“Happy Father’s Day! Here’s Some Spit in Your Burger”

Yet again, we have a story about a server who wrote something inappropriate on a receipt only to have the customer read that receipt and then run to the news media to get their fifteen minutes of fame. Such is the case with a customer named Curtis Mays who was celebrating Father’s Day last week at the Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria, Queens.

There was some kind of mix up with his food, so he asked the waitress if he could see the receipt. On it, was his order: “burger, well done, cheddar, toast bread, please spit it in it too.” Yes, this silly waitress typed in a modifier to ask the kitchen to spit in the food. Of course, and rightfully so, Curtis spoke with the manager who fired the waitress and comped his meal. I have so many thoughts rolling through my tequila soaked brain right now.

  1. How did the customer get the kitchen receipt and not the regular receipt? Clearly, he has a copy of the expo ticket; the one that prints in the kitchen with all the specifics about an order. If he asked to see the receipt, why did the waitress give him that one? Doesn’t she know how to reprint a ticket?
  2. I don’t believe that the waitress typed “spit in it too” into for any other reason other than to make the kitchen laugh. It was Father’s Day and probably busy seeing that the place is a beer garden. Typing silly things for the expo to read is just one way to make your day a teeny tiny bit more fun. When I worked at Houlihan’s and knew that my friend Randie was expediting the food, I would type all kinds of things onto the ticket knowing that the only person who would read it would be her. I certainly didn’t type “that mouse by Table 61 is back again” just so the lady at Table 61 could read it.
  3. I also don’t believe that any cook would actually spit in the food just because a waitress asked them too. For anyone to sink so low that they are willing to add a shot of saliva to a burger, they have to have been personally wronged and willing to risk their job. A cook isn’t going to do that for someone else. Besides, most of the time you ask a cook to do something extra for an order, that requests goes unnoticed. If they aren’t gonna pay attention to “extra pickles” are they gonna notice to “spit in it” either?
  4. How did this story even make it to the news? Was ABC7 driving through Astoria searching for the next developing story or did Curtis Mays pull out his cell phone when he thought he could be on the TV for thirty seconds? Granted, the waitress crossed the line, but it must have been a slow fucking news day for something this inconsequential to make it to air.

BOTTOM LINE: don’t type stupid shit onto your receipts, servers, because if you do you can guarantee there will be someone who wants to be on the news badly enough to call their local TV station and you will need up on the unemployment line.

Discussion

  1. Monica R.
  2. Johnny Culver

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