Worst transgression at a restaurant

Franfogel said:

In defense of Fran's story regarding her not saying
anything to the person about the Windex, it happens,
sometimes you're just so shocked about an incident you
don't think of these things at the time.

Quoted message said:

Actually, that's sort of what happened. The other factor
was that English was not the language the staff was
using, and I didn't think I could get my point across. We
simply fled.

Ah! That explains it.

By far the worst transgression I ever witnessed in a
restaurant happened about twenty years ago. Ugh! I can't
believe it was that long ago. I was was in college studying
for a final exam with some friends on a beautiful spring
day. We fininshed our studying for the day around 5:30 and
we decided to go out to an inexpensive restaurant nearby.

The restaurant was Fishers on North Broad Street in
Philadelphia. This restaurant was known for its crotchety
old waitresses. The place was busy, as usual, and since it
was very warm out that day, I wore short pants and a t-
shirt. The hostess made a big deal about letting me dine
there while wearing such casual clothes. I pointed out that
I had eaten there many times over the years in the exact
same clothes and no one ever took issue with it. The hostess
still made a big deal, but finally relented and seated us. I
should have took that as my queue to leave, but my friends
and I were starved.

There were eight of us and we were seated at a big round
table near the kitchen. We all placed our dinner orders and
the waitress stepped away and came back with the obligatory
thimble full of water for each of us and a plate of rye
bread with butter. About half an hour passed and the
waitress brought out everything that was ordered, except for
my food. Then the waitress just walked away. I ordered the
roast beef dinner.

Everyone started eating and when the waitress walked by, I
asked her when my meal would be served. She said in a very
snotty way that what I ordered was all sold out. You would
think that the waitress would have told me that after I
placed my order. Then she says "would you like something
else?" By that time, all my friends were nearly finished
their dinners and I really didn't want to wait another half
hour for my dinner to be served so, I ended up just eating
the bread and butter.

I talked my friends into leaving zero tip that night. Then
on the way home, I went through a fastfood drive through and
I bought a hamburger and a coke. We never returned to that
place and I made my parents promise to never go back there;
they were fans of this restaurant. Not long after that, the
restaurant went out of business and the land it occupied was
eventually turned into a children's hospital.

Far as I can tell said:

We simply fled.

Driving up Rt. 95 thru Virginia, I was starved.

Stopped in a Waffle House (bad mistake) but at 7am on 95,
whatchagonnado?

Sitting at the counter, eating my breakfast, I observed
the cook reach under his sweaty mess tee shirt and scratch
his back. Then, I swear to God, he wiped his hands on his
'lil white towel, then used the same towel to clean his
pancake flipper.

I stood up and walked out. My error was going into a Waffle
House to begin with.

"Petey the Wonder Dog" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Far as I can tell, someone wrote:

Quoted message said:

Sitting at the counter, eating my breakfast, I observed
the cook reach under his sweaty mess tee shirt and scratch
his back. Then, I swear to God, he wiped his hands on his
'lil white towel, then used the same towel to clean his
pancake flipper.

I saw a nearly identical incident here in Seattle at the Il
Fornaio restaurant, except the cook used the towel itself to
wipe his profusely perspiring face and then used the same
towel to wipe his tongs and proceeded to use same tongs on
food being cooked.

Quoted message said:

Everyone started eating and when the waitress walked by, I
asked her when my meal would be served. ..., I ended up
just eating the bread and butter. I talked my friends into
leaving zero tip that night.

This (and Graykit's posting) absolutely amazes me. You had
to *talk them into* not leaving a tip, after getting
"service" like that?

--
Tony

In article <[email hidden]>,

Matt said:

"Petey the Wonder Dog" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Far as I can tell, someone wrote:

Quoted message said:

Sitting at the counter, eating my breakfast, I observed
the cook reach under his sweaty mess tee shirt and
scratch his back. Then, I swear to God, he wiped his
hands on his 'lil white towel, then used the same towel
to clean his pancake flipper.

I saw a nearly identical incident here in Seattle at the
Il Fornaio restaurant, except the cook used the towel
itself to wipe his profusely perspiring face and then used
the same towel to wipe his tongs and proceeded to use same
tongs on food being cooked.

