This past Saturday night, I went out with Chaz and a two of our friends, Jess & Greg, to Applebee's for drinks, food and a fun time. We got sat at a high round table next to the bar by the hostess, which seemed nice to us because our drinks would get there quicker! 
After about 20 minutes we realized that no server had come around to our table. We looked around for a bit and had almost decided to stop one of the random servers walking by when, suddenly, our waitress appeared. She slowly pulled out a notebook and said, eyes downcast: "Whaddya want?" No introduction or welcome, not even a "what would you like to drink" or any ounce of politeness!
Sort of taken aback, we all order our drinks and food (since we were ready by then). She is silent, except for the occasional "mhm" and then trudges (yes, slowly trudges) away. This beginning was kind of weird for Applebee's because they aren't your ordinary dumpy diner in the hills, at least not in our town. They are usually quite nice, with signs and interesting paraphernalia all over the walls, a fun atmosphere and they serve delicious food and mixed drinks.
Anyway, the waitress is pretty prompt on bringing back our drinks and then salads for me and Jess, which was good. We have some good conversation, finish our salads...and notice that about 45 minutes has gone by and the waitress hasn't even returned to fill our drinks or clear away our salad plates. My martini is gone and my water glass is just ice. 
We wait, looking around for her but she is nowhere in sight! Another 10 minutes goes by and we finally see her emerge from the kitchen. She walks straight past us to a computer near one of the exits and proceeds to stare out the window for 5 minutes. 
Then she goes back into the kitchen and comes out with food..."Yay!" we think! But no...the food is for her other tables, who had apparently been waiting longer than we had.
Our waitress walks back and forth for 10 more minutes delivering food (with other servers' help) to three other tables. We were just about to ask her where the hell our food was when some random server guy comes out and hands us our plates. Oh, FINALLY! Hungry as ever, we dig right in.
However...half of our food was COLD! 
We see her come out of the kitchen after this but head to the window again to stare out. Then she goes into the restroom. Chaz is pissed off at this point, because his chicken wings are so cold they tasted disgusting, so he was going to just give them back to her when she came out. Unfortunately it was a good 15 minutes before she did and he had to almost yell across the room at her to get her to stop.
Chaz tells the woman that he doesn't want the wings and to take them off our bill. She just shrugs and takes them away. WTF!?! 
Not even going to ask why or offer something else?? At this point we're all really seething. She didn't even get Greg's order right but he ate it all anyway because he was so hungry.
It's all we can do to flag her down again and get our checks. It was just insane how she seemed to just ignore us while we were there. I've never been so poorly treated in a restaurant before. I'm not a high maintenance person, but I do expect to be at least paid some attention if I'm ordering food. 
Chaz gave her a big fat ZERO for a tip. Greg just rounded his and Jess' check up to the next dollar.
Now I can be understanding if it looks like the person is having a bad day or is sort of distracted. But if you are so distracted that you can't even do your job then just don't come into work!! Is it that hard? Maybe yes you need the money...but then earn it! We weren't being rude or asking for special orders or causing her any trouble! She should have left her personal issues behind if that was the problem.
Yes, we should have talked to the manager but we were just so put off by the whole experience we just wanted to get out of there. The waitress' name was on the receipt: Missy G. Well Missy, you will probably get fired soon at some point. Because I doubt someone that inattentive in the food industry will ever keep their job for long.
you might enjoy it! i hate service like that.
Oh we were definitely in her section. She covered our side of the bar including the few tables behind us. $20 please?
Like I said: “Maybe yes you need the money…but then earn it!” It’s no excuse for anyone in ANY job, especially in customer service, to treat people so poorly. If I had issues to deal with and I knew I couldn’t be professional about it I wouldn’t risk losing my job and possibly causing myself even more grief.
I’d rather take a day off or work something out than jeopardize my performance and any future career possibilities. It doesn’t matter one bit what kind of job it is. Is that not a “real world” issue, to be professional at work? I certainly think so.