Ok, my family recently dined at a national chain known for its family atmosphere, homestyle cooking and giftshop. This visit was following a doctor's appt. out of town, and everyone was ready for lunch.

The youngest child (age 5) ordered a child's dish of macaroni and cheese off the children's menu with an included side dish of corn, two of her favorite foods and milk. The total original bill for four came to a little over 34.00. The last time we ate there about six months ago was 27.00 for a very similar order for the family. Overall, we enjoy the cleanliness, family atmosphere, and relative security there. I've never seen a hippie there, but I haven never seen a hippie in several years. Also, the cooking staff there typically don't over-season any menu entree, in which garlic, pepper and onions can be a problem for some kids like ours.

When her macaroni and cheese arrived, it had been obviously oven baked with the baked and darkened top of the macaroni stirred through the bowl. Also, the macaroni and cheese had been heavily peppered!

Well, our daughter was not impressed visually with this, but tried one bite anyway. She had the same items there on previous visits without the dark and pepper. She disliked it, and we called back the waitress. The waitress substituted carrots for her which the daughter liked. Then, the waitress said the manager would bring us an adjusted bill to our liking for all the inconvenience, even though we had not requested it.

The manager presents the new bill which turns out higher than the original! In re-entering the bill, both the corn and carrots were now itemized separately, in addition to milk which was originally included as part of the child's plate, now an extra cost.

Normally, I would not have said a word, but the manager directly asked me if this bill was right and to my satisfaction, and I honestly replied, "No."

I explained the macaroni and cheese on the child's menu was burnt and peppered, unlike any serving previously eaten there by my kids. Now, for the carrots and milk itemized separately which was different significantly from what we had ordered as a child's plate is now resulting in a higher bill of $5.00 more. Shouldn't our bill be less than the original one, due to the problems, as suggested by the waitress?

The manager wasn't happy about my reply, realizing I had an audience of several nearby interested diners. He took away both receipts and created a third with no charge for the carrots or milk.

I added in an extra five spot for the waitress.