The place I used to work had about 6000 employees and they
had their own in-house cafeteria. While in the rest room one
day, I saw one of the cooks come in still wearing his
plastic gloves. He went to the urinal, did his business and
then left. He didn't wash his hands, but then again, he was
wearing gloves. Somehow I doubt that he changed them when he
went back to work.

Matt said:

"Petey the Wonder Dog" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Far as I can tell, someone wrote:

Quoted message said:

Sitting at the counter, eating my breakfast, I observed
the cook reach under his sweaty mess tee shirt and
scratch his back. Then, I swear to God, he wiped his
hands on his 'lil white towel, then used the same towel
to clean his pancake flipper.

I saw a nearly identical incident here in Seattle at the Il
Fornaio restaurant, except the cook used the towel itself
to wipe his profusely perspiring face and then used the
same towel to wipe his tongs and proceeded to use same
tongs on food being cooked.

There is no question of this being really, really, skeavey,
and obviously spoiled or contaminated food, with such as
mold, bugs, etc, can get one ill, but other than tossing
your lunch when you see it happen, can you get sick from
sweaty towel-wiped implements?

I'm not being cutesy, I am wondering what the risk really
is. Any food safety scientists among the bunch?

OT - Many more years ago than I dare think about, I got a
cup of coffee at my local deli in Little Italy in NYC, and
when I got to my destination and opened the cup, there were
about a dozen baby roaches floating in it.

Boron

Far as I can tell said:

There is no question of this being really, really, skeavey,
and obviously spoiled or contaminated food, with such as
mold, bugs, etc, can get one ill, but other than tossing
your lunch when you see it happen, can you get sick from
sweaty towel-wiped implements?

Hypothetically, if you dip the tongs into hot soup, the
germs will prolly die off, but yes indeed, there are lots of
bad sickly germs to be had.

Ironically, and you may know this, but hospitals are
recognized to be the worst place (or best if you see it that
way) to get sick from germs.

Ever since I took the Safe-Serv courses, I am waaay more
finicky about what I touch out there, and in my own
restaurant. I wash my hands constantly, (altho NOT up to the
elbows and beneath my nails every time, like the book says).
When washing my hands in the rest room I use a paper towel
to dry, then to unlock the door, then to hit the light
switch as I open the door with my foot, then toss the towel.

I think that reallly really close up photos of germs had a
major effect on me. They look like space monsters with big
nasty claws.

Petey the Wonder Dog said:

Far as I can tell said:

There is no question of this being really, really,
skeavey, and obviously spoiled or contaminated food, with
such as mold, bugs, etc, can get one ill, but other than
tossing your lunch when you see it happen, can you get
sick from sweaty towel-wiped implements?

Hypothetically, if you dip the tongs into hot soup, the
germs will prolly die off, but yes indeed, there are lots
of bad sickly germs to be had.

Ironically, and you may know this, but hospitals are
recognized to be the worst place (or best if you see it
that way) to get sick from germs.

You bet! Nosocomial infections are common and can be fatal
to the compromised. I had a therapist friend who made
orthopedic rounds with the doctors and had to stop one
from working with the wound of Patient B after dealing
hand to infected wound of Patient A, with no gloves or
wash up in between. She was severely castigated for
criticizing the MD, too..

Quoted message said:

Ever since I took the Safe-Serv courses, I am waaay more
finicky about what I touch out there, and in my own
restaurant. I wash my hands constantly, (altho NOT up to
the elbows and beneath my nails every time, like the book
says). When washing my hands in the rest room I use a
paper towel to dry, then to unlock the door, then to hit
the light switch as I open the door with my foot, then
toss the towel.

These acrobatics must keep you in tip-top shape. I can
flush the average public john with my tootsies, but not
open a door.

Quoted message said:

I think that reallly really close up photos of germs had a
major effect on me. They look like space monsters with big
nasty claws.

Take a look at what resides in your eyebrows sometimes. The
only thing missing is Sigourney Weaver with a flame thrower.

Congrats on the attention ot food safety, though. YOu are to
be commended.

Boron

Quoted message said:

Subject: Re: Worst transgression at a restaurant
From: [email hidden]
Date: 6/2/2004 9:35 PM Mountain Standard Time
Message-id: <[email hidden]>

Franfogel said:

In defense of Fran's story regarding her not saying
anything to the person about the Windex, it happens,
sometimes you're just so shocked about an incident you
don't think of these things at the time.

