Metal in my childs food.

But you were more than compensated.I agree, I would be upset if it
were my daughter to, But here is the thing; You received replacement
potato's, a free piece of cheese cake an apology,and a phone call
suggesting that they actually made the effort to figure out and solve
the problem.

They went above and beyond.

You WERE compensated.

You got the item replaced, you received an apology, and even got a
free item. They even tried to figure out what went wrong and
explained it to you.







I see NO requirement to compensate the whole meal.

This one made me smile. Okay, I’m not trying to be nasty; however,
come on folks, let’s keep this in perspective: no one was injured, the
twelve-year-old had a nice evening out, enjoyed her meal and that was
that. Why is it that these days whenever something out of the ordinary
occurs, people start screaming, yelling and seeking compensation
immediately? Good grief!

Last fall a friend took me to a very expensive, very plush restaurant
in New York City. I was enjoying my salad when I noticed something
that was not meant to be in the greens, a small worm. Did I shriek and
make a scene? Nope. I quietly flagged our waiter and showed him the
tiny worm, which I had removed and placed on the side on the plate.
The waiter removed the salad and brought another one. He apologized
and that was the end of things. The meal was lovely, the service good
and we had a great night.

Last week I grabbed a quick meal at a national chain restaurant and
was in the middle of my meal when I found a piece of odd plastic mixed
into the meal. Again, I showed it to the waitress, she removed the
dish, replaced the dish and the story ended. I was quiet about the
whole thing and didn’t expect any compensation because NO HARM WAS
DONE. I was then shocked when, at the end of the meal, the manager
told me there would be no charge. I thought this unnecessary, but
thanked her and left a hefty tip.

Perhaps the reason why I don’t make a fuss over these things is
because I once worked in restaurant kitchens and understand how things
can happen, even in the best managed kitchens. Or, perhaps because I
have a handle on what is really important in life and guess what
folks? It isn’t this petty annoyances!

"My daughter could have been severly injured my biting down on that
piece of metal."

Here is the problem I see. Where's the proof? The manager now has the
only evidence. In the future it would be best to hold on to the
evidence or at least take a photo. I remember first day of Torts or
was it Contracts...well the professor said he always used too say keep
a one-time camera in your car to photo an accident both the car and
the scene so you have evidence. Now instead of a one time camera it
use your cell phone camera. But the point is you then proof and
evidence. I am not saying the place would lie but.

Second you do not say what the babysitter said. I would think that
since the babysitter was the adult-in-charge that the manager may have
felt things were properly handled based on speaking with her. Could
you fill us in on this point? Thanks.

It was a metallic twistie tie. Probably mostly foil. It wasn't going
to cause serious injury and guess what? IT DIDN'T!

I agree you should have gotten replacemet potatoes or a refund on
them, but $60.00? Both meals? No way! Unless there were twistie ties
in all of, I assume it was all eaten.

Your daughter was jipped out of mashed potatroes and that is what you
deserve compensation for...not something that could have happened....

weekend. And in a short time not only will I be able to eat at home,
I'll know where my food came from. Well not the meat. People living
next door called the landlord and I had to get rid of the cow and the
pigs. Smell and all...you know. The good thing is my one bedroom
apartment now seems bigger. I wonder what the landlord is going to
say about the 2 inches of soil covering my bedroom floor? Hey had to
have somewhere to plant the gardren!! Just funny with you Rowdy. Keep
those Rowdyisms coming.

I am definitely not looking to sue! I am looking for a more serious
response from the management of this restaurant! A free piece of
cheesecake is what you get when you go to The Cheesecake Factory for
your birthday, not what you get when you find a piece of metal in your
food. I'm sure that the restaurant industry will be thrilled to know
that you think that "as long as nothing bad happens" it doesn't
matter what ends up in our food. I'm sorry, I am still of the
opinion that when I go to a restaurant, I'm expecting that I won't
have to "keep an eye for something" that might be in my food...
Really?? When something like this happens, it needs to be taken
seriously. She was NOT given a new order of mashed potatoes. The
waitress never brought them back. I am incredibly thankful that
nothing bad happened to my daughter, please do not get me wrong! I am
simply trying to make the point that it was a very real possiblity
that something could have happened because the metal was actually in
her food. Im not making up some theory of what could of happened.
Metal was in my childs food. I understand accidents happen but a
level of responsibility has to be taken also. The manager actually
told me that they do typically "take care" of meals that are not as
the customer expects, but since my daughter was so nice and happy
about the cheesecake they felt that it was sufficient for her. That
is sad to me. Just because someone is kind and gracious about an
accident means that the restaurant doesn't have to do what the
"typically" would do? This situation just is not making sense to me.
I just wonder how many people out there would really be ok with paying
$60 for a meal that had metal in it. Just to be clear though, the
potatoes were NOT replaced. They were taken away a couple mins later.
No explanation was given as to what the metal object was. I had to
call back later to ask what it might have been. I also had to ask
what would be done to make sure that it didn't happen again. It just
doesn't seem to be the way a quality restaurant would handle a
situation like this.

Let me share my "metal in food" story.

I went to Waffle House for breakfast with my niece. I ordered a meal
which included a waffle. I noticed a dark spot in my waffle, but I
didn't think anything of it.

I started to eat and then I got to the dark spot. I couldn't cut into
it! I moved the waffle bits off and discovered a BOLT in my waffle!

I handed it to the waitress who flipped out and the entire kitchen
staff started to tear their place apart, looking for where it might of
come from. I was given a free meal and an apology. I still paid for my
niece's meal.

Not once did I think I should get something else. It didn't even cross
my mind. Now, had I bitten into that bolt and broke a tooth...I'd want
them to pay for the dental work, but I wouldn't take them to court for
a ton of money.

I think the staff at Cheesecake Factory handled this professionally.
They took the metal, investigated where it came from, replaced the
potatoes, and gave her free cheesecake. I call that case closed and a
job well done by the staff.

ARGH! YOU DON'T DESERVE COMPENSATION! NOTHING BAD HAPPENED.

You don't deserve compensation throughout life just because something
*might* have happened. Get that out of your head right now.

Sometimes things happen, and no restaurant is perfect. Although
physical contamination of the food by a foreign object is not
something that should ever happen, it is going to occur at least once
and a while. They replaced the potatoes which was the right thing to
do. It sounds like the meal was good except for the side, therefore a
free dessert is reasonable to me. It sounds like the situation was
handled and everything was all taken care of.

I'm curious as to what compensation you think would be fair? They
apologized, brought her new food and offered a fee dessert. Which
made your daughter happy.

Yes, it could have been worse, but it wasn't.

Free dessert that your daughter was happy to accept? Check. An apology
and an explanation? Check. It may have been a bit troubling, but
thankfully nothing happened to your daughter. If I was that concerned
about the welfare of my child, comping the meal wouldn't have made
things right.