Consumerist
The BBC is reporting that a restaurant owner has apologized to some customers who received the above-pictured bill.
""I couldn't believe it. The bill read 'fish cakes', which one of us had for a starter, and it was written right above it - absolutely disgusting language."We actually booked the table for 8 o' clock in the evening, by the ,time they had taken our order it was quarter to nine and we didn't actually receive our food until quarter past 10."
She added: "I'd like a written apology from the restaurant and I'd also like some compensation."I think that the way that we've been spoken to is absolutely outrageous."
The owner of the restaurant "Joe Delucci's", Mr Langsdon, told the BBC that the message was intended to be seen only by the kitchen staff.
"That shouldn't come out on the bill, so we've got to find out what's gone wrong there.At least the item was free...?"But we have apologised unreservedly to the girls concerned and said that they're very welcome to come back and have a free meal and we'd like them to."
He has also offered to donate the bill for their meal to charity.
Comments
Damn. My restaurant receipts are never that interesting.
Sounds like an episode out of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares
I'd sell them the same item, only it won't be free.
this is the best thing ive ever seen on this website. thank you!
"That shouldn't come out on the bill"
The guy might as well say "that's what we say about all our patrons, just not to their faces".
Well Damn.
"The owner of the restaurant, Joe Delucci, told the BBC that the message was intended to be seen only by the kitchen staff." WTF. Why would he even allow something like this between his employees? I'm not opposed to screwing around a bit, but why put this into your POS system where it could accidentally end up on a receipt.
"Absolutely disgusting language." Agreed. Who in the hell would put a fish in a cake?
Lol, it wasn't supposed to be viewed by the customer's but it was supposed to be viewed by the kitchen staff... Interesting
@clevershark: Damn! You beat me to it!!
But that is basically the truth. Why have that as a menu item in the computer?
@clevershark: Um, I was thinking the same thing. Rather than blame it on a pissed off watier, he's actually admitting that this is common practice in his restaurant? It's just that they usually remove the rude comments before the bill is given to the customer? WTF?
i think this would be a great company to work for. they sound like a fun bunch.
Maybe they meant it as a compliment.
I'm seeing it as a comment from the waitstaff to the kitchen. It doesn't have anything to do with the customer. It was just them insulting each other in a novel way, and the customer just happened to accidentally be let in on the (hopefully) joke. Yes it's a serious screw-up, but I don't see that the intent was to insult or offend the customer.
Words only have the power you give them.
Damn! 4 pounds for a glass of wine! That's like 8 bucks... that's the horror.
Oh yeah, the nasty comment is sucky too.
Well, at least the wine included VAT
Too bad she wasn't charged $2,242.00 for it!
Common mistake, the keys are right next to each other.
I would actually die laughing if i saw this on my bill. But i would also complain and get some freeness out of it.
Hey, at least they weren't charged for the Suck My Dick Fuckface. They got off easy. Do you know how much we charge for that in the states?
Written apology? Compensation? I don't see how that could possibly be enough for the trauma you've been through tonight. Clearly this person was a true fuckface and deserved to be referred to as such.
Wow I just burst out laughing. That's amazing.
Did you notice the "Meatball Starter" for 17.85 ? They got screwed twice!
In a P.O.S system such as positouch, aloha, etc. there are modifier buttons. For instance if you need to make a note for the kitchen, you would press open food, 0 dollars then write in your memo.( like sauce on the side, no onions) These modifiers shouldn't print on the bill but in this case it did and the server should have looked at the bill before handing it to the customer.
holy crap! they spent 73 pounds on alcohol!!! I hope it was a big party.
Are you sure this was a restaurant they visited. I mean, maybe they thought it was a restaurant, but...
I had a friend who worked as a bartender. He said when people wanted to run up a tab he'd often give their tickets nicknames something to remind him which person at the bar had which tab. Of course the nicknames were not always good ones. He also said since food tickets got printed out back in the kitchen they'd send notes on the bills back and forth to each other. While the customer shouldn't ever see them they did sometimes make their way out to the table. Usually they were extra careful with the tickets that said something like "brown tweed complained about the brandy. He's a small D*cked pretentious F***".
