They don't seem to want our business..

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After every high school drama production, the entire cast and crew go out for a celebratory meal at the nearby Applebee's. This has been a tradition dating back for many years. My children have been a part of the high school drama productions for 3 years now in one capacity or another, either by being in the show or being tech crew for the show, so we have been to many of these Applebee's functions. The past few times I have gone along, but sat separately from the kids, and just wait until they're ready to leave... The past couple of years though, it's been chaos. Back in March the high school musical was "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying". They had a cast of well over 100... and on Saturday night after the show each and every one of those cast members, along with the 20 or so stage crew, and a group of parents all headed over to Applebee's.. and what did we find? Even with advanced notice that so many would be showing up between 10 and 11 pm, they had sent all their staff home and kept only 1 server on. One of the times we went, a large group of kids got tired of waiting and left on their own to go to a different restaurant down the road.. which is a shame because the idea of this function is for the entire cast to celebrate together. It was the same last night after wrapping up the fall play... we found only 1 server working when 50 or so kids arrived to eat. We got there around 11... by 1am some kids were still waiting for their food! Also, as it was my son's birthday, I asked them to bring him a dessert and sing to him.. the server got really snippy with me and said they can't when there's only 1 person on.. That was a huge disappointment as I"d been looking forward to that happening at the cast party all week! The director of the show came over to say hi to me, and discussed with me how yet again Applebee's messed up. They'd been given notice that the kids would arrive, and yet again they didn't have the staff to serve us. I said, rather jokingly "We should go to Tully's instead" Tully's is a small chain restaurant nearby.. they have amazing chicken tenders, though I believe they're only in NY state in a couple places... Anyway, the show director and tech director (who are married to each other) discussed it and decided they'd try my idea next time... Hopefully there we'll get better service!