Forgotten Sleep

expect to have a “wild” experience.

Now, I’m not one to complain — much — but I believe that if you advertise yourself as an establishment practiced in hosting all-inclusive birthday parties for toddlers, you should have a clockwork system that works under any circumstances, including the unforeseen ones.

This weekend, we celebrated Big Girl’s 3rd birthday. It’s our first official birthday party for her because it’s the first time that she’s really had friends with whom to celebrate. Preschool is great like that. So, Loving Husband and I both knew that we didn’t have the time or the emotional energy to pull off a fabulous party at our house. This is where Bouncy Inflatable Tiki Hut comes in — you know, one of those fabulous places with HUGE inflatable things for kids to jump on and climb around in? For the low-low price of more than $200, we had a venue for as many as 16 kids to run wild for an hour and 15 minutes and a place for them to scarf up pizza, ice cream, chips and cake for 45 minutes. It seemed like a decent deal.

All the logistics went seamlessly. I reserved the time and selected the menu — this consisted of four pizzas, a chip tray and some drinks — we’re not talking about a haute cuisine order here. My contact at Bouncy Inflatable Tiki Hut was very nice and helpful. She returned calls promptly and answered all my questions.

I should’ve known it was too good to be true. Upon arrival at the Tiki Hut, the girl behind the counter had difficulty finding our reservation. It was only made a week ago — do you people lose your paperwork that quickly? In fact — why do you even have paperwork…welcome to the Digital Age.

The playtime goes as wonderfully as can be expected. All of Big Girl’s friends were there, they played, they ran, they pushed each other, some cried, some got scared, some went home early. It’s a 3-year-old’s birthday party…I’m assuming this is all normal.

By 4:45 the kids are hungry. Who am I kidding — I’m hungry, too. So, we corral them all into the hut off to the side of the play area, and Tiki Hut hostess gives them all a Capri Sun and some chips. And we wait for the pizza. And we wait. Still waiting.

Loving Husband finally goes in search of answers since none were coming to us. He was informed that the pizza was running 30 minutes late because Domino’s cut it incorrectly (8 slices per large pizza instead of 12 slices). I’m sorry, I know that this isn’t the way I ordered the pizzas, but is this really a defensible reason for returning four pizzas to the store when you have hungry 3-year-olds waiting. I’m thinking the answer is no.

So, we serve the cake. Hmmm…I thought I’d ordered ice cream for everyone. Where’s my ice cream? No ice cream. M’kay. Tiki Hut hostess comes to me about 10 minutes later and asks if I would still like to bring out the ice cream. With 10 minutes left in the time we have reserved in the Tiki Hut, I’m gonna say, no. Don’t bring out the ice cream.

At this point, I must say that I’ve never worked in a job that could be considered the service industry. But I do hold a job that I consider to be, at least in part, customer service. As a public relations director, I at least have to know how to make people happy. So, with that little bit of experience under my belt, I feel confident in saying that if you are the manager of Bouncy Inflatable Tiki Hut, and you advertise yourself as an expert in kiddie birthday parties — if and when you screw up, own it, refund money and do it with a smile. I do not want to hear your excuses. I am not going to be calmed by your inclination to avoid taking responsibility for the screw-up. And, I will certainly not be charmed by your looking at me and complaining about my husband being upset. That’s not gonna work for me, and it’s definitely not going to work for you.

When all was said and done, however, Big Girl had a wonderful birthday. She shared time with her friends, received many wonderful gifts and thoroughly enjoyed herself.

As for me and Loving Husband? Aside from being happy that Big Girl had fun, we each received headaches — and, oh yeh, $17 dollars off our final bill.

Yea, Bouncy Inflatable Tiki Hut.