A Cup of Tea

I had errands to run Saturday, so was out and about in the afternoon and thought I'd treat myself to lunch. The place I ended up eating at was Chili's Restaurant, near my house.

This is a fine restaurant, but not so good for a person who really doesn't eat much in the way of red meat. I had maybe two or three options available for me, so ended up choosing their grilled salmon. It was quite tasty, and came with a side of steamed veggies and a small bowl of black beans.

What I took exception to was the cup of tea they served me. It was a chilly day out, so a nice hot cup of tea really sounded like the perfect thing when I first sat down. Of course, by the time they actually served the tea, I had warmed up by then. Still, a good cup of tea is always appreciated.

I sure wish I had gotten a good cup of tea. What I ended up with was the old stand-by, Lipton. I mean no offence to the company; it's just that Lipton is NOT my favorite brand, not by any stretch of the imagination. In my opinion, when they make tea they start with the full leaf used for loose-leaf teas, then the broken leaves are used for teabags, and finally the dust swept off the floor is used for Lipton tea.

In their defense, I will say that Lipton Tea from India is quite good. It's just the American Lipton I don't like.

To add insult to injury, the restaurant charged $3.00 for that cup of tea. That's outrageous! I'm not one for using a lot of four-letter words, but let me tell you that several of them came to mind when I got my bill. $3.00 for a cup of tea? Good Lord - you can buy a box of 100 for that price at the store. And Chili's charges that for a single cup?

I was so insulted I actually sent them an email when I got home. Their website has contact information for feedback from their patrons. The email I wrote started with "Shame on you!" and went on from there. They stated it would take 2-3 days to respond to any comments sent; I'm curious how they're going to react to my email.