Tag Archive

Tonight we had an adorable 5-year old come in with her parents and her younger brother and sister. I dropped off an appetizer for the table and that’s when she introduced herself as Avery, and that T-BONES is her favorite place to go eat. She really likes when we have the donation wheel and told me she won the top prize last time it was here. She was awesome, so I gave her a $30 certificate so she could come back. Mom and Dad were thrilled, and are absolutely looking forward to paying it forward.

Had a couple of ladies come in for lunch and redeem some old school gift certificates circa 1988, still in mint condition! For those that don’t know, there was a machine that we had to slide levers up and down to create the amount of the certificate. Then you had to pull a handle to put the imprint on the paper: For. Every. Single. One. Very labor intensive as you may imagine! Managers even had to put their signature on each one, except they could use a stamp. Beth’s were on these. We had a hard time believing there were still some of these in existence. As a token of appreciation, I gave the ladies one of our “newer” certificates to use in the near future.

We had a couple of staff members call in dealing with the death of one grandmother and the impending death of another, both very sad events especially getting so close to Christmas. This got me nostalgic, thinking of my grandmother and the impending holidays. Then I noticed a single elderly lady dining with us that reminded me a lot of my grandmother. When she finished her meal, I asked if I could sit down with her for a moment. I told her about our staff members and their situations, along with mine. I also told her that I was going to take care of her meal today and give her a certificate to come back on another day. She was very touched, grabbed my hand, and said thank you. Then I gave her the pay it forward certificate and asked her to pass it along. She said she lived in a senior home and would find someone to give it to and make their day. I hope to see her soon.

On Veteran’s Day, a Scout came in to pick up some take out fully dressed in his uniform. I started chatting with him, to find out that he had spent the day with his troop at the VA hospital volunteering, was going to camp out overnight, and then participate in the annual Scouting for Food event held in town. Overall, this young man was spending his weekend serving others.  I hooked him up with his take out dinner and wished him well on his journey towards Eagle.

I met a young gentleman who wanted to come here after spending a long day shopping with Auntie and Mama. They were driving by and Hector said he wanted to eat at T-Bones. Mama and Auntie were a bit frazzled after shopping, so they pulled right in. Hector was very happy to show off his new boots to all around and was an instant favorite with the staff. I gave him a certificate to come back the next time he went shopping so he could show us what he got. There was a big smile on his face after that.

Greeted a party of 3 for lunch today and the first words spoken were: “Do you have butternut squash yet?!?” I replied that we did indeed have butternut squash available. Our guests then told me they drove a half an hour to come for lunch and were very happy to hear that. I took a look at their lunch when it was delivered and sure enough, every plate had squash, and in addition had both a large and small side order to boot. These folks love our squash. So to enhance the event, I hooked them up with a certificate to come back and asked them to share the good word with a PIF certificate. That earned a hug.

Party of 6 joined us for lunch yesterday and when they finished, one man stopped by the host desk to inquire about seeing our t-shirt offerings. When I went to clarify, he said he really liked the design of ours and wanted one for his own. I managed to snag the last XL shirt we had for him and went back to the host desk, he was gone. I found him outside taking pictures with his family. I said now he had to take one with his new shirt, but he said, no, I first have to pay for it. That’s when I told him nope, it was a gift from T-Bones. He wasn’t sure about that at first, but I reassured him that it was indeed with our compliments. I found out his name is Mark and he travels from California to visit family once a year, and when he visits, he always wants to come here. Which isn’t an issue for his family, who are regulars. He was impressed with the gesture and thanked me profusely.

The other day we had a young gentleman by the name of Callen who was very proud to tell me that while at the restaurant, he went to the bathroom all by himself. This was a very proud moment. So I hooked him up with a certificate to take his mom and little sister out to lunch again. He was very excited judging from the happy expression on his face.

Tonight the a family joined us for dinner, a family with 4 little boys. After a hot day like today, you could tell by the facial expressions and body language that Mom & Dad had had a very long day dealing with the boys, one of which is an infant. So I gave them a certificate and an invitation: Perhaps sometime in the near future they could secure a baby sitter and use the certificate to come out and enjoy a date night. They sure looked like they could use one! They were thrilled with the idea, thanked me very much, and said they could pass along the PIF certificate with pleasure.

This past Tuesday, we had 3 gentlemen join us dressed in fatigues. They were from the local recruiting station and came in for lunch. We went one step further on the military discount and hooked them up with lunch. They were pretty happy about that, and said they would definitely hook somebody up with the $25 certificate.   Submitted on behalf of Sarah Drew