Thursday, April 1, 2010

New hights of pickiness.

I've written before about the joy that is waiting on Shrimp Guy and his son; and I didn't have to deal with them for several months, which was great! Then I had to wait on them on Tuesday, and discovered they've found yet another stupid thing to be nit-picky about.

To recap, this is what the usually order:

Shrimp Guy now always orders the southwestern salad. No sour cream, no southwestern ranch, no salsa; extra guacamole, extra pico de gallo, sub extra honey mustard. Maybe a side of plain unseasoned broccoli--after he tastes his son's to make sure it's okay, or something. Oh, and a Pepsi with light ice, but not until he gets his meal.

His son gets the mini burgers with a side of shredded lettuce (not leaf lettuce, shredded), three tomatoes, raw red onion, and mustard. His fries have to have no salt, pepper, or other seasoning, and be cooked fresh; his broccoli has to be plain. He gets an iced tea with no lemon and an extra glass of ice.

I was already pissed when they sat down; I had a three table section, they've major campers, and one of my other tables was sat with this freaking annoying couple who comes in to watch entire basketball games. Get a TV, folks. Anyway.

I took their drinks--Shrimp Guy can just fucking deal with having his soda before his meal--and went to get their order. To my surprise, the son didn't order broccoli. I thought maybe he'd forgotten, so I asked about it.

He promptly began complaining about how they've been eating here for two years and never knew the broccoli was microwaved, and that ruins the vitamins, so there's no point in eating it, and he just can't believe nobody ever told him before that our broccoli is microwaved, and it was such a waste.

I just sort of stared at him. I thought about pointing out that they're idiots--any cooking destroys nutrients, and flavonoids (which is what the much-referenced microwaved-broccoli study was about) are water-soluble, which means that any cooking involving water will damage them. It doesn't make them worthless. But whatever.

I thought we steamed things and just zapped them to warm them up, so I checked with the cook; when I explained why I was asking he offered to boil a couple of servings of broccoli for them instead. Same cook who freaked out at me for my modifications, actually!

So they got their non-microwaved broccoli, and I took sort of petty pleasure in knowing that more nutrients probably leached out into the water that way than by microwaving them.

6 comments:

Free said...

You should've pointed out that virtually every restaurant that offers broc does it the same way. Raw broc, in a sandwich baggy, 3 minutes in the microwave and viola. The shiny magic cooking box says shut up and enjoy your serving of vegetables. It's steaming without the waste of water. You're much nicer than I am when people ask me for stupid shit. I simply say "Nope chef won't do it, if you don't desire it as it's listed might I suggest...".

Pademelon said...

I don't understand why people this picky ever actually EAT in restaurants. If the restaurant not predicting that you are going to want to know exactly what processes are going to be used to cook your food AND expecting they will then predict which method is acceptable to you is cause for complaining that much, isn't the obvious solution to not eat out? You're totally right about the difference between boiling broccoli and microwaving it. You lose a ton more nutrients by boiling it than you do when micro-steaming. That microwave broccoli study cracks me up because it's SUCH a good example of people misunderstanding scientific studies (something I'm learning a lot about in my zoology and marine bio degrees). Of course heat damages flavanoids and reduces nutritional content. It doesn't entirely negate them and the reduction is dependent on the cooking method. So much better to steam broccoli before boiling it, regardless of whether it's done on the stove or in the microwave.

All that's totally aside from the fact that my parents would have sent me to the car to sit by myself for treating a server that way. Unless I sincerely apologized to my parents and the server, my dinner would be a sandwich whenever we got home. If I politely asked for something and it was forgotten and then on top of that I got attitude from a server, THEN my parents would be ok with me complaining but only politely and non-dramatically to a manager.

I can't believe that chef totally freaked out about the changes in your meal, which you went so far as to prep for him, but the switch to a different cooking method for freakin' broccoli was OFFERED. What a drama-tool.

Anonymous said...

Too funny. Microwaving is actually the *best* way to cook vegetables, as it's the fastest cooking method. The longer you cook a vegetable, especially boiling, the more nutrients are lost. What a dumbass.

purplegirl said...

Anonymous, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks they're morons!

Free, I love this: "The shiny magic cooking box says shut up and enjoy your serving of vegetables." Awesome!

Pademelon, you're right, it's a great example of how people fail at science!

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

I just laugh and laugh when I read your blog :)
Thank you PurpleGirl for sharing these little nuggets, You can't make this stuff up!

purplegirl said...

I know, if I TRIED I couldn't come up with things as ridiculous as what real people request!