NYC (Winter 2011): Day 5, Ruby's Diner (Newark)

So, Shawn and I were scheduled to leave on a flight leaving Newark to Toronto at 8:20pm, so you know, we got to the airport nice and early around 6:15pm, got our boarding passes, checked-in our luggage, and lined-up to get through security. We finally arrived at our gate around 7:30, thinking we made pretty good time. Then I looked up at the sign above the gate and saw that the plane leaving from it was heading to Boston. So, confused, I decided to look at the departure boards. Lo and behold, every Continental Airlines flight to Toronto was delayed by three hours. Fuck. My. Life. After about an hour of playing Angry Birds, we decided we were hungry and headed to one of three available eateries called Ruby's Diner. So I ordered the chili in a bread bowl, 'cause the only thing that makes chili more awesome is to eat it in a bread bowl (and then, you know, eat the bowl). The food itself was pretty decent; nothing crazy insanely awesome, but it was definitely tasty and satisfying, and I liked that there were huge chunks of beef brisket in it rather than just ground beef.

But our waiter? Was a total douche bag. When he came around to take our drink orders, I said I just wanted water and he said, in a heavy Indian accent, "No soda or juice or milkshake?" And I said no, just water. And I swear he gave me stink eye. After he took our main food orders ("You didn't look at the appetizers or salads?"), he kept coming to our table, asking if we wanted to add anything to our orders. Every time we said no, he gave us more stink eye. He stood by our table for a good minute, watching us finish our meals, and then passed us dessert menus. When we said we didn't want any dessert, he quickly snatched up the menus and slapped our bill on the table. Someone in America needs to tell him if he wants to get a good tip, he needs to give good service, not try to get customers to keep adding items to their bills just to jack up his tips. What he doesn't realize is that yes, it's customary to tip 15% in America, but customers can just as easily give nothing. As if we weren't already annoyed enough with the flight delay.