I’m the guy who introduced the hijack about Ms. Food Returner. Sorry. …
In my three decades of eating out half my meals with literally thousands of distinct meal companions this one person is my sole example of a chronic returner. She’s a woman, but an example of one in that big sample space is hardly indicative of the gender distribuion of folks like that.
I’ve sent back grossly over- or under-cooked steaks. But that’s a very rare (heh ) occurrence. Stuff happens in any production environment, but IME not often.
Back to the OP topic and my pledge to gather & report some anecdata …
Last night GF and I shared a salad and an entrée that were each split in the kitchen. So identical orders between us. There was no discernable difference in the size of our respective portions as delivered to the table. Despite some obvious differences in our own sizes.
Just one data point, but one not supporting the OP’s cited complaint.
When I order a steak it’s medium-rare for me but I’m easy going. Anything short of crunchy or Pittsburgh-blue is acceptable and it’s been decades since I sent one back. Desertroomie can’t stand the sight of myoglobin and orders hers well-done, butterflied if it’s a thicker cut and sent a few back for more fire until she learned that.
Hamburgers, OTOH I order medium-well when give the choice both for food safety and esthetic reasons, finding the somewhat squishy middle of a rare burger off-putting. I’m thinking I would not be a good candidate for steak tartar.
We ate at Longhorn last week. I ordered an 8 ounce sirloin and my wife had a 14 ounce ribeye. When our waitress sat them on the table she remarked, “Now there’s a women who knows how to order a steak”. My wife often gets a bigger steak so we can have Yum Nua (Thai steak salad) the next day.
) occurrence. Stuff happens in any production environment, but IME not often.