We all have bad days. Most of us just don't wear our frustrations on our sleeves, especially at work. Unfortunately, our waitress was having one of those days and we seemed to be getting the brunt of her anger.

We chose to eat at Beeches, an attractive stone and timber restaurant located on main street in Franz Village next to the similarly priced Landing restaurant. Both were vacant, but Beeches was closer to the action where we could people watch and enjoy views of the towering glacier while we ate outside.

Apparently, we were the first customers of the night, as it took 10 minutes before anyone realized we were there. A sullen waitress came over, placed menus in front of us, and left without attempting a single word, much less a smile. The menu was a la carte. Main dinner selections ranged from NZ$26-28, side salads NZ$6-12, and wines were ridiculously overpriced.

We ordered our meal and waited and waited for our sodas. Our waitress was busy -- talking and laughing with another local on the edge of the patio. I was still waiting for my side salad when the people who had straggled in behind us were already eating their appetizers.

Our dinners and side salad finally arrived. What flair! Gotta hand it to New Zealanders, they've mastered the artful presentation of food! Now if they could just zest up the flavor . . . My salmon with dill sauce was so bland that salt couldn't resuscitate it. Hard to believe something that looked so appealing could taste so flat! David's Thai Chicken Curry was more like a mild sweet barbeque sauce over grisly chicken. At least I enjoyed my salad of mixed greens with chunks of fresh vegetables.

Our waitress never came over to check on our meal or refill our drinks (and trust me, she wasn't too busy with just one other table). We pushed our half-eaten meals aside and waited for our check.

People were scurrying about main street. February was high season and there were a lot of tourists, yet the restaurants and shops were strangely vacant. Some even closed, like Franz Café across the street.

Our waitress delivered our bill with maddening indifference. No "Thank you, come again". She snatched our credit card and disappeared. Unbelievably rude -- so unlike the friendly, outgoing Kiwis we'd met thus far. Not one single word all night! Just arched eyebrows and the look when she expected us to speak. (We learned later that Beeches is renown for their indifferent wait staff, not exactly the reputation I'd be going for . . . .)

This was our only dining experience in New Zealand where we didn't feel guilty for following the customary practice of not tipping. But adding a 20% tip to our NZ$80 bill would've been a bit much to stomach.