One Hundred Dollars a Month

Back in October the HH and I were walking around Boston one afternoon when we happened to walk past Abigail’s Tea Room. I knew it was a total tourist attraction, but since I’m not one to miss an opportunity to check out a new tea room, we popped in for a quick look around.

We didn’t have time to stop and eat, but I figured hey since we were there, if we liked the place, we could always go back another time. The setting was beautiful. The place was super clean. The staff was in costume and it was drawing a decent crowd outside. It looked good to me and I told the HH I would like to go back sometime for tea and scones.

For $3.99 you can get a bottomless cup of tea and sample the 5 historic teas they offer: Singlo, Hylon Bohea, Congou, and Souchong. And for a few bucks more you can go home with your very own Abigail’s Tea room mug.

Feeling hungry? You can always go for the big pot of tea and two scones. The description stated the big pot of tea and 2 scones served up to 4 people, which I thought was kind of interesting. Maybe people in colonial times had smaller appetites and drank out of teeny tiny cups?

Now this is what I call a beautiful display of scones. Wouldn’t you agree? So many choices to choose from!

There was also a nice display of tea.

Have you ever tried a peppermint gibraltars?

Mrs. Abigail Adams.

The tea room.

And the tea.

Nine or Twelve Man Morris 

Now, I’m not one to give a bad review unless it is totally and 100% warranted. And maybe you’ve been to Abigail’s Tea Room and you absolutely LOVED it. And we probably would have loved it to…. Had we showed up mid day on a busy weekend when the place was packed with tourists instead of on a chilly Saturday morning at 9:05 am in December looking to kill an hour before the Boston Museum of Fine Arts opened.

All that being said….

Generally, when I show up to a food establishment {one that mostly serves tea and scones} I would expect them to have a few trays of freshly baked scones in the case and ready to sell once the doors are open. 🙂 You know, just for starters.

Instead, when we walked in we awkwardly stood at the counter for about a minute while the girl behind the counter busied herself filling the sugar dispensers before she causally walked to the kitchen {not even acknowledging us} to tell someone there were customers up front.

A cashier {not yet in costume yet?} takes our order {the pot of tea and 2 scones special plus a cup of drip coffee for the HH} and then causally tells us the coffee will be ready in a few minutes {he still has to brew it} and that he will bring the pot of tea to the table and asks what kind of scones would we like.

We look around for the grand assortment of scones we had initially spied the first time we were there back in October to find about 9 random scones {yes, the total scone count was 9} to choose from.

The HH choose some sort of cheddar scone and I ordered the cranberry orange. We paid our $18 and then sat down in the lovely sunlit dining room to wait for our food to be brought to us.

About 5 minutes later, the pot of tea and 2 scones were delivered on a single plate. The guy reassured us the cup of drip coffee was coming. While I sawed my scone in half, the HH broke his into two pieces and found a hair waiting to greet him.

Okay. So not cool, but also not the biggest deal in the world. Stuff happens, right? So I got up and took the scone back to {a now new} cashier and asked for another scone since the one I was holding had a “bonus item” in it.

He just kind of looked at me with a blank stare.

With a smile, I looked in the case for a new scone {and now, there were only 6 scones left to choose from and the only scone choices left were chocolate chip and cinnamon}.

The guy behind the counter HANDED me a cinnamon scone with his food service gloved hand. I walked back to the table and passed it to the HH and told him they were all out of the cheddar scones he had originally ordered.

And well, the replacement scone was SO HARD, it literally crumbled all over the table when the HH tried to split it in half with part of it rolling on to the floor. So there we were, about 15 minutes into our tea and scone adventure {with still no drip coffee yet} and the HH was not amused.

Fast forward to the 28 minute mark, with still no cup of drip coffee and having paid $18 for two day old scones, and pot of tea it was time to leave for the museum.

I walked up to the register and asked the girl behind it for a refund for the cup of coffee that never came. She looked at me and then went back to the kitchen for the food service gloved hand guy {who must have been the one in charge} and told him someone up front wanted a refund.

Yada yada yada…. I quickly {and rather nicely} explained about the 28 minute wait for the coffee and told him I’d like a refund for the coffee we never received.

And he was like…. You want a refund?

Yes. For the coffee we ordered 28 minutes ago and never got.

Blank stare.

He looks down and begins to fiddle faddle with the register and while he’s doing that I mention about the bonus item in the scone and ask if the scones were are always that hard and then he looks up and asks if I’d like a refund for the “whole thing.”

And surprised by his total lack of …. any emotion what so ever….  I don’t know what to say.

Because what I really want to say is LOOK…. It’s pretty obvious you don’t care about your job, and I’m fine with that. We’ve all been there. But is it too much to ask for a couple of fresh scones and hot coffee to be ready for customers when you open the door for business? Preferably ones without bonus items in them? 

But I don’t say that. And when he asks a second time if I’d like a refund for “the whole thing” I smile and say yes. Yes, that would be fine.

I SO wanted to like this place. And who knows, maybe we will go back at a busier time and give it a second chance. The Abigail’s Tea blend was great. I really did like the tea. And honestly, if just one thing was off {a day old scone, or hey, do you mind waiting a few minutes for the coffee, or gee I’m so sorry there was a hair in your scone, let me get you a new one} it wouldn’t have been a big deal.

But it was everything. Right down to when we walked out the front door, the original guy who took our order, brought us our food and said the coffee would be right out was out on the sidewalk smoking a ciggie with two other guys as we walked passed him and to our car.

I’m not a difficult person to please when it comes to food establishments. And every place has their off days I suppose.

But sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. And sometimes, you just get a refund.

~Mavis