A Florida man dining at Outback Steakhouse found a delicious treat in his potato soup: a two-inch industrial bolt that chipped his tooth.
The circumstances of the chipped tooth are especially sad: the man, James Fetters, and his wife had been at a wake, and stopped at Outback for some food on their way home. When his wife felt too upset to eat the soup she had ordered, Fetters began to eat the soup, only to chomp down on the metal bolt. Outback has offered to pay for the repairs to the man’s tooth, although Fetters says they have been uncooperative.
Man Chips Tooth on Bolt in Restaurant, Outback Plans to Pay for Dental Work [Naples News] (Thanks to Reid!)
(Photo: Getty)
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After going back and reading the article, I’ve come to the conclusion that the industrial bolt in fact fell out of Mr. Fetters’ own industrial-sized head.
Dude is unemployed and can’t pay for dental work, but has no problem eating at a restaurant where patrons regularly plunk down the equivalent of a car payment for a giant fried onion and 7 ounces of beef.
OK. Let’s say it was a 2 inch industrial bolt and, for the sake of argument, that it is somehow possible to not see it on the spoon under the guise of thick potato soup.
But, how can you balance a bolt that big on a soup spoon and manage to maneuver it from the bowl to your mouth without dropping it on the table? I bet this guy always won the egg drop race at summer camp.
How dare all of you question this man. He was clearly in a state of greif when eating the soup(take a look at his photo in the article, there are still tears in his eye), having just come from the wake of his brother, who passed away after chocking on a railroad spike that was in his pizza. When you’re in intense emotional pain, sometimes you miss somethign like a massive iron bolt in your soup. It could happen to anyone.
keep your fingers away from that man’s mouth…he might eat it!
I was going to ask how on earth this guy didn’t see the bolt before he ate it, but then I saw his picture…yeah, he doesn’t look like the type who actually watches what he eats, if you know what I mean.
@induscreed:
2″ industrial-grade steel bolts weigh something on the order of 1/4lb.
You’re telling me he didn’t feel the massive weight on his spoon?
@Scoobatz:
I’m sure they got a look at it, and even a 1″ bolt would have some heft. It would certainly weigh more than the potatoes.
As others have written, it would likely roll off the spoon.
@elc32955:
What’s that saying?
Oh yeah, “shit happens.”
They definitely should have comped your meal, but people make mistakes.
Unless you’re saying that you’ve never made a mistake at your job, ever?
i never eat at outback anymore.
i ate at the outback near purdue university 5 years ago, it was the only thing i ate all day (other than a snickers bar), and the only time i’ve gotten food poisoning! i was up all night puking every single hour on the hour. and guess what… i had the potato soup.
i called the manager the next day, he didn’t care. he asked what i had to eat and if anyone i was with got sick. well.. they didn’t, but we all ordered different things! he must not have believed me or something, he offered no compensation and never called me back. i didn’t get to digest any of the food i paid for, it all wound up in the sewer, and on top of my miserable night of intense vomiting you’d think he might be a little sympathetic
DON’T EAT AT OUTBACK
One plausible idea?
The article says it was a “cup” of soup. And that it was wife’s and was going to be left uneaten otherwise. As the guy known among my friends and family as the human garbage disposal when it comes to leftover food at a restaurant, I could definitely see the guy (who also looks like he has a ‘healthy appetite’) grabbing the whole cup and drinking it from the cup. Typical restaurant soup cups are heavy stoneware so the weight wouldn’t have been noticed, and the bolt could have hit his teeth when started drinking it.
I don’t 100% buy this myself as an explanation, but it would seem like a plausible one given what facts we are given. Also, another point in his favor is that there were four people in the dining party, I could see a guy pulling this with only his wife there, but it said they were eating with another couple. I can’t see many people going along with getting a comp’d meal from Outback when they knew their ‘friend’ had slipped the bolt into his own food.
I think it’s a mixture of truth and lies….
I suspect:
Man already had chipped tooth.
The bolt REALLY WAS in the bowl of soup.
