherry..... wow

I enjoy the cherry, especially in virgin products.

The cost for children is really inconsequential as long as they seem
to enjoy it.

While I agree that you should have gotten cherries in the Shirley
Temples, I do agree with the others that they may have been running
low. I've never had a restaurant refuse to put cherries in my
stepdaughter's Sprite.

However, it's not worth getting upset over and writing a letter to
corporate especially one in call caps which is considered shouting.

A Shirley Temple without a cherry? That's part of the definition! A
ST without a cherry is like Mother's Day without Mom.

Your email comes across as if you are yelling at the person receiving
it. You need to rewrite it using both upper and lower case letters.
I agree that at over $2 each for a kids drink you should receive the
cherries too. That was the best part of a Shirley Temple when I was a
kid! However, is it really worth getting this upset over? They may
have been low on cherries and were only putting them on the (more
expensive) alcoholic beverages at that time. It may be that the
cherries help the wait staff to distinguish between alcoholic and
non-alcoholic drinks. It may just be their policy. But really, in
the grand scheme of things, it's kind of a petty thing to be
complaining about. (I have two kids myself and do know that this most
likely didn't make the kids happy. Unfortunately there are times
where things are out of our control.)