# You find a human hair in your food at a Restaurant: What do you do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088 "2005-09-23T17:33:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/21 "2005-09-23T21:17:15Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I wouldn’t care for one hair, it’s just a hair. Exactly my thoughts. Considering all of the germs and nastiness which can be in resturant food, a hair is the least of my worries. I’m not so delicate that a hair is going to make me queasy. Pick it out and eat your meal. ---
**Author:** ![Nightsong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightsong/32/3083_2.png) [@Nightsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightsong)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/22 "2005-09-23T21:32:10Z")
First I’d check to make sure it wasn’t one of mine: my hair is rather notorious for showing up in odd locations at odd times. (Places I haven’t been to for nearly a year, for instance.) I’ve been eating at home a few times, and had to pause to pick out one of my own hairs from my plate. In a restaurant though, it’d depend on circumstances. If the hair is on top of the plate/food, I’d pluck it off and keep eating. That hair could have come from anywhere: the cook, the server, someone who just happened to walk by at the right time… not exactly something the restaurant could have done much about, except if they managed to spot it before it got to me. **In** the food, on the other hand, since it suggests that someone wasn’t as careful as they should have been with cleanliness, that would probably get mentioned. (So far, however, this has not happened to me in a restaurant. I have had a hair on top of the food, but not in the food.) * * * \<\< The trouble with being an adult is that it takes up so much of your time! \>\> ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/23 "2005-09-23T21:49:25Z")
I have long hair and shed constantly, which is probably a good thing since otherwise I’d probably look like [this](http://photos1.blogger.com/img/82/994/640/GiRa-Roseanne%2520Roseannadanna.jpg). I’m so used to picking my hair out of my food that picking stranger hair out doesn’t phase me. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/24 "2005-09-23T22:21:50Z")
After checking to make sure it wasn’t mine, I would send it back, and probably order something different so I know they wouldn’t be just plucking it off and giving me the same meal. It’s not an inexcusable offense to have a hair in your food, and it wouldn’t make me sick or anything, but when I go to a restaurant I expect high quality food (well, higher than what I make) and that doesn’t include hair. I’d still pay for the second thing, as long as I didn’t find another hair on it. > [@](#): > > it bothers me less if the hair in question is thinner & lighter than if it is very thick & dark & long It bothers me more if the hair is translucent and short, because it’s harder to see in food. You could be eating gobs of blond hair every day and not realize it. That’s why I only like my food to be served by Australian Aborigines. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/25 "2005-09-23T22:38:47Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > I could tell she was relieved for not being lamb basted for something that usually gets a wait-person in trouble. This made for an interesting mental image . . . lambasted \ You sold me a hair with a cake on it . . .\> \ Scarlett Another person who would just pick it out ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/26 "2005-09-23T23:17:36Z")
As a general rule: Hair found in food cooked in my home by either me or my husband: pull it out of the food and go on with meal Hair found in food cooked by anyone other than above in any other location than above: cannot continue with meal While I understand that these things _do_ happen and it’s no one’s fault per se or even a gauge of an unclean restaurant, home or sloppy cook, my brain simply will not let me lift the fork to my mouth again after finding a foreign hair. I don’t usually complain or send the food back, I just stop eating. ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/27 "2005-09-23T23:37:01Z")
I’d probably assume it was one of my own or a stray pet hair that had hijacked its way into the restaurant on my clothing then fallen onto my plate. I have found a hair in my food that obviously wasn’t mine. I’ve just sent the meal back and gotten a replacement without making a fuss about it. The waitress was extremely apologetic and comped my meal, but I didn’t expect that or ask for it. It was a bigger deal to her than it was to me. I understand that hair falls out. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/28 "2005-09-24T01:14:00Z")
This entry is by my daughter, **MilliCal** : A funny thing to saywould be…hey waiter there 's a hair in my food ! ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/29 "2005-09-24T21:21:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > A funny thing to saywould be…hey waiter there 's a hair in my food ! Waiter: Please, keep your voice down or everyone will want one. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/30 "2005-09-24T21:56:07Z")
Oooooooooooooooog, I stopped going to my beloved “99 cent Chinese Buffet” restaurant because I found an 18" hair wrapped around and around and around a piece of sweet 'n sour pork. Not doog! I’m phobic about human hair other than mine anywhere it’s not supposed to be (food, potty seats, etc). However, dog and kitty furr doesn’t phase me at all – we have three labs and are constantly picking furr out of the food. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/31 "2005-09-24T23:57:15Z")
Waiter? What’s this fly doing in my soup? Looks like the backstroke, sir. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/32 "2005-09-25T00:05:44Z")
It depends on how hungry I am. If I haven’t eaten in over 8-10 hours, I’ll gladly push a finger out of the way in my Wendy’s Chilli! ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088/33 "2005-09-25T00:18:38Z")
I come from a culture that finds complaining difficult. I would (and have) move the hair to the side, whinge about it quietly, finish eating and leave. I find it very difficult to complain about anything. Last week I bought a carrot juice, the seal was broken and it was off. I poured it down the drain and went on with life. I am conflicted about complaining - will whinging improve my life or make life harder for a someone else, usually an innocent party (how would the waiter know there was a hair or the checkout person know the juice was off before I told them? Was it their fault?). My golden rule is if I spend less the $10 (NZ) on something the chance is that it may be fucked up, complaining only causes grief to someone not directly involved with the fuck up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-human-hair-in-your-food-at-a-restaurant-what-do-you-do/323088.md?page=1)