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- Denny's #6760
- Chandler, Arizona
- 02 February 2001
- 6:20pm MST
- 7400 W. Chandler Blvd.
- (480) 940-8882
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- Attendees: P7A77
- Wait-person(s): Brad, Robert, Steve
- What we ate: P7A77 - Bacon Ranch Chicken Sandwich, French Fries, Coke
- Das Büs is in storage, Der Satürn is in Sunnyvale... looks like I'm stuck making the visits with Die Geö. But that's okay, because the first Denny's on this trip is right down the road from where said vehicle was purchased a couple of years ago. I probably should have visited the Denny's then, but the purchase was a spur of the moment sort of thing and it took a really long time (thereby ruining the moment) and I just wanted to get home when it was over, having felt used and dirty. I actually tried to stop at it once since then, but I was looking for it on the wrong side of the highway and ended up eating at Cracker Barrel instead. They have good biscuits and gravy, that Cracker Barrel.
- But why the trip? What's goin' on? Where's Amie? Faithful readers will remember we drove Amie up to the SF Bay area a while earlier and that I'm soon to follow. Even more faithful readers will know that while I've lived in the area for four years and have been to Phoenix many times, I never really got around to visiting all of the area Denny's. Basically, time was running out. I had to get to them. As a happy coincidence, my grandmother was in Scottsdale for her annual winter hideaway trip, so it gave me a good reason to go up there. I thought I could visit the ten or twelve area Denny's I hadn't been to while I was there. Make that thirty or so. Yeesh.
- So this is how it started. The first visit for Die Geö at the Denny's right near where it began its life with me. I was lucky to get there right when the sun was setting to snag a nice "magic hour" shot. But this ain't it. The digital camera decided to eat the disk a few Denny's down the road, so I had to recreate the shot a couple of days later on my way out of town. I won't tell anyone if you won't. Besides, the recreated shot is much cooler than the original anyway.
- I had high hopes going into this place. It wasn't very crowded and I was seated immediately by Steve. It took a while for Brad to take my order, but that was okay because I wasn't very hungry yet and I had to map out all of the Denny's I was to visit. I decided to tackle the area east of I-10 and on either side of Rt. 60 before going to gramma's house. They were pretty spread out, so I knew it would take a while, and gramma was expecting me. I had actually utilized Mapquest earlier in the day to get a general idea of where everything was, but I also got a larger city map to plot it all out on one big surface and just make sure I got it all right.
- Steve had seated me and Brad had taken my order but Robert served me. Brad was standing next to him observing the masterful way by which he gave me my sandwich, so I figured he was a trainee. My figures proved accurate after they left my table when I heard Robert tell Brad that he usually checks back with the customer a few minutes later to make sure everything is okay. Woo-hoo, I thought. I'll get good service. I never heard from either of them again. By "usually" he meant "not this guy". Steve ended up giving me my check, and I noticed it was his name on the ticket. He also took my money from me, and he re-rang the ticket to include the tip in the base cost of the meal, so I think he may have completely screwed Brad and Robert out of their share of my two dollars. If either of them are reading this, go punch Steve in the nuts.
- WAY: No
- Free Stuff: Jelly Holder
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- Denny's #7393
- Tempe, Arizona
- 02 February 2001
- 6:15pm MST
- 1815 E. Elliot Rd.
- (480) 730-1772
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- Attendees: P7A77
- Wait-person(s): Douglas, Summer
- What we ate: nothing
- I had a really really cool shot of Die Geö with the Diner sign above it, but it suffered the same fate as the photo at Chandler, and I didn't feel like driving back into Summer's territory. But we'll get to that in a moment.
- I went in, noted to myself that the restaurant smelled like fish, started my usual bit to Douglas, and then stopped doing anything because Douglas walked away from me. As I was waiting for someone to return, a couple came in behind me, complained about the smell of smoke, stood around for a while, commented how the pies in the display case looked butt nasty, and left. Then Summer came out wearing pigtails and a puss. Since the pies drove out the other customers there was nothing else for Summer to do at the front counter, but she still was not in the mood to talk to me. She was just shaking her head the whole time, saying "no" before I could even finish asking the questions.
- So since the photo was lost, pictured is the author's artistic interpretation of the visit.
- WAY: No
- Free Stuff: nothing
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- Denny's #6491
- Mesa, Arizona
- 02 February 2001
- 6:45pm MST
- 1231 W. Baseline Rd.
- (480) 838-5070
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- Attendees: P7A77
- Wait-person(s): Ramon
- What we ate: nothing
- I took a couple of shots of my window reflecting the reflection off my mirror, then went to view the pictures in the camera, at which point all the other photos on the disk were destroyed. Damnit. I promise this is the last you'll hear of it. And it turned out for the best anyway, since I got a better shot in Chandler and a much more enjoyable image for Tempe.
- Ramon gave me a VIP Discount Card, good for 10% off my entire party's order the next time I visit this Denny's, which of course will be never, so thanks for nothing, Ramon.
- WAY: No
- Free Stuff: VIP Discount Card
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- Denny's #7216
- Chandler, Arizona
- 02 February 2001
- 7:00pm MST
- 1750 W. Chandler Blvd.
