Oh, I don’t think the confusion was what the chemical was… I think the confusion was why someone would think about doing something so disproportional that would also hurt innocent bystanders.
We were at a Bob Evans in Independence, Ohio, my friend ordered macaroni and cheese at 8am alongside his breakfast. Strange. But they offer it, so why not.
Our food came out, but I guess they’d “forgotten” the mac&cheese. My friend corrects this. No big deal, seriously it wasn’t.
About 5 minutes later, the manager of the store (why not just the waitress? we didn’t make a big deal out of anything)— weird Corky Romano-like dude— brings out the macaroni and cheese that he said he made himself. Okay, cool, fine. Whatever, thanks.
But… he doesn’t just drop the mac&cheese off and walk away. He stands there at the edge of the booth with his hand on his hips and tells my friend “try it.” With this weird rape-y look in his eyes.
My friend is like “uhh, in a minute it’s too hot.”
The manager is like “come on-- try it. I made it. Try it, just try it.”
Finally after being asked to try it over and over, my friend just bites into the piping hot mac&cheese. For some reason, the Corky Romano guy is still standing at the table with his hands on his hips… watching my friend eat the macaroni and cheese. Pupils all dilated and creepy and shit.
He stood there awkwardly. My eyeballs were like going from side to side wondering what if this is even real. Maybe it was some sort of candid camera show or something.
But it wasn’t. We both kind of sat there blankly, and he was like “hope ya like it!” double-tapped his knuckles on the booth table, then he scurried back to the front of the restaurant.
Anyways, the manager comped our meal-- which was nice. But that was seriously the weirdest experience at a restaurant I’ve had. He just stood there, hands on hips, demanding my friend to “try it.”
In a case like that, I’d be wondering if he tampered with the mac & cheese.
Yeah, just seems a little lunaticky.
Ooh another weird one. Here in Tampa at the Olive Garden near Busch Gardens, I had a waitress whose name was “Biscuit.”
Yes. Biscuit.
Service was complete shit, she smelled like smoke so bad (and I’m a smoker), she never brought our drinks/breadsticks… I’m talking like at least a 15 minute gap. The place wasnt even terribly busy. We had to complain to the manager. We couldn’t find Biscuit. I’m not that big of a complainer at restaurants usually.
The manager gives us 2 gift cards, and his business card.
We look at the business card and the managers name is Rick Ross-- like the rapper. Not saying that’s an uncommon name. But just funny we had an encounter with both Biscuit and Rick Ross at Olive Garden.
He was just so persistent and pushy. We’re both pretty laid back and passive, so it feels like my friend was almost bullied and manipulated into eating the dish.
Most people I think would be like “dude go away.” Lol
I once had dinner in a hotel restaurant in Springfield, Illinois. I was the only customer in the place. The waiter was nowhere in sight when I finished the meal. I looked all over the place, including the bathroom. I finally found a manager who explained to me that the waiter was a college student who was in his last week at the restaurant, and that he just didn’t care any more. The manager also implied that the waiter was outside smoking a joint. I paid the bill (which the manager brought) and left no tip.
Yeah, your cousin Butyl whiffs like skunk. It’s his wife Ethyl that smells like dead horse. Had them over for dinner lately?
A few drops of difficult-to-eradicate odorant would harm no one except the restaurant’s bottom line.
I’m sure the conversation between the waitress and the 90+ year old owner who happened to be up front (out of sight of the dining room) went quite swimmingly.
My wife and I recently went to a new diner in the neighborhood, excited to try it, as there were not too many diner options within walking distance. They were a little busy, not too bad for a Sunday.
We asked for the open table at the window, and were told by the waitress that was for four people. No big deal, she sat us at a two top near that table. Then she sat two people that came in immediately after us at that window table. Whatever.
My wife asked for a Bloody Mary. She told her in a snotty voice “we are too busy to make you a Bloody Mary - I can make you a screwdriver.” OK, no problem, coffee is fine. We started joking about how they were not busy enough for vodka and OJ but exactly too busy for vodka, tomato juice, worcester, etc.
Wife was facing the table at the window, and I was facing the restaurant. So I saw, before she did, that our waitress was now bringing two Bloody Marys to the couple at the window table. Chuckling, I pointed this out, so on her way back my wife stopped her and asked again for a Bloody. This happened:
Waitress: ::annoyed:: “Ma’am, I already told you we are too busy to make you one.”
Wife: “OK…well, I just saw you bring those people two Bloody Marys.”
Waitress: “Our busboy made those! He wasn’t supposed to!”
Wife: “Well, can he make me one?”
