I Wanna Fight My Applebee's Waitress

I tried being kind this weekend and it bit me in the butt. Not only did I lose money, but I wanna fight my Applebee’s waitress too now.

Here’s the story…

While at Applebee’s with my friends this Sunday, I felt like being a nice guy once the check came around. So I said, “I’ll put it on my card. Venmo me later. It’s alright.” And like that, I whipped out my credit card and threw it on the check without looking at the price.

Hit them with a no-look pass as if it were my high school basketball days.

There were only four of us, and all of our meals were around $15-$18. So, I knew the check would be right. How hard can it be to add up a few items? Plus, restaurants never overcharge me. So why would I expect it to happen this time?

That was my mistake.

I assumed the data on the check was squeaky-clean, like a baby’s booty.

Later that night, I put on my PJs, slipped on some warm socks, and slid into bed (a little too excited for work the next day). As I lay in the darkness, trying to silence my thoughts, I thought about Applebee’s.

When my friends asked me how much they owed, I told them, “$14 for you! $19 for you! $25 for you! And… Hold up. How the hell am I paying $30?”

Nothing made sense.

I ordered the appetizer boneless wings and soft pretzels. AND… They were having a football Sunday deal, making the apps cost $7 a pop. Combine that with tax, tip, and some luxurious tap water, my total shouldn’t have exceeded $18. Yet somehow, I was paying an extra $12.

No longer able to sleep, I slipped out of bed and looked at the receipt from a few hours earlier.

And what I saw made me want to fight my waitress soooo badly…

There was an extra order of wings charged to me.

Gasp! The HORROR. I know.

Whether or not she charged me extra on purpose is something I’ll never know. But the showman and writer in me will believe this was intentional. It makes the story more dramatic. More interesting. And that makes this more memorable. (how’s that for a bonus storytelling tip).

Anyway, let’s roll with it…

Seeing that extra $12 pissed me off.

I was being a nice guy, so I couldn’t go to my friends and demand they pay me extra. At the end of the day (no matter how much the waitress succeeded at screwing me over), I bear all the responsibility.

Remember what I said…

“I whipped out my credit card and threw it on the check without looking at the price. Hit them with a no-look pass as if it were my high school basketball days.”

It’s my fault.

I didn’t look at the numbers on the check to ensure they were correct before paying.

This brings me to the reason for writing this post (aside from wanting to rage at Applebee’s)...

When you’re working with data, you have to be meticulous.

There will be times when your queries and calculations seem to work. They appear fine, so you’ll feel tempted to say, “Good enough for me. I’ll send this bad boy in.”

Don’t do that.

Take the extra effort to ensure the data you analyzed is correct. You can never assume data is fine as an analyst or engineer. Your job is to question the quality of the data and perform tests that prove everything’s fine.

The last thing you want to do is give your stakeholders dirty, misleading data.

That’s one way to make them not trust you.
That’s one way to make them want to fight you.

So do yourself a favor…

Look at the data on the check before throwing down your credit card.

If you don’t, you’ll wanna fight your Applebee’s waitress like me.