Most everyone knows I love comps, but recently I had a real problem with one that made me wish the comp wasn’t “so good.” It happened at the Steak ’n Shake located at the South Point Casino. If you are from the Midwest, you may know that this restaurant chain has many fans – and many of us transplanted Midwesterners were happy when they came to Vegas.
Recently Brad had a coupon for $150 food at any South Point restaurant so we invited four friends to join us at S&S. Of course we could have made a more gourmet choice but we were hungry for the good hamburgers and milkshakes S&S is famous for. I “ordered” everyone to order the most expensive things on the menu, to not hold back. When I have a comp, my frugal mind wants to maximize its value. So we had big sandwiches, lots of sides and, of course, those yummy milkshakes.
When the bill came, the total was only just over $50. How could that be so small? We questioned the waitress and found out that we had stumbled into a Happy Hour promotion: 1/2 price, day and night, on all shakes and most drinks, weekdays 2-4 p.m. and 2-4 a.m.
What could we do? One of our guests suggested we ask the server if she could just charge us the regular price for all our drinks. She laughed all the way back to the cashier. I asked if we could buy gift cards with the left-over coupon money. From past coupon experiences in many other similar situations, I didn’t expect this to be possible – and the cashier, after checking with her supervisor, said she was sorry but this couldn’t be done. So we and our friends now have enough S&S seasonings and cans of chili (with beans) to last us for much too long a time. But we didn’t waste any of that comp money!
Loved the story, and some of the comments. I, too, sometimes have a large comp to use and am by myself. I’ll pick out some couple who look like they could use a nice bottle of wine and (ask them before ordering!) send them the bottle. Did that last trip when I had a $200 comp at the Trop’s Italian restaurant, and the couple were sooo thankful.
A friend of mine had a $100 comp spent $30 so ordered $70 worth of bottled water.They didn’t have bags (just food boxes) so he juggled his way back to the car with the water.
I was in a similar situation once–I had a flat $200 comp at the Palms, and no one available to share it with at the time–and it was only good for the three days I was staying there. So I went to 9ine steak house and thought I’d order some wine and have the best steak they had–I figured I could at least approach that $200. Turns out I just wanted a beer and the tab came to “only” $70. What to do? Well, I overheard at the next table, a young lady was being taken out to dinner for her 30th birthday by her girlfriend. We had the same waiter, so I told him to put their tab on my bill. When they found out, they thanked me profusely, and I told them, “Just leave your waiter a nice tip.” Everybody made out great!
In your situation, I probably would have used the remaining comp balance in a similar way–to treat an adjacent table to burgers and shakes. Especially given the shake happy hour promo–which I thank you for reporting, as I will definitely go over there next time I’m in town!
I find myself with a lot of promos that I can’t really use, like buffet twofers when I’m eating alone. I always take along such coupons anyway and give them away. My selection criterion is: pick a couple who look like they’re having a lousy time! An unexpected small gift can brighten anyone’s day–especially if they’ve been getting pounded at the slot machines 🙂
Could have given her an awesome tip!
Love the story – years ago we used to go to Showboat in Atlantic City and whatever comps you earned you had to use before you left so we would go to the one carry-out restaurant and buy all kinds of pies and cakes to take home so we wouldn’t lose our comps,
Thanks for an early AM chuckle!
For our future reference, if you asked what specials were going on before you ordered would she be able to tell you? and could you have also then ordered a large meal and had it “wrapped” to go?
MO
Jean: It always pays to ask about specials but in this case we were looking to “spend” not “save.” We could have ordered “to-go” but we were hamburgered out and milkshakes don’t travel well! 🙂
I am from Indiana and LOVE Steak and Shake. I know just what you mean.
Loved the story! I have to remember this if I am ever in a similar situation.
A woman after my own heart. I will definitely show this to my husband.
Once while on a cruise with ship trouble, we were given a lot of shipboard credit and I remember having $4.50 left over at the end of the cruise. It was killing me to let that money go to waste so I bought 3 cans of hairspray at $1.50 each and threw them in the suitcase. My husband rolled his eyes like he thought I was the only one in the world concerned about not leaving anything behind. Thanks for all the smiles. Say hi to Brad.
Hope all the family is doing well.
What a cute story, thank you so much for the laugh!