Ep 7. Unhappy Hour

In the episode "Unhappy Hour" of Mystery Diners season 10, viewers are taken to a restaurant/bar in California that is struggling with its Happy Hour specials. The owner, Mike, suspects that the bartenders are giving away free drinks and pocketing the cash, causing a loss in profits. To get to the bottom of things, he calls in Charles Stiles and his Mystery Diners team.

As usual, the episode starts with a briefing from Charles Stiles for his team of undercover diners. This time, Stiles explains that they will pose as customers during Happy Hour to observe the bartenders' actions and ensure that all transactions are happening as they should. The team is made up of two men and two women, and they are all equipped with hidden cameras and microphones to capture the action.

The first thing that the Mystery Diners team notices is that the bar is packed with customers. This should be a good thing for sales, but as Happy Hour progresses, things start to go awry. The bartenders seem to be overwhelmed with the number of orders they are receiving, and drinks take a long time to arrive. When drinks do arrive, they are often incorrect or missing items that customers have requested.

To make matters worse, the team begins to suspect that the bartenders are indeed giving away free drinks. One member of the team orders a whiskey sour, and after taking only one sip, leaves it on the bar to go to the restroom. When he returns, he finds that the drink has been topped up with more whiskey, even though he didn't ask for it.

Another team member orders a margarita, which she specifically asked to be made with Patron tequila. When the drink arrives, she tastes it and realizes that it's not Patron. She tells the bartender that it's the wrong tequila, but the bartender insists that it is Patron and refuses to remake it.

As the night progresses, the Mystery Diners team observes several other instances of free drinks being given away, incorrect orders, and general disorganization behind the bar. Meanwhile, Charles Stiles and his team of cameras are watching everything from a control center in another room.

Before the Mystery Diners team leaves, Charles Stiles meets with the owner, Mike, to discuss their findings. Stiles tells Mike about the free drinks and the other issues that they observed, and Mike is understandably upset. He had suspected that something was amiss, but he never imagined that the problem was this bad.

To help Mike get his bar back on track, Stiles has a plan. He suggests that the Mystery Diners team come back to the bar for one more night, this time with a little twist. Instead of just observing the bartenders, they will now act as secret customers and try to catch the bartenders in the act of giving away free drinks.

The plan works perfectly, and by the end of the night, Stiles and his team have enough evidence to confront the bartenders with. They catch one of the bartenders giving away free drinks, and the other bartenders are observed being incredibly disorganized and slow behind the bar.

In the end, Mike is grateful for the Mystery Diners team's help. He is shocked by what he has seen, but also feels relieved that he now knows the truth. With Stiles' guidance, he is able to take action and make changes to his bar to prevent these types of incidents from happening in the future. The episode ends with Mike feeling optimistic about the future and grateful for the Mystery Diners team's help.