- (480) 782-7594
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- Attendees: P7A77
- Wait-person(s): n/a
- What we ate: n/a
- They were really really really busy. Really. I was still bummed about the camera*, so after waiting around for a while and realizing that everyone there was probably in worse spirits than Summer, I left.
- *Okay, fine, I mentioned it again. Too damn bad.
- WAY: n/a
- Free Stuff: n/a
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- Denny's #7493
- Gilbert, Arizona
- 02 February 2001
- 7:30pm MST
- 1661 E. Warner Rd.
- (480) 497-2010
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- Attendees: P7A77
- Wait-person(s): n/a
- What we ate: n/a
- This night was certainly turning out to suck some serious rocks. First, it took me forever to find the place. Mapquest indicated it was deep within a minimall labyrinth. I drove all over and couldn't find it. I decided to go to the Walgreen's up the road to ask if they knew, and as I pulled around, up popped the restaurant. The gall of Walgreen's to hide it from me like that.
- I went to the door, maybe thinking I'd treat myself to a slice of pie or something, and they had a sign up saying they were closed for training. Yeah, Friday night during the dinner rush hour is a good time to teach everyone how to use the coffee machine. Fooey.
- WAY: n/a
- Free Stuff: n/a
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- Denny's #6648
- Mesa, Arizona
- 02 February 2001
- 7:55pm MST
- 1330 S. Power Rd.
- (480) 807-3933
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- Attendees: P7A77
- Wait-person(s): John (manager)
- What we ate: nothing
- Things were starting to improve. John wasn't an exact match, but he was pretty close to a WAY, so I gave it to him, just to cheer myself up. He was wacky, but the sort of non-stop sarcastic mean wacky that I imagine can get pretty annoying if you have to work for him. After he got over his suspicion that I was trying to steal his toothpick dispenser, he offered to give me staples in my forehead as my free gift. I suggested maybe a name tag of an employee he had fired recently, so he told an employee that he was fired and to give me his name tag. He finally just gave me one of those free travel coupon books they usually have by the front door. But to be fair, there was a constant stream of customers coming up to pay, and he dealt with all of them and me rather swiftly and efficiently, and he didn't seem angry at the world just because I was there. At least I didn't get a staple in my forehead.
- WAY: John (manager)
- Free Stuff: Travel Coupon Book
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- Denny's #6459
- Mesa, Arizona
- 02 February 2001
- 8:10pm MST
- 7210 E. Main St.
- (480) 396-8217
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- Attendees: P7A77
- Wait-person(s): Anetta
- What we ate: nothing
- John had put me in a good mood and many of the area Denny's had the old cool logo, so I thought maybe the trip was improving. Then I got here.
- I walked in and a woman back in the counter area told me she'd be right with me. Five minutes later another woman (Anetta) showed up. I asked her the store number. She didn't know. I asked if she knew who Weird Al was. She didn't know. I asked for free stuff. She told me, with an exacerbated tone, that they were really short handed. I looked around. Nobody waiting to be seated. Nobody waiting to pay. Hardly anyone in the place. I'm sorry if my thirty seconds' worth of questions take you away from sulking and smoking in the walk-in refrigerator.
- WAY: undetermined
- Free Stuff: nothing
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- Denny's #1970
- Mesa, Arizona
- 02 February 2001
- 8:45pm MST
- 1150 S. Country Club Dr.
- (480) 833-2847
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- Attendees: P7A77
- Wait-person(s): n/a
- What we ate: n/a
- I was running a bit late so when I walked in I went to the pay phones to give gramma a call, which involved walking through the restaurant and past the long front counter. Not surprisingly, returning to the front required walking through the store again. In other words, practically everyone in the place knew I was there. I stood up front for a few minutes waiting for someone to even look my way, let alone make an attempt to talk to me. I waited a few minutes more. A waiter coming on for his shift came in the front door, walked right past me, and then stood right up at the register talking to other employees for a while. Not a glance in my direction. He seemed like a bit of a dick anyway, parading around like a peacock. All this time I couldn't help but noticing that the place smelled like ass. It was really bad. I left.
- WAY: n/a
- Free Stuff: n/a
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- Denny's #1078
- Mesa, Arizona
- 02 February 2001
- 9:05pm MST
- 2009 W. Main St.
- (480) 962-0372
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- Attendees: P7A77
- Wait-person(s): Diane
- What we ate: P7A77 - Cherry Pie
- Not the most eventful visit to end a rather drab trip, but better than some of the others. On a side note, I noticed that they offered a Quesadilla Skillet. Denny's hasn't had quesadillas on the menu for years. A shame since it was one of Amie's favorites. Did this mean they were back? I checked. Apparently not. So sad. I thought about trying to order a quesadilla and having them tell me they don't offer them and me saying that they have them on the skillet and them telling me that I can't get it separately and then me asking if I can do special orders and them saying yes and me ordering the quesadilla skillet but holding the skillet and them asking me where to hold it and... well, you know the rest. I didn't really want a quesadilla anyway.
- Denny's Fun Fact: A kind reader from Eugene, Oregon, informed me that the scene in question was filmed in a Denny's right there in her town. How 'bout that!
- WAY: James
- Free Stuff: Short Glass
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