Warning! Rant ahead...

Last night I met up with my bestest, Angie, for some drinks and appetizers at her favorite happy hour spot Rush Street in Culver City. I usually don't join in on the happy hour outings because I work and live far from where everyone always wants to hang out and drinking and driving is not my thing. However, this was a celebration of my dear Angie's birth! I had to go to give her some love and celebrate turning 21! (for the 7th time)

We had a nice corner section reserved upstairs and a lot of people came out to toast the birthday girl. As I am house-broke (broke due to owning a house), I was happy it was happy hour, so I wouldn't be spending an arm and a leg on drinks. I looked at the special menu to see what was available for happy hour and read "premium drinks & draft beer $5, bottled beer $4, well & wine $3". Then there was a star and tiny print that said "super-premium not included". I looked at several other menus scattered around the table to see what was "premium" and what was "super-premium" and found nothing that indicated which types/brands of alcohol was which. When the waitress came for my drink order, I saw that Angie was drinking a cosmo and it looked oh so yummy, so I asked for one. The waitress then asked me if I wanted kettle one, grey goose, or stoli and I just picked one of those (kettle) assuming they were the happy hour choices. One should never assume...

In the back of my mind, I thought I should know better. I used to be a server and one of the best things you can do to increase your tip is to up-sell. Suggest an expensive dish or glass of wine and watch your check average climb, causing your tips to also increase. However, I think this girl was super slimy. It was HAPPY HOUR! Why else are we here at 5:30pm on a Thursday than to get cheaper food and drinks?? When I got my check at the end of the night and saw that my drink was $7 instead of the $3 or $5 as advertised on the happy hour menu, I knew I'd been had.