Restaurant weirdness

[symphonymom]

Peter had this weird run-in with a restaurant owner. First, we called to order ahead for some pizzas (buy one get one free) using a coupon in a book we had purchased through a PTA fundraiser. We were told that they weren't honoring the coupons (OK, this is *not* a chain - why did they put the coupons in there in the first place?) but would give us free drinks. So, Peter ordered one pizza and said we'd take the free drinks. They said, no, you have to buy *2* pizzas to get that deal. He then asked if there was a discount with a university ID (many area restaurants do this) and was told yes. So, whatever, we stuck with the one pizza. When we sat down, we looked at the menu and saw that they had small and large drinks. Peter asked if they did free refills, so when the server said, yes, we specifically ordered 4 small drinks (Anna wasn't with us). He also told the server that we wanted the faculty discount. She replied that they don't give the discount. Peter said that the guy on the phone said they did. So, she called across the restaurant to the owner asking and he said yes. At one point the owner came over (we thought maybe to apologize for the coupon issue or to ask us how everything was) to tell us that our pizza was the best he's seen come out of his oven. It was ok, but please. When we got our bill, there was no discount at all, and we were charged for 4 large drinks. When Peter politely pointed this out, the owner got all weird and huffy and said the server probably didn't hear him about the discount (um, hello, I think the entire RESTAURANT heard it) and that they only give refills on large. OK, then why did she automatically refill our *smalls*??? He actually called Peter "cheap" to his face, charged us for the smalls, and gave us a 5% faculty discount instead of the advertised 15%.

It was a small amount of money that we are talking about so maybe it seems petty, but to offer discounts to bring in customers and then just not give them once the customers show up, seems incredibly stupid. Not only did he lose his precious $3, but he lost all of our future business. (And we like pizza!)