Waitress: “We’re too busy!” ::walks off::
This was pretty ridiculous, but we were kind of amused. While we were still waiting for our coffees, the waitress walks up to our table, and before I can tell my wife that this was about to happen, she crouched down about a foot from my wife’s seated face, startling her, leaned even closer to her, causing my wife to recoil even further, and said “I feel like you’re mad at me. Are you mad at me?”
My wife stammered a little and said “Uh…not really, just a little confused…” then gave me the We’re Leaving Immediately look™ and we got up, said we were going now and didn’t need our coffee, and walked out, leaving her standing there with a strange look on her face, like she was unable to process why we were “mad at her.”
Years ago I went out eat with my sister and her husband to a German restaurant , I had sausages and they were not cooked all the way . So I had them send back to be cooked . I was on my last bite and when I picked it up with my fork there was a dead fly under it ! I was Bullshit ! I asked for our waiter and I show him the dead fly , I talk loud and the manger heard me and came over . He was trying to get me to be quite so people would not know why I was pissed off! The cook was pissed of that I said his food was raw so he put the dead fly on my plate and covered it with the 2 sausages . The manger took my meal of the bill , I told him I was not going to pay for my meal ! I never went back to that dump! There was no way the cook could of NOT seen that dead fly , it was big !
Right, got it. “Live vicariously” through our outrage at the posters of outrage posts.
It’s just hard for me to sympathize with your story. Not because I don’t believe you could sit at a restaurant and be ignored by the wait staff, or even because I don’t believe that sort of thing could go on after you made clear attempts to gain the server’s attention. It’s because you’re the type of person who can recount a tale of screaming and throwing silverware at a waitress and still think you’ll be perceived as the aggrieved party. There may have been reasons you weren’t being served that didn’t include incompetence or malice.
Only if you wanted to impress your inferiors on a message board with your worldly knowledge of everything.
No, only if you want to amuse yourself with the OMFG! reactions of said inferiors who confuse a (chemically/biologically) harmless prank with a deadly terrorist attack.
I use beta-mercaptoethanol in my lab regularly, which is a related compound. As a biochemist I know exactly what you’re talking about. While not a toxin, the whole point is that it’s unpleasant and offensive. That’s reason enough to leave the average passerby alone.
Obligatory Jack Nicholson restaurant experience:
Younger and angrier? I would have said borderline psychotic, but hey, whatever you like.
There is a restaurant near my home at which I no longer dine.
First couple of times I went there, the food was delicious and the service was quite good. I particularly liked the bacon wrapped jumbo shrimp, and made a note to myself to try them again next time.
The following time, I ordered the bacon wrapped jumbo shrimp, and the waitress took our order… and vanished for not quite an hour. No tea refills, no service, no nothing. Finally, I intercepted her and asked if there was a problem. I was told that bacon wrapped jumbo shrimp took an extremely long time to make, and that they would be out shortly.
I wondered about this – they certainly hadn’t taken that long LAST time – but wrote it off to the large wedding party in the main dining room.
We went back one more time, and I ordered the delicious bacon wrapped shrimp. This time, they took an hour and fifteen minutes.
The bacon wrapped shrimp are, indeed, very good, but if you have to starve to death before they get to your table, I’ll do without.
I have one from the other side.
I spent a summer as a host at a diner right of the freeway in a small beach town that saw lots of seasonal tourist traffic from nearby cities. On summer weekends, thousands of families would pack up the kids, drive a couple hours, and show up at our restaurant hungry for breakfast. I had a great partner and we could really manage a rush, but with the sheer number of people long waits were unavoidable.
The only bad part about my job was the occasional running commentary people waiting would provide on my performance. Sometimes, a person would spy an empty table, and begin loud commentary about how they were not being seated when there was an empty table RIGHT THERE. And sometimes, they’d boldly walk right over and sit in it. Sometimes that table would be empty because the waiter was slammed beyond belief, and anyone sitting there could expect slow and inattentive service. Oh well, their choice.
But sometimes, they’d go right over and seat themselves in seat number six. This was always follwed by lots of cussing. Seat number six was broken. That’s why I’m not sitting people in it.
Went to a good steakhouse restaurant with my sister & brother-in-law one evening, after a long day of remodeling work on their house. So arrived rather late, about 8:30pm, and hungry. Seated quickly, orders taken (3 steaks, medium & medium rare), appetizer out soon, along with salad & bread. Then nothing for about an hour (except drink & bread refills). Then the waitress comes by, lays down the check, and asks if there will be anything else.
So we said “Yes, we’d like our meals, please”. Waitress looked shocked, then hurried back toward the kitchen. Our meals arrived in about 10-15 minutes after that, and were very good.
But by then, the band had arrived and was setting up on the platform about 4 feet away, starting to tune up, and all the tables had been moved out of that center area – except ours. The band members, and young people just arriving & standing around were all staring daggers at us.
Good thing we were so hungry by then that we ate it quickly.