Sleeper tips I am providing for my brother's Amtrak trip

[StriderGDM]

You walk into the diner, get seated, get a menu on which the salad is clearly shown as a separate item - just like the entrees, drinks and deserts. When they come to take your order, what's so bloody difficult about taking the bull by the horns and ordering a salad with your meal? Just like what you want for the entree, to drink and desert? Get some hair on your arses and tell 'em what you want, fer pity sake. They're not mind readers!! Sheesh!!! :angry:

Next thing you know, someone will gripe about the SCA not offering to tuck them in and read a bed-time story! :giggle:

Because for a decade or more of taking the Crescent as a sleeping car passenger, the salad was always brought w/o question or prompting. It was simply included.

As for another poster who seemed to think I was implying you only got if you asked, as I said, the trip down the server (who honestly was a bit rude and substandard in my opinion) made it clear that I should have asked and implied it was my fault for not knowing the policy had changed.

And I'll point out, unlike the salad, this server DID ask if I wanted a drink and if I wanted a dessert. So clearly he had no problem asking in those cases.

The trip back I was clearly asked if I wanted a salad.

The difference as it was explained to me by the first server and as mentioned here is that the salad is now a separate, chargeable item for coach passengers. For sleepers it's still "free" but they apparently no longer automatically give it w/o asking.