An Achieved Status

I've been given the title Regular at Dees Family Restaurant. I'm there once a week. Toward the end of the semester I'm there sometimes twice a week reading and studying and doing end of the semester things, which is right now.

On Wednesday I go in and order a bacon, cheese, tomato melt on white (three strips of bacon, a couple slices of tomato, and swiss cheese between two pieces of grilled bread). You wouldn't think that it's very good but it really is. I eat my salad and fries while I'm reading. I pick up half of this totally awesome sandwitch that I've been thinking about since about 9:30 PM and take a bite.

This tastes funny. I take a nother bite, not really paying attention. Still tastes funny. I look at the sandwitch and find that there is American cheese on it. What's this crap? Since when did they put American cheese on a bacon, cheese, tomato melt? Under further investigation of the sandwitch I find that it looks like they made a grilled cheese sandwich, realized their mistake, opened the sandwitch, slid the correct ingredients in, and served it to me.

Um, I hate American cheese.

During the Dee's Scare of 2004 they kept selling the establishments to build Walgreens and Mexican restaurants. I've been going to Dee's since I've been little and to come home to a valley less three Dee's (that I've been to) I was quite concerned. May we have a moment of silence to honor those fallen Dee's Restaurants of 3500 South, 400 South, and North Temple.

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The building on 2100 South and 700 East became my Dee's when I moved out of my mom's house. This is the Dee's where I earned my achieved status (sociology term) of a regular. I was concerned to find that this restaurant, that I've grown to call my own, has screwed up on my order. This has never happend at my Dee's. I've been going to my Dee's for three years now. I've eaten probably hundreds of meals there and this is the first time they've ever messed up my order.

I looked up to my waitress and then I looked down at my food and my book then back up to my waitress. I realized I needed to make a decision. Send the food back or eat what's been given to me. How many of you have been in a situation where you've had to send food back to the kitchen in a restaurant? I don't recall many times where I've had to do this. In fact, I think this is the first time this thought has crossed my mind. Maybe my bark is bigger than my bite because I'm sure I've said, "If anybody ever screws up on my order, by gum, I'm sending it back." I didn't send it back. I ate the bacon and tomatoes then realized that there was a rather large group of young adults that was seated behind me (I'm just realizing this because I've been so into my book that I really didn't know they were there).

I got up to pay. Heart pounding. Eventhough she doesn't need to ask, the manager says, "How was everything tonight?" I start out with, "Now, how often do I complain? I don't. But (insert the sandwitch ordeal here)." I reassured her that she would not loose a customer but asked her to talk to whomever she needed to talk to.

The next day I go back to Dee's to do some soul searching. I told the manager again the she didn't loose customer. I got my food, did some writing, and paid for my meal. It was perfect, the Dee's I always remember. She told me that she talked to the cook, who wasn't all there anyway, and told him that if you screw up on an order, throw it away and remake it. She told him that a lot of these customers are regulars and know what's in their food, such as my case. I told her that I appreciate what she did and I also told her that that situation probably would've driven a regular customer away, just not me. Dee's has served me for 15 years and this is the first time my order was ever screwed up on. I'll be back as long as I have studying or reading or writing to do.

I still love Dee's and will go there until I'm old and grey, if I'm still in Salt Lake by then.