Savi and The Shiner

On our first full day in Gatlinburg we decided to venture out of the hotel for dinner, and a lot of people watching. (Which is another subject in and of itself) The folks you see in Gatlinburg are of two distinct camps. 1) the people drawn by nature; hiking, biking, river sports, etc 2) the folks drawn by Dollywood, Deep Fried Oreos, Airbrushed Tee-shirts, and the county fair atmosphere that the main drag through Gatlinburg has to offer. Quite a bit to take in.

We were not particularly fans of the corn dog and funnel cake stands that were strategically placed every 100 yards and wanted a nice place to sit down and have a meal that was still kid-friendly (read, not a bar and grill). We happened upon a Shoney's and thought that was probably the best bet for that night.
Here we are on the way to dinner. Gunnar pushing Sydney, who was tired out by the hiking around we did that day, everything right with the world.


We arrived at Shoney's and ordered the buffet for the kids, so they could pick and choose. $3.99 each, and free for Sydney! Sweet! I helped the kids dish up and then sent them back to the table so I could plate up a green salad for myself. Not 2 minutes later I returned to the table and found this:

...I started asking what happened and was told "she got hit" by the waiter.

"WHAT? What do you mean she got HIT?" I said.....it took me a full 5 minutes to find out that the waiter had swung around from another table and smacked Savi's face with the edge of his serving tray. No apology, acting like it wasn't a big deal. I was STEAMING.

The manager came out and asked if she was OK. I tried to be civil and calm....but there still hadn't been an apology. "Well, she has a hard purple bump, and a gash that is still bleeding. And she's pretty upset. She's definitely NOT OKAY," I said. I asked for some ice. He retrieves some and I help her position it.

Again he leaves, no apology. At this point I'm starting to get a bit more upset.

Meanwhile, Savi has totally lost her appetite and isn't able to eat anything.

15 minutes later the manager returns. FINALLY apologizes, and let's us know he'll comp our whole meal and to please make sure we order dessert too. We're feeling a bit better now, and I try to lighten things up for Savi up by telling her "Thanks for taking one for the team". Which didn't exactly cheer her up at all.

But when the server returned with stuffed Shoney's bears and tiger pops, well, that did the trick!
So much better! At least until bedtime when she said it hurt to close her eyes. I gave her some Ibuprofen and she conked right out.

And here she is the next morning...shiner central!

Her poor eye got blacker and blacker as the trip went on, and people commented on it everywhere we went! She was SO DONE with the comments that she took to covering her eye whenever she sensed anyone looking her way. :(

Less than a week later, she's all but healed up though! Isn't it amazing how quickly our bodies work to heal themselves!?!?!?

And NOW she has an awesome story to tell her friends when she returns from Spring Break!