Waiters to die for

Yesterday evening, I met with friends from school at Esplanadi. Two of them were playing the violin and they earned some money with that.. many people didn't bother to drop a coin for them even after taking pictures or filming them. They played a "fabulous" mixture of showtunes such as "Smoke gets in your eyes" or "The Entertainer" (probably the most horrible piece ever composed in my opinion). However, people seemed to like more when they performed some classical music from their own repertoire, so they should have done more of that.
CMS sang at a wedding party today. We got fairly annoyed because of all the waiting involved - the bestman and bridesmaid kept coming out to tell us they were almost ready for us every fifteen minutes and then we had to wait for them to finish eating. At least it wasn't raining.
The performance was at the sea, near the Sibelius-monument. I had a hard time finding it at first, and a comical situation arose when I had Pasi explaining directions to me in one ear and the action of Tosca's second act blazing in the other.
And then the day was over!
I have recently been outraged by the customer service at some establishments in Helsinki. Take Manala, for instance. This is a restaurant/bar which serves possibly the best pizzas in all town. It's also a very popular place for after-concert parties etc, which is perfect for me, because it's very nearby. Last week, we were celebrating our CM Swing outdoor concert there. Problems arose the moment we decided to put some tables together because we were quite a big group. I'm sure in NO place in, say southern Europe, would you get such looks from waiters just for wanting to sit with your friends!!! One of the waiters was particularly cranky, and when my friend declined a glass of champagne served to everyone, she just slammed it infront of her and told her that she didn't had to drink it but as long as the waiter got rid of it. Imagine!
Another example. Yesterday I was having dinner with my friends at a sort of fast food place serving kebab and falafel. The girl at the counter was a major bi.... some people just refuse to acknowledge it when you try to be nice to them. They just throw it back at your face (you try to save them trouble and they just bark back at you that they'll do it their way). When the waiter brought us completely the wrong dishes and we did nothing but stare, he nearly screamed at us for not accepting what he was offering.
And I'll never forget it when we were taking relatives to Cafe Neuhaus and the woman nearly screamed at us for asking for a cup of coffee ("WE DON'T SERVE COFFEE!!! IT BRINGS TOO MANY TOURISTS!!!") It made quite an impression on our guests.
Good night!