Clancy and I both prefer our meat well done, though she is more of a stickler for it than I am. We went out over the weekend to a diner across the street from the hospital. They are inclined to undercook the meat, so we both make a special point of requesting “well done” and about half of the time they do it. Saturday was one of the other half. Clancy waited a bit to ask them to cook it further, but the waitress was MIA and she was hungry enough that she ate it anyway.

When the waitress gave us the bill, she commented on it, politely requesting that she say something to the cook for future reference. Now, whenever we say something, we don’t actually expect them to say something to the cook. When I went to the front to pay the bill, the waitress said that the cook felt bad about it. Before she took the credit card, though, she asked if we wanted another burger for each of us. Suspicious soul that I am, combined with the fact that she hadn’t taken the credit card, I thought I was being asked to buy two more burgers because the first two weren’t done right. I was a little irritated.

But no, they were free. Apparently the cook actually felt that bad about it. So we got free burgers for lunch the next day.

I am generally of the type to not bother telling anybody that they got something wrong. Like I said, I don’t think they actually tell the cook about it. Or feel bad about it. I expect them to be irritated by the unctuous customers who want things “just so”, don’t order tip-enhancing drinks, and probably aren’t going to tip very well for a reason they view as being frivolous. Clancy is more the type to speak up. And it scored us two free burgers. Not bad.

I ate my burger straight out of the fridge the next day. Clancy thinks that’s bizarre. Is she right?