. . . DAVE'S PLAYHOUSE OF HORRORS

February 20, 2011

Last Saturday, I caught up with Team Cabigas at SM. When I got to Harbor where they were already having dinner with my children, Nyx excitedly told me that in her new Victoria's Secret bag are her socks. And Draco's socks because they were gonna go to Dave's afterwards. Dave's Playhouse was one of the favorite destinations of my children. Nyx especially. She always brings socks with her -- "just in case". Her "just in case" meant just in case we went to Dave's.

But this particular Saturday proved to be really traumatic for us. We left them at Dave's at around 5:40 pm. They were hesitant to allow Draco and I was trying so hard to console him and bribe him with ice cream so he'd stop crying. But then eventually they caved in and allowed Draco, too, to go play with her sister and the other kids in the Playhouse.

An hour and seven minutes after, we got back to pick up the kids. Nyx and Draco were already by the shoe rack looking for their shoes when Mae, the receptionist, entertained us. We paid an extra PhP50 for each kid since we exceeded 7 minutes. When she told the other attendants that Nyx and Draco were good to go, I was already talking to Nyx who was complaining about a lost flower jibbitz on her Crocs. When I looked at her feet, her Crocs were already plain. Not one jibbitz left. She told me that she left one at home while the other one was in tact when she took off her shoes to play.

While this was happening, attendant A was busy talking to another Mom asking her which one Draco was. And she kept shouting Draco's name, not noticing that Draco was right behind her by the shoe rack. She was ready to give my son to some other woman.

Attendant B was putting on Nyx's shoes while she repeatedly asked me about her flower jibbitz. I told her it's gone already. And she said, "gone where, Mom? Here?" I said, "I don't know, babe, because they are not looking for it and they are pretending no to hear me." I was already irritated and so Att. B started scouring the shoe rack again for the flower jibbitz that might have fallen off which is not very surprising with the way they were carelessly handling things.

While Att. A was at the shoe rack, Att. B decided to let Nyx out the door already. She was not looking at Nyx when she slowly let her out but when she unlocked their door and pulled it back, she hit Nyx square on the face with their aluminum latch! F*cking b*tch! I told her, in vernacular, that she hit my daughter. To which, she just feigned laughter. Clearly pissed, I told her it's not funny! When I looked at Nyx, she was already crying and her right cheek red with the door's latch! I was so mad, I got Nyx by the hand and we went back to receptionist Mae. I told her about what Att. B did to Nyx and showed her right cheek. She mumbled sorry and I told her to say sorry to my daughter. Att. B said some sorry excuse and blamed the other kid who was by the door. She said it was the kid who pushed the door. Still, she was the attendant. It only meant that she was not watching both the kid from outside (alleged door pusher) and the kid inside (Nyx).

I was so mad because my daughter was crying and I know she loves Dave's but she whimpered and said she does not want to go back there ever again because they were bad people.

Dear Dave's:

I think you need to train your people some more. They could not be careless since they are dealing with children. Also they have to learn how to handle complaints better. I did not get a decent explanation why my daughter's Crocs jibbitz when missing in your shoe rack and I did not get a decent apology after one of your attendants hit Nyx on the face with your door latch. (I should have taken a picture of my daughter's red face!) I got the impression that they did not care about everything that happened. You need better customer service training.

In the meantime, we are boycotting your establishment.

DAVE'S PLAYHOUSE IS LOCATED AT THE NORTHWING OF SM CITY CEBU.