I went out to dinner to a nice restaurant with a friend of mine the other night, and while she was eating, she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my God, there's a hair in my food!"
She called over the waitress and told her about the hair. It was really disappointing because we had been to this restaurant many times and we really liked it. The waitress apologized and asked her if she wanted something else. My friend said she lost her appetite, and she just wanted a cup of tea.
We didn't expect to get a free meal or anything, and she didn't get charged for the food with hair in it, but my friend was pretty upset that they charged her for the tea. The tea was only $2.50, but it was the principle of the thing. Her whole meal had been ruined. She was entitled to a free cup of tea.
My friend is a lawyer, so she wasn't about to let this go. She called over the waitress to complain.
The waitress could've been a little nicer about the whole thing. When addressing the matter of there being hair in the food, she said, "well, that can sometimes happen." Like you have to expect about 25% of all meals to have a little hair in them.
The waitress finally said she'd talk to the manager, and when she returned with our check, she just tossed it on the table without saying anything to us. Obviously she was pissed off or something.
I get that waitresses have crappy jobs, so I can't blame her for not being nicer, in a way. But considering I spend half my day apologizing to patients for things that have absolutely nothing to do with me, I thought she could've been nicer. I certainly would've tipped her a lot more if she had been nice about the whole thing. If there's a problem with the food and the check gets adjusted, I always try to tip based on what the bill would've been. I mean, it wasn't her fault there was a hair there.
(Unless it was her hair.)
I don't get it..... why is a hair such a big deal?
ReplyDeleteI'm a waitress and I regularly have to deal with people leaving their snotty napkins scrunched up on the table (some people wipe their noses on the tablecloth!), they leave their gum in the bottom of a coffee cup. I'm not even going to tell you how they leave the bathrooms.
It's just a hair.
It doesn't carry disease, it's not going to hurt you and they fall off peoples heads all the time.
Why is this such a big deal for so many people?
Get a new dish and move on!
For one thing, somebody with sheddable hair should be wearing some sort of hairnet or protection to keep hair from getting into food. If that's not being done, it worries me what other lapses there are.
DeleteSecond, when I think of the idea of getting a hair in my mouth while taking a bite of food, I feel completely disgusted. Even if it were my hair, but the thought of choking on somebody else's hair is enough to turn me off of my meal. I think that's a common reaction.
And considering I don't know if I've ever found a hair in my food in a restaurant, I don't think it's that hard to keep hair out of food.
That said, I would've been fine with going back to that restaurant if the waitress hadn't been so rude about the whole thing at the end. Dropping the check in front of us without a word was just obnoxious.
DeleteIt's not that easy to be honest. Yes, hair is covered in the kitchen, but it's just a cap, not a full hair net. And it can happen when every care is been taken with the food and the establishment. I guess I just think that expecting the tea to be comped and being rude to the waitress is not appropriate.
DeleteAnd to the commenter who stated that it took 11 years to learn to apologise for others mistakes has never worked in customer service or hospitality. You spend half your time in these jobs apologising for others mistakes, poor policy etc. Think about it, every time you call customer service, complain about your food, etc the person on the other end had nothing to do with your troubles but has to deal with your frustrations, sympathise and offer solutions. It's all they do all day.
Chances are this waitress probably found your friends response a bit over the top or got ripped by her boss. She shouldn't have been overtly rude, but don't expect her to fall over herself if your friend genuinely thinks she should have gotten a free tea.
I don't think we were rude to the waitress. My friend might've been a little bit snippy, but only because she was so upset about the hair in her food. We certainly didn't attack her or say anything beyond that we thought it was disgusting to find hair in the food.
DeleteMaybe we weren't owed a two dollar cup of tea. But a point I made a long time ago is that I think if you want to maintain your customers, it's worth the small concessions. If the two dollar cup of tea would keep our business, why would any manager say no to that? Of course, a waitress would automatically charge us because they don't care if we return, because they don't own the business.
For example, I recently took the family to a movie, but my younger daughter couldn't sit through it. While I was wandering around the outer movie theater with her, a manager saw us and randomly offered us two free movie passes because we didn't get to enjoy this movie. That made me really happy, and probably won my loyalty to the theater forever.
I agree with you, but you must remember that pretending to be sorry for things that we have no control over is an advanced skill. That's probably why the training takes 11 years.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I still feel irritated when I get a call at the hospital about an order "I" put in wrong. And the person is REALLY condescending and rude about it. And I'm like, hmmmmm.... I don't think I actually put in that order. And it turns out the NP actually entered the order wrong. But I'm holding the pager, therefore I get the blame. Love it!
