4) Surf & Turf
I’ve been working at the same place for about 10 years. My favorite story is about a one man I served. When I approached the table to take the order, this gentleman told me he was having the filet mignon: “The filet mig-non.” I thought the pronunciation was a joke, so I moved on and asked how he would like his filet prepared. He scoffed at me and said “excuse me?” in an extremely condescending tone. I repeated my question, this time asking how he would like us to cook his filet.
He then proceeded to loudly scold me about how fish should ALWAYS be thoroughly cooked, and we should be ashamed of ourselves for serving food that could make people sick. At this point, I quietly asked him if he had, in fact, ordered the filet mignon. He grew angrier with me as I tried hard not to embarrass him in front of his date, and the dining room full of other guests.
I explained to him that filet mignon is a steak, a very nice cut of beef. This guy actually argued with me, causing a big scene. He insisted that “filet means fish and fish should always be cooked all the way!” I apologized for the fact that our filet mignon was indeed beef and politely asked if that’s what he would like. He was disgusted and told me he’d have to find something else to order because he wasn’t eating beef. After a few minutes, I returned to the table. The man ordered a hamburger.
I didn’t even ask him how we should prepare it, I had our cook prepare it well.