BUT
the man found bolt BEFORE biting into it
AND
He figured he might as well say he DID bite it and had chipped his tooth on it, in order to get his tooth fixed.
They’ll pay for the dental work but I doubt they’ll pay for any pain and suffering ‘damages’. This is just too fishy and smells of scam. Where did the bolt come from? Chances are it’s not even soup thats PREPARED at Outback, but rather just heated up there so you’d have to go after the distributor.
Now I have my proof. I just found the “copycat” recipe on another site. This is such a scam.
Ingredients
* 5-6 large potato, 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk, 1 lb Velveeta cheese, cubed, salt, pepper, garlic
Garnish
* sour cream, bacon bit, shredded cheese, green onion top, 1/4″ bolts
Directions
1. Wash, peel, cut potatoes in small pieces.
2. In medium size pot, barely cover with water, boil until cooked but still firm; drain.
3. Add milk and cheese to potatoes; cook on low stirring constantly until cheese melts. Season to taste. Do not boil.
4. Ladle into serving bowls and add toppings of sour cream, bacon bits, shredded cheese, 1/4″ bolts and green onion tops.
It’s not even the right sized bolts!
@CyGuy: Bravo! That’s definitely plausible (and I know this because I was thinking the same thing. And I’m always right, even when I’m not)
—
Couple of questions for the “This has to be a scam! I mean, he’s unemployed, and doesn’t have the $300-$500 for a dentist, but he’s eating at Outback?!!!1″ brigade.
- Have we established he was paying? I mean, it’s not unheard of for people to buy other people meals, especially when they know that person’s going through rough financial times, or something bad has happened and they desire company.
- If you were unemployed, and weren’t *broke* but still had to watch your money, would you be willing to pour $300-$500 of your ‘cushion’ into a dental visit, which was needed through no fault of your own? Putting your faith in an *insurance company* to reimburse you down the line? I’d be like “Hi! You need to pay for this upfront because I can’t” – even if I could. Just so I knew that it was done, that I wouldn’t have to fight to be reimbursed, that they couldn’t weasel out of denying my claim, so that they couldn’t try to dick me around to the point where I had to hire a lawyer, or go after them in small claims court.
Regardless of whether or not this is true, i don’t care. The potato soup at outback is one of my favorite foods of all time! i’ll still eat it!
@unravel: I think there’s a tendency in teh internets communities, not just Consumerist but anywhere with commenting (YouTube comes to mind), where people are so eager to call “Fake!” that they’ll ignore perfectly plausible explanations.
Not saying I buy this story, but it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility either. Yeah, it takes a lot of coincidences for this story to come together, but that’s why it’s made its round in the first place.
Never order anything at a restaurant that says “High in Iron” on the menu.
“How do you *NOT* notice a two inch cast iron bolt in your soup.”
Ah, cast iron you say. Good to know.
“2″ industrial-grade steel bolts weigh something on the order of 1/4lb.”
Ah, yes, 1/4lb. Because there is only one diameter, type, and composition of 2″ bolt. Yep. Mmm Hmm.
Is the victim some kind of fastener god who can convey precise specs with so few words? Give me his number. I could use his assistance on some BOMs.
Given the near limitless variety of threaded fasteners, yes, a 2″ “bolt” could be very difficult to notice, especially if the guy were slurping/spooning from his cup.
He’s going to show up in court with a neck brace for the sympathy vote.
@legwork:
“Given the near limitless variety of threaded fasteners, yes, a 2″ “bolt” could be very difficult to notice, especially if the guy were slurping/spooning from his cup.”
Let’s go on the assumption he didn’t notice it in the soup, which I find hard to believe. So he puts it on his spoon, let’s assume he didn’t notice the fact that something larger than his spoon was now on his spoon. Surely, once he put that two inch bolt in his mouth he HAD to notice something? As soon as the bolt hit his tongue he should have known something was up.
Or, if he was slurping as you suggested wouldn’t he notice this 2″ bolt being slurped in? Go ahead and try.