DeleteIt takes pretty much every ounce of strength I have not to tell the person to go f themselves.
Ironically, when I call a different department to get some error fixed, it seems like it is 100% ok for that person to tell me over and over and over again that it's not their personal fault, that it was some other person in their department. And eventually I say, "You know, I really don't care whose fault it is, please just fix the problem."
Somehow when it happens the other way, they're allowed to insist that it is actually MY fault.
Sigh.
Thankfully intern year is almost over.
It seems like a lot of your weekly whines are you complaining about a trivial amount of money due to the "principle" of it.
ReplyDeleteBy "a lot", are you referring to that one post I made about a year ago about Walmart? Because I can't remember mentioning that in any other recent whines.
DeleteI too would be grossed out by a hair in my food! I'm a picky eater due to medical reasons; but was picky b/f I got sick too (I'm 95% tube fed)! I'd of sent the item back, expected it to be taken off the bill (wouldn't have penalized the server) & been done with it. I'd hope they'd bring me my tea, coffee or whatever I may have requested in place of my hairy dish & NOT charge me, BUT I wouldn't expect it since the meal was deducted. I get it's the principle & in the past it may have really made me angry! However, after my younger brother was diagnosed w/ cancer, fought a courageous & valiant battle & in the end didn't make it, I've started picking my battles in a different way. I'm in no way saying my way is right, it's just what I've needed to do to get through!
ReplyDeleteI will say, feel free to whine (& write) about anything you want, I'm not keeping a tally! Okay, I actually am! Just kidding, I'm really NOT. �� I enjoy reading your blog!
Random question: I'm confused about something.......whose Ortho Chick? Is this a joint BLOG?
Enjoy the rest of your weekend w/ your precious family!
Orthochick is an online friend of mine that I've known about 10 years, and is so completely hilarious I offered to let her do a weekly spot on the blog.
DeleteHonestly, I wasn't that worked up about it but my friend was. I was most upset about how rude the waitress was at the very end when she dropped the check without saying anything to us. All she had to say was, "we made the adjustment and we're sorry." I'd probably go back to the restaurant again but I know my friend won't.
Were you upset that your friend ruined your evening together by being snippy and needy, and entitled? Not sure I would go out too often with people like your friend.
DeleteHair in food is not a minor issue. The health department has to inspect restaurants because there are some cooks/managers/waitstaff who cut corners instead of doing the right thing. If they're getting hair in the food, then there are likely health code violations and it's not a place you want to eat. There's no excuse for wait staff being rude. The cool thing in this situation is that you can leave a lousy/no tip -- a note is appropriate: "Tips are a reflection of the quality of service provided. Poor service = poor tip."
ReplyDeleteAs for the $2.50 tea, if the waitress didn't explicitly state that the tea would be comped when it was ordered, then your friend shouldn't have expected it to be a freebee.
If I owned a restaurant, and there was a hair in my customer's food, I would probably comp their whole meal (within reason). Not because it is owed, but because that is the standard to which I would hold my business.
ReplyDeleteI think that's very respectable, and a good way to keep customers. Because if a customer find a hair in their food and then are treated rudely, there is no chance in hell they will ever return.
DeleteLife must be hard when you're so sensitive about everything.
ReplyDeleteTo be clear, anyone who responds to someone's personal blog post (on their blog) with something negative (aka: life must be hard when you're sensitive), is also probably sensitive (else they'd be doing something else). Right?
ReplyDeleteDon't think so. to some people above story is dramatic, and things were blown out of proportion. To be clear, it seems like her friend craved service person to bend backwards and forward to mend the situation this waitress actually did not cause.
DeleteFizzy, i don't think you can compare taking crap from patients with the waitress's situation. doctors get paid a lot more than waitresses to put up with people's crap. Unless the waitress said something rude - which doesn't seem to be the case - it just sounds like you and your friend were just irritated that she didn't prostrate herself at your feet because of something that wasn't even her fault. The woman probably makes a crap salary and figured- based on your friend's behavior - that she wasn't going to get a tip anyway, so why bother bending over backwards?
ReplyDeletei'm a current doctor and ex-waitress, and i think both professions put up with way too much crap from people. but at least i get paid enough to grin and bear it!
I didn't expect her to bend over backwards. But tossing the check on our table and storming away was out right rude. That's the sort of behavior I'd expect from my child. We didn't do anything to deserve that.
DeleteWhy bother bending over backwards? Was no one else taught as a child to work hard? She figured she wouldn't get a good tip, so she just threw all work ethic out the window? Have some integrity. She is a representative of the restaurant in which she works. They work as a team. It may not be her hair, but she handed the plate over.
Delete