Quoted message said:

Actually, that's sort of what happened. The other factor
was that English

was

Quoted message said:

not the language the staff was using, and I didn't think
I could get my

point

Quoted message said:

across. We simply fled.

Ah! That explains it.

By far the worst transgression I ever witnessed in a
restaurant happened about twenty years ago. Ugh! I can't
believe it was that long ago. I was was in college studying
for a final exam with some friends on a beautiful spring
day. We fininshed our studying for the day around 5:30 and
we decided to go out to an inexpensive restaurant nearby.

The restaurant was Fishers on North Broad Street in
Philadelphia. This restaurant was known for its crotchety
old waitresses. The place was busy, as usual, and since it
was very warm out that day, I wore short pants and a t-
shirt. The hostess made a big deal about letting me dine
there while wearing such casual clothes. I pointed out that
I had eaten there many times over the years in the exact
same clothes and no one ever took issue with it. The
hostess still made a big deal, but finally relented and
seated us. I should have took that as my queue to leave,
but my friends and I were starved.

There were eight of us and we were seated at a big round
table near the kitchen. We all placed our dinner orders and
the waitress stepped away and came back with the obligatory
thimble full of water for each of us and a plate of rye
bread with butter. About half an hour passed and the
waitress brought out everything that was ordered, except
for my food. Then the waitress just walked away. I ordered
the roast beef dinner.

Everyone started eating and when the waitress walked by, I
asked her when my meal would be served. She said in a very
snotty way that what I ordered was all sold out. You would
think that the waitress would have told me that after I
placed my order. Then she says "would you like something
else?" By that time, all my friends were nearly finished
their dinners and I really didn't want to wait another half
hour for my dinner to be served so, I ended up just eating
the bread and butter.

I talked my friends into leaving zero tip that night. Then
on the way home, I went through a fastfood drive through
and I bought a hamburger and a coke. We never returned to
that place and I made my parents promise to never go back
there; they were fans of this restaurant. Not long after
that, the restaurant went out of business and the land it
occupied was eventually turned into a children's hospital.

My worst memory was in 1977 when we were on our honeymoon.
We drove down from Michigan and camped in the Smoky
Mountains. The people in Gatlinburg (sp) were fun and we had
our first grits there and we liked them with breakfast.
Heading back up north we decided to go through Williamsburg,
VA. We went to this place that was sort of nice but not
ritzy. Of course, my husband didn't bring a suit and tie for
this camping trip. Have you ever in your life been totally
ignored? We were. We left after about a half hour. I think I
left a penny on the table, okay, I was bad, but this was NO
service. We felt like lepers and it gave a bad feeling to me
about the whole town. From there we drove up to Pittsburgh
to visit a friend and this trucker was so kind to lead us so
as to find the friend's house in the maze of roads there.
All in all, it was a happy honeymoon.

We don't eat out.Besides the fat,salt and other 'stuff' in
restaurant food,we have also seen those hidden videos of
what goes on in many kitchens,not to mention the roaches and
other assorted vermin.

I went to a wannabe-upscale restaurant and ordered a rib-
eye. When it arrived, I found that it was full of fat. Not
simply well-marbled, but badly trimmed. The largest piece
of fat was bigger than my thumb (and I have big hands);
trimming off the fat (and not being terribly careful to get
it all) showed that the fat was about 40% of the portion. I
mentioned this to the waiter, who called over the maitre
d'. The maitre d' insisted that this was how it was
SUPPOSED to be.

--
to respond, change "spamless.invalid" with "optonline.net"
please mail OT responses only

(Greykits) said:

Quoted message said:

Have you ever in your life been totally ignored?

Yes, and it sucked. Funny, we were *totally* ignored at two
different Indian restaurants in Houston. Never been back to
either restaurant, and we've never had a problem with any
other Indian place in the Houston area.

Quoted message said:

I think I left a penny on the table, okay, I was bad, but
this was NO service.

No, you weren't bad; you acted appropriately. If you had
left more than a penny, what would you have tipped for??

(Greykits) said:

Have you ever in your life been totally ignored? We
were. We left after about a half hour. I think I left a
penny on the table, okay, I was bad, but this was NO
service.

So why did you leave *anything*?

