Field Trip Gone Wrong

Today we went on a field trip. The whole "team" (they split the grade into two, and call each half a team) had been very excited for this field trip every since the beginning of the semester, when we started Spanish (the class we went to the field trip for). Well, the field trip didn't turn out exactly as expected...

It all started when the buses never showed up. We were supposed to have 3 buses take us to the restaurant we were going to for the field trip. But they weren't there. So the teacher called the shuttle bus, assuming that they would be able to take us. Didn't happen. One of the people left the fans on so long that it ran out the battery and the bus wouldn't run. So she called back the transportation department, and the guy said that they were sending 3 buses now. We had to wait in the 80º heat for an hour, sitting in the sun and on the concrete, along with 60% humidity. And I happened to be wearing long sleeves. How fun. And to think, that was an hour past when we normally have lunch, and we're all already starving enough by then.

After an hour, 2 buses showed up. Not 3, just 2. So we boarded the buses, and went through a long time of confusion trying to figure out who was where. When we were finally out of the parking lot, the third bus arrived.

Since the bus drivers knew that we were very hurried (and the restaurant had already given away all our tables) they got us there quickly.


I got to sit with my best friend. Our waiter seemed to be a little slow, when it comes to bringing food and drinks out. He decided to put about 25 glasses of Dr. Pepper and Coke on one tray, and then carried it one handedly. And then dumped it on my friend.

Yes. He lost his balance right when he got it over, right next to our table. Shattered glass and drinks were everywhere. My friend was soaked. And she happened to be wearing flip-flops, which is not the best footwear for treading around broken glass.

We asked the teacher if we could get up and move, because we didn't want to get hurt. She let us move to the table next to us (where the people before had just left from). The other kids in the table next to our right had been finished for a long time when the new waiter finally took our order. And when he found out we were sitting there waiting so long, he just cussed at us and said that if we had been there before we would have already had our food. Excuse me, but uh, sitting next to a ton of spilled soda and broken glass that was never wiped up doesn't exactly sound like a good idea, and we have the right to move since we're paying for the food!

We ended up being the last people in the restaurant being served our meal. I actually enjoyed mine at the time. But the rest of the people at our table either felt sick after taking a bite, or bit down on something rather disgusting. My friend and another girl at our table both got cheese enchiladas. When they took a bite of their meal, there was something as hard as the table in it. Well of course, after eating THAT, they felt horribly ill. Luckily they had eaten a considerable number of chips before getting their meal, so they weren't going to starve to death or anything.

When we paid for the meal, included was the price for sopapilla. Even though the whole group paid the same amount of money, only one group table (which had an entirely different waiter than the rest of us) got it. And when we went and asked when we were going to get it, the person said, "It's a secret."

We boarded the bus to go back to school (in the same amount of confusion). By the time we got there, we were 50 minutes later than expected (not only were we late, but that means our field trip was cut short. Not that we could have made it longer, since we had to go home in 10 minutes). By the time we got to school, I was feeling sick too.

I feel better now, since I've eaten something else. But I do find it annoying that the teachers lectured us before we went into the restaurant about treating the people there with respect, while the people there didn't even think to treat us with respect, just because we're kids. Not like we could ever tell our teachers and make them believe, since they decided to avoid us all in other parts of the restaurant.

I have been to another restaurant from the chain before (at a different location) and it was really quite spectacular. There, the service was wonderful and the food was absolutely delicious (and the waiters were much more professional). So I'm not saying they're all bad, I'm just saying this field trip happened to be one of those that didn't turn out as planned.