How Do You Complain Without Complaining?

[underdog]

So tonight my wife and I went out to one of our favorite places in Boston to eat (Silvertone). I ordered steak tips and when I bit into one of them (after I had already eaten a couple), it didn't taste good. I had my wife smell it and it was obviously "bad". I kept eating the other ones and got to another that smelled weird. I finished the rest of the food (it was delicious) and I wanted to tell the waiter to let the cook know. I don't like to complain, I understand shit happens in a kitchen or at a store. It's usually not anyone's fault, so I didn't want to be whiny food guy looking for comped food, I just wanted to let the kitchen know so they didn't serve bad steak tips to someone who would freak out.

I pulled the waiter over and told him what happened, but tried to explain that I wasn't complaining, just to let the chef know. I still felt like a douche. He gave me my tips for free and I told him to charge me for them, as I had eaten everything else on the plate. I ended up just tipping him what I would have paid for the tips had I been charged.

So how do you tell someone there's something wrong without looking like a jerk?

[TooLowBrow]

So tonight my wife and I went out to one of our favorite places in Boston to eat (Silvertone). I ordered steak tips and when I bit into one of them (after I had already eaten a couple), it didn't taste good. I had my wife smell it and it was obviously "bad". I kept eating the other ones and got to another that smelled weird. I finished the rest of the food (it was delicious) and I wanted to tell the waiter to let the cook know. I don't like to complain, I understand shit happens in a kitchen or at a store. It's usually not anyone's fault, so I didn't want to be whiny food guy looking for comped food, I just wanted to let the kitchen know so they didn't serve bad steak tips to someone who would freak out.

I pulled the waiter over and told him what happened, but tried to explain that I wasn't complaining, just to let the chef know. I still felt like a douche. He gave me my tips for free and I told him to charge me for them, as I had eaten everything else on the plate. I ended up just tipping him what I would have paid for the tips had I been charged.

So how do you tell someone there's something wrong without looking like a jerk?

i guess it wouldve been rude to stop eating spoiled food

[Gvac]

If you ever figure it out, let me know.

But seriously, I think you handled it perfectly. I've called waiters over in similar situations and told them my food was spoiled, all the while assuring them I wasn't a ball buster. I fear what happens when you send food back to the kitchen.

[Knowledged_one]

It is how people percieve it your best intentions can still be taken wrong

[Fez4PrezN2008]

Why in the WORLD would you feel like a douche or jerk for sending something sub par back!!!??? I feel a snoogans comment... must resist... STOP BEING A P///////////////

Seriously, they expect it and its what you should do. Don't worry about it. You're the paying customer, right?

[underdog]

i guess it wouldve been rude to stop eating spoiled food

I was hungry. Only two of the tips were spoiled.

But that's why I wanted to pay. I ate the food, charge me for it. I wasn't looking for a free meal.

[underdog]

Why in the WORLD would you feel like a douche or jerk for sending something sub par back!!!??? I feel a snoogans comment... must resist... STOP BEING A P///////////////

Seriously, they expect it and its what you should do. Don't worry about it. You're the paying customer, right?

Because I go there a lot. I would like them to not start spitting in my food or giving me shitty service.

[Death Metal Moe]

Naa man, you handled it fine. You didn't make a scene. I personally think you were a little TOO nice, there would be no way I'd pay for that meal or keep eating it, but hey that's your call.

I don't think you have much to worry about going back there in the future.

[TooLowBrow]

Because I go there a lot. I would like them to not start spitting in my food or giving me shitty service.

the cook would be like, fuck, heres the guy who didnt like it when we gave him rotten meat. lets spit in his fries and see if he eats that too

[Fez4PrezN2008]

Because I go there a lot. I would like them to not start spitting in my food or giving me shitty service.
That's stinkin'-thinkin' man. They probably know its iffy based on who's on the line that night anyway. Ever watch Hell's Kitchen? I love it when those steaks go back. They get called on putting out sub-par food. Same deal in real life. If some guy at H&R block f'ed up your taxes and you knew it, wouldn't you go back for a re-do?

Watch the movie "Waiting", now that C that sent her stuff back did deserve what she got, but far cry from your situation.

[underdog]

That's stinkin'-thinkin' man. They probably know its iffy based on who's on the line that night anyway. Ever watch Hell's Kitchen? I love it when those steaks go back. They get called on putting out sub-par food. Same deal in real life. If some guy at H&R block f'ed up your taxes and you knew it, wouldn't you go back for a re-do?

Yeah, you're probably right. I've just been a cook before, I know shit happens that isn't always totally in your control. I didn't feel like having the chef bitched out because of a slip up, just wanted him to know there was something wrong.

[underdog]

Naa man, you handled it fine. You didn't make a scene. I personally think you were a little TOO nice, there would be no way I'd pay for that meal or keep eating it, but hey that's your call.

I don't think you have much to worry about going back there in the future.

If it were the first tip, I probably wouldn't have kept eating. But I had already eaten three of the tips with no issue, so I just started smelling everything before I ate it.

And if I had sent it back right away, I wouldn't have felt like paying. But the fact that I ate everything but two small tips, I felt I owed money. But I also feel that tipping the waiter the difference will make him realize I wasn't just being a dick and really wasn't looking for free food.