Fair Compensation

3rd Blog entry in 3 days.........while on vacation.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
In 2008 there was a very bad case of salmonella that spread across the country. The evil perpetrator? Tomatoes. Nobody knew which types of tomatoes or from which growers the problem originated, so most restaurants and local grocery stores temporarily discontinued using tomatoes as a safety precaution. After all, NOBODY wants their name in the paper for selling contaminated products!

So this one lady comes up to the carry out counter for her order. She examines the contents of her package and notices the house salad doesn't have tomatoes. She makes a comment to the 17 year old working the counter, who goes and grabs one of the managers for this irate lady.

Marv approaches the carry out counter and does the customary, "I am the manager. Is there a problem here?" schpiel.

"Yes there's a problem here. My salad doesn't have tomatoes in it!!!!!", the lady answers.

"Ummmmmm, Ma'am........I don't know if you were aware, but there is a national problem with salmonella going on right now. As a precautionary measure, we have temporarily removed tomatoes from our products. As soon as the situation is corrected we will put the tomatoes back in our dishes.", Marv responded.

Here's my favorite part: "So HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO COMPENSATE ME?", she asks Marv. The nerve of this lady. When there is a national epidemic on tomatoes, this lady thinks the restaurant OWES it to her to compensate her for her problems..... OY VEY! Personally I would have loved to be a manager for one second---just to respond to this moronic lady!

I'd say something clever, but not too mean like, "Your compensation is the reward of NOT getting salmonella and sitting on the toilet with explosive diarrhea for 3 days!". Unbelievable. Can you imagine if this lady had been served tainted tomatoes by us? She would have a JACKPOT lawsuit, and I am sure any restaurant with the available funds would rapidly settle out of court ($$$) to keep a low profile on this unfortunate situation.

In another ridiculous story regarding some lady that thought she was entitled to the world..... Some lady was upset with her carry out order of one of our salads (there's those crazy salad people again!). She was riddling the poor carry out attendant about her order. Here's another "End of the world" situation, you could just tell! So what's this ladies beef? She thought we ripped her off in the lettuce department. HA HA HA

You see, our carry out salad container is a clear plastic container with approx dimensions of 4" deep, and it is rectangular approx 5" X 9". The container holds 4 scoops of the lettuce mixture (iceberg/romaine), proper tomatoes, corn, this, that, and all other ingredients EXCEPT the salad dressing. You see, the salad dressing is served in a 4 oz souffle cup---so it doesn't make the salad soggy. The 4 oz souffle cup is set on the top of the salad container and it is all enclosed. This way the dressing could not be forgotten at the restaurant, or spill out of the carry out bag. That's how it was designed, and that is how it is!

So this lady is upset that the dressing container was INSIDE the salad container and was wondering HOW WE EXPECTED TO COMPENSATE HER for her lost lettuce mixture. Imagine these rodents with nothing better to do than complain about allegedly missing lettuce. And let me guarantee you, there is PLENTY of lettuce and every other ingredient in the container. One of the managers comes to the counter to deal with this deranged wacko. "Good afternoon Ma'am. My name is Stuart. How can I help you?", starts our very polite, mild-mannered manager. The lady explains that she wants the lettuce that she lost out on because of the space that the dressing container took up. Stuart explained to her that the container has the 4 scoops of lettuce that it does when ordered in the restaurant.

"You don't expect me to believe that, do you?", asks the lady looking totally shocked and in disbelief. "Ma'am it has EXACTLY the same amount of lettuce." repeated poor Stuart. "Well I don't believe you!", the lady states. A small crowd was gathering and watching this lady have a fit. If I were the manager I would have told her to call the police and file a report, or to file a lawsuit that we (name of restaurant here) ripped her off of her proper amount of lettuce mixture. What jury wouldn't side with this crazy lady?

As it was this lady wouldn't leave Stuart alone, so he says he'll have the General Manager call her in the morning. "We'll he had better call me!", the lady says in a menacing way. I am thinking OR WHAT? ARE YOU GOING TO BURN THE PLACE DOWN OR GO POSTAL BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T GET ENOUGH LETTUCE FOR YOUR SALAD??? IS THIS A NATIONAL CRISIS??? LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION???

And the truth of the matter is a 4 oz souffle cup doesn't take up an awful lot of space in this giant carry out container. The only thing I can figure out is this lady doesn't get heard in her work place or home, and this is her one spot to throw stink on somebody else. GET A LIFE, LADY! Don't get your validation from bullying a 17 year old carry out worker, or snapping at the food servers or young managers. There are certainly worse things that could have happened to you than NOT being served tainted tomatoes, or getting cheated out of an imaginary clump of lettuce.