--
Tony

In article
<[email hidden]>, Scott

Quoted message said:

I went to a wannabe-upscale restaurant and ordered a rib-
eye. When it arrived, I found that it was full of fat. Not
simply well-marbled, but badly trimmed. The largest piece
of fat was bigger than my thumb (and I have big hands);
trimming off the fat (and not being terribly careful to
get it all) showed that the fat was about 40% of the
portion. I mentioned this to the waiter, who called over
the maitre d'. The maitre d' insisted that this was how it
was SUPPOSED to be.

I missed the beginning of this thread. Most embarrassing
experience in a restaurant was before we were married.
Chateau de Paris at the old Dyckman Hotel in downtown Mpls.
We were with another couple. We left our half of the tip and
left. Waiter came chasing after us wanting to know why we'd
left such a puny tip. I don't remember where the other guy
and his date were by then.
--
-Barb, <www.jamlady.eboard.com> Sam I Am updated 5/30/04.
Only 3-1/2 weeks until my birthday. "Shop early, shop often,
shop big." Good gin and cheap chocolate preferred. Or is it
cheap gin and good chocolate? I can never remember. . . .

In article <[email hidden]>,

Scott said:

I went to a wannabe-upscale restaurant and ordered a rib-
eye. When it arrived, I found that it was full of fat. Not
simply well-marbled, but badly trimmed. The largest piece
of fat was bigger than my thumb (and I have big hands);
trimming off the fat (and not being terribly careful to
get it all) showed that the fat was about 40% of the
portion. I mentioned this to the waiter, who called over
the maitre d'. The maitre d' insisted that this was how it
was SUPPOSED to be.

It probably *was* how it was supposed to be. Let me guess,
it was advertised as a X ounce steak? I had a ribeye in Las
Vegas a couple of years ago. It was the special, a one pound
ribeye with salad, potato and vegie for US$9.95. It was a
great deal, and very tasty. However, the way they got that
one pound was by not trimming it.

--
Dan Abel Sonoma State University AIS [email hidden]

Far as I can tell said:

I think I left a penny on

Quoted message said:

the table, okay, I was bad, but this was NO service.

Quoted message said:

So why did you leave *anything*?

People will leave a very small tip so the waitperson knows
it wasn't merely forgotten. It's intentional.

Melba's Jammin said:

Quoted message said:

Most embarrassing experience in a restaurant was before we
were married. Chateau de Paris at the old Dyckman Hotel in
downtown Mpls. We were with another couple. We left our
half of the tip and left. Waiter came chasing after us
wanting to know why we'd left such a puny tip. I don't
remember where the other guy and his date were by then.
--

Not ezzactly your situation, but: What on earth are they
thinking, when you leave a very small tip for what you
consider a good reason and they chase you out the door--that
you'll apologize and increase the tip? Not likely!!!

We did that only once, when we were entertained by European
friends and the waiter added two extra entrees to the bill,
knowing it was incorrect, after up-selling almost every item
we ordered. ("Oh, you won't like that, I recommend xyz..."
at a greatly increased cost, of course.)

He had the nerve to say "I don't think you understand, in
this country it's customary to add a 25% tip to the bill."
Our host said "I don't think YOU understand; in MY country
it's customary to not cheat the customer."

:-(
gloria p

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Dan Abel) said:

It probably *was* how it was supposed to be. Let me guess,
it was advertised as a X ounce steak? I had a ribeye in
Las Vegas a couple of years ago. It was the special, a one
pound ribeye with salad, potato and vegie for US$9.95. It
was a great deal, and very tasty. However, the way they
got that one pound was by not trimming it.

I don't recall it being advertised as being X ounces. It was
probably about a pound, but about 6.5 ounces of that was
fat. When I trimmed it all off, the mound of fat was bigger
than my palm. And this was a place that had some pretensions
of class. The rib-eye was about $25; no, that's not in Peter
Luger's price range, but it's not a $10 special, either.

--
to respond, change "spamless.invalid" with "optonline.net"
please mail OT responses only

"Petey the Wonder Dog" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Far as I can tell said:

I think I left a penny on

Quoted message said:

the table, okay, I was bad, but this was NO service.

Quoted message said:

So why did you leave *anything*?

People will leave a very small tip so the waitperson knows
it wasn't merely forgotten. It's intentional.

Called the "insult tip" apparently. So they know you are
aware of tipping, and are choosing to leave a small
insulting one.

ant