Much better, thank you!

Back in November, I shared with you about my experience at Finnelys' Irish Pub. I was less than thrilled with the place. I'm picky, we all know that. I'm also very frugal, especially as we save for our adoption, and expect to get my money's worth. Last night Ryan wanted to go out to dinner before a movie. I thought the $10 at the theater was enough of a treat and didn't want to spend the extra money to eat out. We would have gone out to try Finnelys' except when Ryan brought home meat from the locker, there wasn't enough room in the freezer so the pizzas had to come out.

Today I had lunch planned with my sweet no-longer-Texas friend, Jen. I'm so glad she's back in town. We agreed to have lunch at Finnelys'. I wasn't super excited about going there but know that everybody needs a second chance, and sometimes if you're like I was as a kid, you need a third and fourth chance.

Anyway, I was a little more impressed with Finnelys' today. Of course, I was paying specific attention to the details so that I could give a follow-up report today. I was tempted to introduce myself but wasn't sure if the guy at the counter was Tim, who'd commented on my last blog post. I ordered something different today because to be honest, I couldn't remember what I ordered last time. It ended up being another plain sandwich which was not their fault. They dress up this specific sandwich with coleslaw. I asked them to leave it off. My bread was toasted this time. The meat was flavorful and the cheese existed (I could tell when I pulled my sandwich apart) but I couldn't really taste it. With no slaw or anything to moisten the toasted bread, I dipped it in my ranch/BBQ mixture and was fine. The waitress was more attentive than last time which was nice but Jen still had to ask twice to have her drink re-filled. We enjoyed a nice lunch together although our feet froze in there and we both had our coats over our legs which helped.

As we stood at the counter to pay, I handed Tim my debit card. He swiped and then said "you're Tamara". I replied with "yes, you found my blog". He asked how my experience was and I said it was 100 times better. I might have embellished that number a bit but the service had definitely improved and I was thankful. As I jotted down a tip and signed my name to the receipt, I thought about my second experience of eating there.

Once again I wasn't satisfied. Ten bucks for a meal (including tip) and I better really enjoy it (and the service). That's no knock against Tim or his restaraunt. I just prefer home-cooked meals that cater to my likes (no coleslaw for me thank you), cost less money and allow me to be a better steward of the finances God has blessed us with. A few things I really appreciate about Tim and his restaraunt:

1. He cares enough about it to find out what people are saying/writing about it.
2. He keeps a place running in our small town rural america which is no easy task.
3. And the thing I like best was his honesty and good nature today.

Today when we walked out, somehow my wallet snuck out of my purse and onto the sidewalk. From the story I've gathered, Tim opened the wallet to see who it belonged to. Knowing my friend I ate with, he looked up her number to try to find me. Since Jen just moved back from Texas, he then called Sara, a friend of Jen's. Sara relayed the message to Jen and Jen relayed it to me - gotta love small town america. There was no urgency in picking up my wallet and no doubt in my mind that all the junk receipts and pesos (I don't carry cash) would be in there. I walked right in and our server handed me my wallet, complete with all my junk.

Tim, if you stumble on this post, please know that I appreciate you and your staff for getting that back to me! And also know that I probably won't be back any time soon but that's no fault of your own but rather my decision to put that $10 bucks towards bringing home our sweet little boy from Ethiopia and eat cereal or leftovers at my office.