All you can eat pancakes?

Hi readers,

I want to talk about a recent experience I had while dining at a well established pancake restaurant. The special was "all you can eat pancakes." This seems like a fair deal, after all, the price is very reasonable. And it is a good deal, but you have set expectations when you order this. Here's the tactic. The pancakes generally come with some sides, like flavorless eggs and puny slices of bacon. And on the first serving, they bring you... TWO pancakes. Now there are probably a lot of individuals that stop after the first two, given the long wait and the expectation that you will have to wait again if you want any more. And granted they are pretty big, so you will not be really hungry after eating these. But that's missing the point. They say "all you can eat."

I have certainly been around the "all you can eat" block and was familiar with their tactics, so I was prepared to make my voice heard. Start by setting the expectation that you will need more early in the meal. The reliance on the waitress to return is a key factor on these deals. Always be polite and establish a rapport. It helps if you add something like, "I know how busy you are," even if you are the only customer in the restaurant. Waitresses/waiters always seem to be busy.

On this particular occasion, I wasn't feeling as hungry as usual, and so I asked if I could have ONE more pancake as I had done the good deed of cleaning my plate.

The waitress must have thought that I was being a pest or that I was going to torture her by asking for one more pancake several times. When she returned, she set down a stack of FIVE big pancakes. Well, of course, I sent her back to get me a to-go box.

Here's a suggestion to improve this all you can eat experience. I call it the two-minute warning. The customer has a device with buttons for 1, 2, or 3 additional pancakes. When the button is pressed, a two-minute clock is started, alerting the staff to provide the requisite number of pancakes. I mean let's modernize a bit. I'm not asking for a conveyor or vacuum tube to shoot the pancakes in one of those little cylinders, although... that would be cool. Rock out.