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Grex > Kitchen > #247: Special Orders don't upset us.... | |
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furs
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Special Orders don't upset us....
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Jun 20 01:12 UTC 2007 |
When you are at a restuarant, do you special order your food?
Do you think it's too much to ask?
If you do, how often do they get it right?
And what do you do if they get it wrong?
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| 20 responses total. |
slynne
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response 1 of 20:
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Jun 20 01:22 UTC 2007 |
I really hate mayo so I try to special order things without it. Most of
the time, they get it right but if they get it wrong, I just scrape it
off.
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furs
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response 2 of 20:
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Jun 20 01:36 UTC 2007 |
I special order all the time. Most of the time they get it right and
when they don't, I almost always just take care of it myself.
Lately they have gotten my order wrong almost every time. It's weird,
cause it's different places every time.
I don't like to send food back because I really don't want any
extra "special sauce" when it comes back. ;)
But Friday I sent some salmon back, because it was almost not cooked
at all (raw). (and it's wasn't supposed to be like that either.) and
I was afraid to eat it.
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slynne
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response 3 of 20:
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Jun 20 01:43 UTC 2007 |
Weird.
FWIW, raw salmon is usually safer than raw beef or chicken or pork. But
I probably would have sent it back for some extra oven time too.
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samiam
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response 4 of 20:
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Jun 20 18:50 UTC 2007 |
I'm like Jeanne in this. I special order lke crazy, but I'll generally
eat whatever they put in front of me. I rarely send food back (cold
rubbery eggs are one huge exception, and a charred steak when I ordered
it medium rare would be another).
Most places do OK with my special orders, though my order of "iced tea,
lots of ice, no lemon" frequently translates to "iced tea, no ice,
extra lemon." Servers seem to have a hard time wrapping themselves
around the idea of someone who would rather have less beverage and it
be very cold than to have more.
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jadecat
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response 5 of 20:
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Jun 20 19:30 UTC 2007 |
I don't tend to special order all that much- but when I do I expect it
to be done properly. I will send a steak back if it's not cooked enough
for me (I really don't like rare meat). I've been known to insist on a
totally different piece of meat (if they can't get it cooked properly
twice, I don't want it thrown back on the grill - give me a new one).
I've only had to do that once or twice though. :)
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furs
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response 6 of 20:
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Jun 20 19:43 UTC 2007 |
also, when I send stuff back, I try to be SUPER NICE, cause I don't
want a lugey in it.
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jadecat
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response 7 of 20:
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Jun 20 20:07 UTC 2007 |
resp:6 Oh yeah, definitely- very nice and polite about it.
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edina
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response 8 of 20:
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Jun 20 20:18 UTC 2007 |
I don't special order very often. And when I am being a bit pickier,
I do try to mention that I tip well.
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cmcgee
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response 9 of 20:
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Jun 20 20:52 UTC 2007 |
I often ask the waitperson if there are things the cook on duty does
especially well. Sometimes I get offered off-menu items.
I do put in special requests from time to time, but seldom send them back if
they aren't right. I've been in too many kitchens where exceptions are just
too easy to forget.
I do try to be clear about dressing an item or my plate. No mayonnaise is
usually the waitperson, not the cook's problem.
The other thing I do before I complain is ask the person I'm dining with if
I was clear. Sometimes I'm the only one who understood what I was getting
at. *grin*
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jadecat
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response 10 of 20:
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Jun 20 21:01 UTC 2007 |
resp:9 *laughs* Yeah, I usually do that last bit too. Especially if it's
a change I usually ask for, sometimes I get so used to asking for it
that I forget and think I made a special request when I didn't.
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samiam
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response 11 of 20:
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Jun 20 22:41 UTC 2007 |
Re #6: So true! I *do* tip very well, so I don't feel too bad about
special requests, as a rule. Besides, if there is a problem with food
preparation, it is seldom the fault of the server.
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furs
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response 12 of 20:
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Jun 21 00:49 UTC 2007 |
yep, I tip well as well.
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denise
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response 13 of 20:
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Jun 21 23:50 UTC 2007 |
I have no qualms for asking for modifications in something that I'm
ordering, especially if whatever it is hasn't be 'pre-made' [like for
asking no-mushrooms or other such thing that I don't like or can't
eat]. If the item HAS been pre-made, if its a big deal, and/or if they
can't fix it the way I want or need it to be, I'll order something
different that I *can* eat. Especially since we're usually paying more
for eating out, I'd like to get something that I want and enjoy eating.
If I know ahead of time that I won't find much that I'll be able to eat
while dining out [or going to someone's place for a meal], I'll eat
something before I go [and when I get home if I'm hungry]. I'm
somewhat of a 'selective' [picky] eater, so I do what I need to do. I
enjoy eating too much NOT to get and enjoy what I do want... :-)
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edina
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response 14 of 20:
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Jun 22 17:00 UTC 2007 |
I thought of this item last night when I was watching "Waiting", when
Ryan Reynolds tells Sam from "Freaks and Geeks" (I can't remember the
actor's name - I just know that's who he was there) that a woman (who
was *awful* - very rude to the point of belligerance) sent back her
steak: "She just broke the first rule: don't fuck with the people
who handle your food."
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furs
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response 15 of 20:
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Jun 22 20:56 UTC 2007 |
that movie is one of the reasons I'm always nice. :)
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edina
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response 16 of 20:
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Jun 22 21:01 UTC 2007 |
Having worked in restaurants is why I'm always nice...because I know
that "Shenanigans" isn't too far off the mark sometimes.
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slynne
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response 17 of 20:
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Jun 23 01:17 UTC 2007 |
When I was a food service worker, I never did anything bad to anyone's
food nor did I ever see anyone else do anything to a customer's food.
Sometimes we talked about how we *wished* we had though ;). What I did
to punish bad customers when I was a waitress was to simply ignore them
as much as possible and to give them the absolute minimum about of
service as I could get away with. I was always way to busy to waste my
time on that sort of person.
When I worked fast food, I was a teenager so I would just give them the
same look I would give my mother when she chewed me out. It was that
look that all teenagers seem to know instinctively which communicates:
"yeah...whatever" and usually comes with an eye roll or two. It always
amazed me the contempt with which some people treat fast food workers. I
mean it wasnt uncommon for people to be seriously verbally abusive about
really weird things.
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furs
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response 18 of 20:
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Jun 23 10:32 UTC 2007 |
I've always been pretty nice actually, but that movie just confirmed it.
I never worked at a regular restaurant, but I did work fast food. We
never did anything gross except I did see things dropped on the floor be
picked up and served before, but I never did that. :)
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samiam
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response 19 of 20:
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Jun 24 18:52 UTC 2007 |
The five second rule... :)
I've worked at many, many restaurants, and I've never seen (or heard
of) anyone actually dong something bad to a customer's food. Like
slynne, we definitely talked about what we *wanted* to do, but actually
doing it would be just too nasty. Not to mention the embarrassment of
having to tell your family just why you lost your job. That's never a
good thing.
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cmcgee
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response 20 of 20:
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Jun 24 20:22 UTC 2007 |
I had to deal with that kind of allegation once. A spiteful co-worker told
me that one of the women had spit in the food of a customer she had an ongoing
boyfriend feud with.
Fortunately, it was a small town, and I eventually got the truth from a
neutral observer (the cook in the kitchen at the time the alleged incident
took place).
But what frightened me most was even the *rumor* that that could have
happened. It's easy for people to decide not to come to your place based on
the slightest possibility that could have happened. (To say nothing of the
taking-sides in the boyfriend feud).
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