At 7pm, on Sunday, October 21, 2007, my son and his girlfriend went to the Red Lobster in Douglasville, GA looking forward to coconut shrimp and other scrumptious Red Lobster sea food.
The house was reasonably full, so after a ten minute wait, son and girlfriend were seated.
The waitress introduced herself and brought silverware and water. The moist, cheesy biscuits didn’t come out until their salads were served. Both ordered Caesar Salads. They dug into their salads with gusto. Girlfriend ate a few bites of her salad. She enjoyed it and dug her fork in for another bite. This time she pulled out a piece of lettuce with a hair twirled around it. The hair was also wrapped around a crouton. The hair was soaked in the salad dressing and seemed to go on forever, as she pulled it from her bowl.
Girlfriend couldn’t say much as she pulled the curly black hair, about 6 inches long from her salad. At this point, I’ll note she has very blonde hair. It was not her hair. She did manage an “Oh, my God!” She immediately asked the nearest server for a manager.
A manager came to the table and she explained to him that there was a hair in her salad. He said how very sorry he was, and that he would take it away and bring her another. Understandably, she did not want another Caesar-Hair Salad.
The manager took the hair, at this point on a napkin, and the salad. Son, trying to be polite kept eating his Caesar salad. Eventually waitress came back and asked was there a problem, when she was told about the problem, she casually said, “Oh, sorry.
After another ten minute wait, with no drink refills, no additional bread, the food came out. Girlfriend had tilapia and son had coconut shrimp. Both ate a couple bites and couldn’t stomach anymore. The waitress asked if they wanted dessert because the manager said they could have a free desert because there had been a hair in one of the salads.
They said they didn’t want a free desert. The waitress went and brought the $32.00 check to my son. They told the waitress that they were both feeling sick and couldn’t eat this. They asked to speak to the manager again.
The manager came back out. They told him they didn’t want the food, could they just take her food off the bill. He said, “Well, since you didn’t seem so disgusted when you found the hair (Which being interpreted they didn’t cause a scene.) I thought it didn’t bother you so I thought I’d just give you a free desert. Some people aren’t bothered by hair in their food.”
Girlfriend and son repeated that they did not want a free desert; they wanted her food removed from the bill. They made it clear that they wanted to pay for his meal and the drinks. The manager said he would take her salad off the bill because it had the hair in it. Son and girlfriend agreed that was reasonable.
Mr. Manager made a mistake. He took off the cheaper meal, $12.00, which was my son’s meal, instead of the $18 meal, which was the hair-in-the-meal. Son and girlfriend explained the mistake to the waitress. They asked to speak to the manager again.
The manager came back, visibly agitated that his roaming the restaurant with a soda had been interrupted. They explained the situation to him and he started to demonstrate an attitude. He said there must have been a mistake. They explained, yes, it was a mistake. They would not pay for her meal, but would pay for son’s meal.
At this point manager’s attitude was getting pompous and snappy. He said most people would be happy just to get a free desert. “I thought that was more than generous.” Girlfriend said, now getting loud and looking around, “Well, most people didn’t get a hair in their food.”
At this point, the manager, with a very sarcastic tone told them to, “just forget it, he would take care of it.” He then said in a tart tone, “You have a good night ma’ am.”
My opinion, these kids know how to act in a restaurant. Girlfriend is a waitress. She knows what is realistic and what to expect. She never mentioned the carrots the waitress spilled in her lap. Mr. Manager didn’t want to take any loss, and he thought he was going to take advantage of their youth. They didn’t get nasty, but they held their ground.
Now, we will all hold our ground, no more eating at Red Lobster, Highway 5, and Douglasville.