There are parts of this story that don’t make sense both for and against him. Like having another couple there or the lack of lawsuit would lead me to believe this is real but the “physics” of it make it hard to believe it’s not a fake. However, in the end, I’m saying fake. A 2″ bolt is hard to miss, even more so when it’s larger than the average spoon. Without being there and actually witnessing it we can only go by the two sides which both seem to disagree already.
If this isn’t a scam, at the least, they grossly exaggerated “industrial bolt”. I have a feeling “machine screw” is more appropriate. A No. 8 or No. 10 machine screw 2 in. long wouldn’t weigh a whole lot.
Still very unlikely though.
I had a similar experience at a local restaurant. Place is called McGurks in O’fallon, Mo. Was eating a pretty expensive steak and when I was almost finished with the meal my wife looks at my plate and responds, “what’s that on your plate?”. Turns out it was about a 1 1/2 ” bolt. Called the manager over to show her. She seemed a little apprehensive when she took my plate back to the kitchen but came back and apologized. She said it came from their salamader (some type of broiler).
Was comped rather well. They cooked me another steak and all the sides (didn’t ask for it, hell I was almost finished with my original meal, had them box it up to take home) gave us both desserts. Told us everything was on the house. Then the manager came back when we were getting up to leave and gave us a $50.00 gift certificate. Above and beyond in my opinion.
@Coles_Law:
I was thinking the same thing.
On the other hand, it says the restaurant has been uncooperative. I don’t blame them. Its a coin flip, some will use it as evidence against them to try to hit the lawsuit jackpot, while other genuine people will be happy and persuaded not to sue by the cooperation.
I’m from Naples, and I know a lot of people who used to work at that Outback. That’s why I don’t ever eat there.
@Walter Sobchek:
I take it back, the GUY was from Naples, the Restaurant was up north somewhere. I’ll still pass.
@che_leo: Not if he thought he could pull it off without getting a lawyer.
He may have just wanted to get his tooth fixed for free, but it may have been chipped somehow else.
Happened to me in a chicken soft taco in a newly opened Chili’s. They explained that the lettuce chopping machine probably hadn’t had all its parts tightened on arrival, making the screw vibrate out of the works. Had I actually bitten the thing, I’d have been plenty pissed. Seeing as how they merely took my food away, offered me anything on the menu plus a boatload of free meals, I chalked it up to opening jitters. Hey, it was a reasonable explanation. Things happened. If I’d actually bitten the thing, I’m sure their insurance would have paid for any damage, anyway.
I call shenanigans.
There’s speculation that the guy is scamming Outback.
See, this is why you should never bolt your food.
I’ll be here all week.
I once found a screw in a mushroom swiss burger at Ruby Tuesday. It must have been sauteed with the mushrooms, because it was melted under the swiss, and looked like a mushroom. Fortunately, I noticed it before I bit into it. Unfortunately, I had finished almost the entire burger before I noticed it. The manager paid for my meal, offered another free meal, and comped my drinks and my friend’s drinks.
On another note, I also once found a toy ring in my movie theatre nachos. The kind of ring with an adjustable band that you’d buy from a gumball machine. It was dark in the theatre, I thought it was a piece of chip that had fallen in the cheese, and it was in my mouth before I realized what it was. This happened at a small, locally-owned “dollar theatre”. The manager’s first question was, “Are you sure it’s not your ring?” I’m 30–I don’t buy rings from toy machines. Then she tried to defend herself by saying that she had no idea how it could have gotten in there, because the cheese comes from a cheese machine. I said I didn’t know, but I almost swallowed it. She asked me what I wanted her to do. I was totally caught off guard that she was trying to blame it on me and I said that I should at least get a refund of the $4.50 I spent on the nachos. She very reluctantly handed over the money and glared at me as I walked out.
I still think it’s amazing these chains don’t actually make the soup from scratch. They just open a plastic bag, pour it in a pot, and heat it. You gotta remember, this is the news, so it was probably a small screw.