I've only ever sent food back that was actively raw, and not the sort of raw that is intentional.

My mother once got angry when she was served a dish that had neglected to mention anywhere in the description that the crab portion of the dish was a hard-shell crab in the shell served on top of the rest of the food. It was cooked, happily, but still not easy to deal with.

ita, I thought I understood your earlier response about provocateuse okay, though if you recall the clarification I'd be interested. How much money have you made by now?

I'm with ita on the food backsending.

As for a drink being sent with a number, one of the advantages of not being considered that pretty is that I don't have to deal with that kind of stuff. Phew. I've had drinks bought for me once or twice where it was sent over, but no number. I used to try to politely refuse the drink because I hate feeling beholden to people. But eventually I realized that people think that's rude. So now I just take the drink, nod my thanks to whoever the waitress points out and leave it at that. This drink-sending-over has only happened to me a few times and usually in contexts when I was performing so it was easier to take that if it had come completely out of the blue.

I sympathize with all the things you mentioned, ita, because guys who use that approach are usually very "goal-oriented", for lack of a better way of putting it.

Too salty is something I'd like to call wrong, but I know that's just me, and my tastes, and I'd just call that dish an object lesson.

But you don't know that -- maybe it is too salty, and the kitchen fucked up. Why assume your tastes are in the wrong? Unless you've sent back something covered in shaved truffles, the restaurant isn't losing any money worth speaking of, and you'll get to eat something you like. If your waiter get snippy about it, that's entirely their problem.

[eta:

To me, wrong means it was badly-prepared. This is different than a dish which is well-prepared but it just doesn't suit my palate.

If it tastes bad to me, then I assume it's badly-prepared, unless it's an ingredient I've never encountered before. I see no reason to automatically give the kitchen the benefit of the doubt over my own palate.]

Christmas eve, mom sent back a salad at Applebee's because whatever it was, it wasn't the salad she'd ordered*. The waitress insisted it was, and was kind of bitchy about it. Then the hostess came over and said "what on earth is that?" and went back and made the correct salad. She got her very own tip.

* It kind of surprised me. Mom doesn't often do that. But we had a few drinks in us at that point, so....

How much money have you made by now?

$134. I'm sure that it'll taper off, but even counting what they'll take off for tax, this should make the site more self-sustaining for a while.

Lessee...right! It was about people I know. Tim and Colin are the only people I've put up that I knew well before deciding to put them up. If the site is something I'm not sure how to breach in conversation, no pics will go up. Colin didn't mind, and I was pretty sure Tim'd be tickled (pictures of either would go down in a heartbeat if they asked). Dave Chappelle's picture's up too, but I think a) he wouldn't mind b) we're not going to see each other again, so I'm good with it. There are other guys who're not going up (or no more of their pics are), because it would just be weird...but those are guys who fall between Dave and Colin on the knowing-them scale.

More than you asked for, eh?

What made you wonder?

Why assume your tastes are in the wrong?

I'm not saying my taste is in the wrong, but rather admitting that I like my food less salty than restaurants are going to prepare. So there's food that's perfectly reasonably seasoned that I'm not going to like -- it's not the kitchen's job to play dice in the dark with my peculiarities. If I want something without cilantro, I need to ask for it that way.

I've been assured that that's just me having been burnt, that in LA I can drink the coffee and take or leave the number as I see fit without any hassle.

Jesus, ita. I don't think I've ever been confronted in the parking lot over a drink. Inside the bar, sure. But since I go to the bar with friends, I usually have a couple of big bruisers at the table with me.

I refuse all "free" drinks unless they're clearly bought without any romantic intention whatsoever. The last time I accepted a drink, a guy was buying rounds for everybody because he'd just won some money.

I make my own money. I can buy my own drinks, and I'm always going to go home with me.

Reminds me of dancing. In the States, guys seem to assume that if you dance with them, you're going home with them. I never ran into that problem in Europe.

The first time I accepted a free drink, he got lucky. It's possible that it's on my file.

If someone strikes up a conversation and buys me a drink, it doesn't bother me so much. If they don't it makes me creeped out.

I swear, Detroit has a lot of random guys with not much to do with their time. So there'd be occasions where making eye contact was not just license to follow, but license to upbraid if the attention wasn't well-received.

In LA, no one gives a fuck and nobody pays me any mind. It's one of the reasons I moved here. I can't imagine being bought a drink here either, but I'm not at restaurants in the evening alone much myself.

Jesse, when you get home, get on IM. k?

My boss (who took a personal day today) just called in to see if the high corporate mucky-mucks have finally sent an email saying the company can close early today. They haven't. So she gave me dispensation to close the phone lines an hour early today. Yay!

I don't generally go to bars, except when the cable is out and I want to watch a game. They're too loud, the food tends to suck, and I live in a college area.

I like my food less salty than restaurants are going to prepare.

I don't go to a lot of restaurants, but my experience is usually that foods are under-seasoned, for the express purpose of letting the customer season it to taste. Except for that one place that puts cayenne in their cole slaw...

I'm a pretty picky eater myself, although my pickiness is usually manifested in a dismay at the lard/mayonnaise/deep-fried additions to what would otherwise be a nice, light meal. French fries with a burger, okay, but mayo on the burger and butter on the bun? I need a little contrast and a lot of lettuce/tomato.