I'd keep the bill as a souvenir =)
That's an awesome bill. Maybe they had it coming.
That reminds me of a receipt I got from the grocery store once. The receipts would always say, "Your checker is...!" and then it would have the name of the checker in all caps. So once I got a checker who had a name that made that situation amusing. My receipt said, "Your checker is GAY!"
I'm curious as to why they have even such an item on the list and why is it intended for internal kitchen staff... I'm thinking it means to tell the chefs to spit in the food when the see such an item listed.
It's likely (although boring) that the item is a placeholder that lets the kitchen staff know when the starters are nearly finished, so that they can start cooking the main course.
They're normally labelled "Go-Ahead" or something equally dull.
I think it's pretty amazing that it was free....maybe they should have pointed out to the server that they put an item on their for no charge, and they usually have to pay for that.....
@krunk4ever: my friend has corrected me and said it's usually the waiter that spits in your food.
@Charybdis: This is what I think it is also. I've worked at a few places where pranks and messages between employees would totally be misconstrued if the public were aware of it. In the end, though, it just helps build some camaraderie amongst the employees to keep morale from hitting the floor.
The retail store I used to work at allowed for a different descriptions to be printed on the item tag and receipt paper. I used to change the descriptions to confuse the old ladies at the register, but never anything offensive.
Aw, Meg, you took my punch-line!
Totally agree it should have been removed before the customer got it, but I tend to agree with the folks who suspect it was just camaraderie. When I worked as a waiter, it was really important to play around with the kitchen to keep things light. We had "TB Tables" which were tables at which at least one person was seated whom I wanted to give a tongue bath. I'd use little notes like that (computers have replaced the times you could just tell the line cook that sort of thing when you put in the order; now, these screens you have to punch the order into foster creativity.) I'd totally have loved getting that bill.
What are they complaining about? The Suck My Dick Fuck Face was on the house!
Consumerist: Do you think you could tell us the name of the restaurant? That's not part of the story?
...and so ended Billy Ripken's career as a waiter.
at least they didnt charge for it! hahaaa...
Never a dull moment...
Beyond the receipt... it took 45 minutes from their reservation time to get their order taken? And then another hour and a half to get their food? I'm amazed thse folks stuck around long enough to even get this receipt! "Ma'am, would you like some written abuse to go with your starvation?"
@jkaufman101: Methings the Consumerist doesn't actually read the articles they link to. "Joe Delucci" is the NAME of the restaurant, not the name of the owner.
@jkaufman101: It's called Joe Delucci's, which is the guy's name.
No one's offended that the owner refers to presumably adult women as "girls"?
@jkaufman101: Just follow the link to the original BBC story - the restaurant name is right there. If you google it, you can find the restaurant's web site.
@hypnotik_jello: Oh you're right. My fault. I misread that.
I think the owner handled it well. Maybe he could have explained that that area is for notes to the kitchen, and that he will have a talk with the wait staff who are using it inappropriately (even if he wasn't going to discipline them, it would probably make the customer feel better).
I think the bill is funny, and while I might have pointed it out to a manager or the owner, I wouldn't have gotten upset about it.
At a restaurant/bar everyone I work with spends a fair amount of time at, every tab at the bar has a name. Its usually the name of the actual person. Since they know us, the receipt will usually say "Ali&Ricky", "Lisa", "Mary", etc. If they don't know the name and put "Blue shirt" or something, the bartender will delete that line before passing along the bill. Once one slipped through for someone across the bar labeled "No Tip Douche". I'm gonna guess thats what happened here.
...booked the table for 8 o' clock...we didn't actually receive our food until quarter past 10...
Did they, by any chance, spend the 2+ hrs bitching to every employee that came within 10 feet of them? Hence the "suck my dick fuckface" label for the table in question?
All of this and no one's even pointed out that 'fuckface' is one word! A refund was indeed in order!