After a pleasant day out shopping with my sister, we decided to have lunch at a Big Chain Burger joint. We were seated mere feet away from the restrooms (this is key). We ordered our food and began to enjoy. About half way through, I heard a violent coughing begin at a table behind me. At the same time, my sister who was facing that direction turned completely gray, promptly dropped her burger and declared she was done. I asked her what was wrong as I turned in my chair, she grabbed my arm and said DON’T. Apparently, a girl who was about 14-15 years old, began to cough so hard she was THROWING UP all over herself and the table. Her family (Mother and Aunt) quickly abandoned their seats in the booth and just stood and watched her. She had pauses long enough to make her way to the bathroom, but didn’t bother to move, resulting in an even larger mess for the poor wait staff to clean up. During the entire episode, she whined about it coming out her nose.
After she was all done, the mother went out to the car, retrieved a shirt that had been purchased that day and sent the daughter to change in the restroom. The girl’s complaint? “I don’t wanna wear that! It hasn’t been washed yet!” Honestly! One would think that by 14 years old, one would know to at least attempt to make it to the restroom when such things happen. We asked for the bill and left a huge tip for the waitress, knowing she would be one of the people who had to clean up and haven’t eaten there since.
Tagged as:
fast food restaurant,
medical & illness
Wife and I and our best friends (he a doctor) were having dinner at a famous steakhouse in Brooklyn (no names here, let’s just call the place Peter L.). We were digging into our steak and as a family was leaving the room, an older gentleman collapsed, motionless, to the floor on the way out.
Now, mind you, going to an expensive place like this is an extravagance and I wasn’t about to let the fact that there was a dying man a few feet away from me spoil the meal. The people at the table next to us agreed (they had the restaurant’s famous “Holy Cow” sundaes in front of them, and those darn things melt) so we all continued eating as the drama unfolded. I mean, we are New Yorkers, right?
My friend however, being a doctor, felt he had no choice. Since nobody else there answered the call, he was on the ground with the guy, giving him CPR. So, this was going on for quite a while as we waited for the ambulance to come. I finished my own portion of steak (while my friend was still working furiously on the guy). I looked at my friend’s plate. All that un-eaten steak. So lonely, not fulfilling its purpose, a sad thing, to be sure. God cries when a steak goes un-eaten at Peter L., right? So I reached over and started eating my friend’s steak. I mean, he was spending his time working furiously on that guy 10 feet away and his steak was getting cold anyway.
Finally the ambulance arrived and took over for my friend (who had in fact saved the guy’s life). So, Dr. Friend was royally pissed off when he came back to the table and half his steak was gone. You snooze, you lose, fella.
The maitre d’ said “no check” for our table, since my friend had spared them a headline they didn’t need about a guy dying in their place after eating. But Dr. Friend stared me down. “All right. Sheesh!” I said, as I gave the waiter the full tip myself. I mean, my friend’s wife ate too, right? Don’t you agree my friend ripped me off?
True story from 2007.
Dyinglikeflies
Tagged as:
choking,
doctor,
maitre d'
My husband and I went to a local Italian restaurant with a printed out coupon, intending to use it since there was no expiry date on it. We were told we couldn’t use it (even though it was theirs), and that was the beginning of our troubles.
I can’t eat tomatoes, so I ordered a tilapia Francese dish, and asked for alfredo sauce on the spaghetti. I was told it was “extra.” In fact, just about anything on the menu was “extra” cost compared to the original listing!
My husband had a ziti and “extra” sausage and mushrooms dish, and not two hours after we left the restaurant, came down with food poisoning and was sick for three days.
I wonder, was the food poisoning he got “extra” too?
Fed Up With Fettuccine
Tagged as:
foodborne illness
It was my 36th birthday which lands right before Xmas. My family and I decided to have dinner in San Francisco, which would be all decked out and gorgeous for the holidays. I love old fashioned 50s diners and there was a very popular one by the water that I had been dying to try for years. We had our seafood meals and crème brulees and went home. The next day both my best friend and I, who work together, felt horribly ill and spent the entire day in and out of the loo, and lunch hour napping in a shower stall. We drove home to find my sister just as ill. She spoke to the manager and he defended the food, but agreed to reverse the 200 dollar charge to the credit card. He said he would mail a coupon for a free meal as well. The charge was reversed the next day. Xmas eve was spent passing a box of wheat crackers back and forth between all of us as we were all still too sick for much else. The funny thing is the promised coupon never arrived. Guess the restaurant didn’t want to risk it.
Left My Appetite in San Francisco!
Tagged as:
foodborne illness,
holiday,
owner/manager
