Ugh....

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while but I’ve been so disgusted that I didn’t want to rehash the churning of my stomach…..

Last week while my boss was away, Amanda and I had been working our asses off getting our office in tip top shape which I am proud to say, we did a great job. Wednesday after a grueling day, we decided to go for a well deserved dinner at one of the local restaurants that we USED to frequent called (actually I don’t want to say the name of the place because my brother pointed out that if this out for anyone to see, they may have grounds to sue.) My sister came to join us as well. We all sat at a table and Amanda and I ordered our usual nachos to share as we had many times before. We weren’t even half way into it when Amanda stopped and turned pale. She told me, “There’s a bug!” and pointed it out to me. Right in the pile, I spotted what she was talking about. It was a cockroach belly up and dead. It could’ve easily been mistaken as a bean that was mixed in with the chili. My stomach churned and I immediately called the waitress over who didn’t seem an ounce friendly from the get go. When I told her, she replied with, “Are you sure?” “Yeah, I’m sure!” and pointed it out to her. She mumbled sorry and took the tray back to the kitchen. Amanda grew quite quiet and I felt terrible. Because it had been too long between meals for me, my blood sugar level was dropping and I began to feel a little weak. Whenever that happens, I get quite cranky and feel really out of it. Thinking back we should’ve gotten up and left but my mind wasn’t at a right state. I forced myself to order something small but ended picking at it because I couldn’t eat anymore. Amanda nudged me and pointed my attention to the waitress who was now in conversation with another waitress. She was clearly talking about us because they kept looking over at us, smirking and giggling. My sister was oblivious about it all because she had her back turned to them. I felt my blood boil so when we left, I insisted on not leaving a tip. We didn’t get charged for the nachos but were billed for everything else. I know this is not usual practice at restaurants. I’ve been through less disgusting situations before and had our whole bill taken care of. I thought of asking for the manager that night but we wanted to get out of there ASAP! Amanda looked like she was going to hurl! In an event to calm her a bit, we all went to Starbucks to sit and sip on our favorite Caramel Macchiato.

The next day, we went back to speak to the manager. My friend, Michelle insisted on it. She had worked in the restaurant for 6 years and informed me that they dealt with the situation poorly. I wanted to go in person because I have been working in the area for 12 years and I wanted them to recognize me as a regular customer. The manager recognized me right away because she had been a server there for a while and had waited on me in the past. It seems that she took the situation quite lightly. “Oh, well I have to tell you honestly, I’ve never seen one cockroach here ever. Are you sure?” she said after I told her the situation including our ‘pleasant’ waitress. “Well, if you want to get technical, I’m not sure if it was a roach but it was a bug nonetheless. There were legs and everything.” I insisted as my stomach did a flip flop. “I apologize for that. Hopefully we’ll do better next time.” She replied and I began to get thoroughly irritated and pissed. “There won’t be a next time. Definitely will not be a next time.” I stated and left. I didn’t know what I was expecting but I certainly did not expect that.

FYI: I am in the process of sending a report to Public Health’s Food & Safety Board. I know they will take this seriously.