Tears of Themis Cafe - A Rant?
Hello hello my cute nuggets!
I went to the Tears of Themis cafe today and man, it was such a disappointment. I don't actually know what I was expecting, but I certainly was not expecting a mess of information. I'll add the images I took as I go through the post, and they'll certainly look out of place, but bear with me.
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| a photobooth area? |
So right off, the reservations. It had been postponed once, and the second time I actually started camping to enter right at noon and I was completely not expecting the overwhelming response! I joined the queue at 12:00:13pm, and I was 480+ in queue. Crikey.
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| i wonder if there'll be a giveaway for the standee? |
After patiently waiting 2 hours for my turn, I entered the booking page only to realize that there were completely no slots for ToT at all? In confusion, I called the listed number only to be told that they had received calls and they didn't know what was going on and to please send a DM in. I was astounded. Was I going to have to requeue? Did I have to wait another 2 hours? Was I not going to be able to get the limited First Day merch? There were limited edition merch, which was a small figure and a plush, and only purchasable on the first day.
I sent in a DM. To be fair, they responded almost immediately with a new link to the reservation site. I got in, didn't have to queue, and managed to book first day slots. Crisis currently averted.
Fast forward to today, as far as I know, merch tickets are given out to only the first 20 people in queue everyday, and it starts at 9:30am. There is also a limited amount of merch purchasable each day. This to me was rather ridiculous, if my dine-in slot was in the evening, I had to go specially in the morning just to queue for a chance to purchase merch? Fine, for the sake of limited First Day merch, I would do just that. Considering it was a weekday, I figured reaching at 9:30 should get me within the 20 slots.
I was so naïve. I got there about 9:35am, and there were already 20 people in the cafe, and a whole bunch waiting outside. I joined the mass of people, and started chatting with a couple of them. I figured it shouldn't take too long for the 20 inside to purchase their merch, then perhaps we can also start to enter and see what else there is to purchase. I knew there was the option of pre-order because of the overwhelming response, but limited First Day merch made me stay to wait.
After almost an hour, barely anyone had left the cafe. What was going on? Who knew? Was nothing inside actually set up for purchase yet or was everyone just taking a painfully long time to decide on what they wanted to buy?
I had to head off to work, so I left. My new friend informed me a while later that staff had finally exited the cafe to let the masses know that no one else would be let in to purchase merch, and we would only be able to purchase during our dine-in slot. I was stunned. After all that time waiting outside in the heat, for absolutely nothing. If you were a working adult with time constraints or you didn't manage to get an early time-slot, I guess it just sucks to be you?
She also told me that the First Day merch did not exist for Singapore. The cafe in Malaysia had the figure and plush, but not SG. So there was actually no point for me to go in the morning. Amazing.
Never mind, let's move on to the menu. Because I couldn't tell how large the portions were, I decided to get only the main and the drink. I had asked my new friend to ask the staff if we could add on to our orders if we decide to get the dessert as well. Good news! You can head back to the reservation page, as told by the staff member, and order a takeaway for the same day if you decide that you wanted to purchase more food items. Remember this.
So, happy with all these information, I made my way back to the cafe in the evening, prepared to get more food and support my fav 2D character. We had to do the safe entry check in before entering, and you can only use the trace together app to check in. They do not support the token check in.
Once that was done, we were given a buzzer and shown to our seats. We had a long table so we shared with another pair. Kinda weird, but the space was small. You'll have to take your buzzer to the main counter and let them know your invoice number. We did just that and were given the freebies. The coaster was randomized, and we got Marius and Luke. Damn it, I wanted Marius and Artem. Anyone has Artem and wants a Luke?
I decided to add the dessert as well since I was in a mood, but was informed that I actually could not, and they were not offering the option to add on and takeaway. I was confused. The staff this morning said otherwise. You can't, they repeated, but I could always check their socials for updates. That was kind of hilarious to me. If I wanted the add on now, what good would your social media update be if it was not today?
Oh well, whatever. We got our food and drinks a little while after, and ooh, the food was actually good. We ordered Luke's and Marius' mains, and it was sooooo nice. I especially liked how Luke's had chunky garlic bits in it. The drink was not bad too.
After the meal, we went to look at merch. Got up to the counter to pre-order, and asked if there were any larger sized images of the merch, especially the Halloween acrylic standee and the keychains since the catalog was so small. Please take pity on an aging grandma with bad eyesight. Nope, they didn't have any images other that what was on the catalog. That was a little annoying, but fine, we googled. Should have just done that in the first place I guess. We placed our orders, but I'd realized that one of the Marius' keychains was unavailable. ?? Wasn't this a pre-order?
Oh, there was also a limit on pre-orders. I had thought the listed Daily Supply limit was for physical in store merch, but I guess I was too dumb to realize it applied for pre-order limits as well. Or did they not say? I had also realized that a bunch of merch I had previously seen were also missing, but I was at point too tired to ask for anything else. I put in my details and left.
Oh oh I did get something good out of this whole ordeal though, tadah~~~
Hilariously, I had come for ToT, but ended up leaving with KnB merch instead. The overall experience was quite confusing, and rather disappointing, but Aomine always makes me feel better.
As much as I hope Genshin's will be better, I suppose I'll just lower my standards. Thank you for staying till the end of my rant, tata for now!
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