# what was the best mod you have found on a bill



## chef911 (Feb 24, 2005)

then the mod's written allover it. for exampel:

2 omelit specials = hold on one, egg alargy

or baked cod = hold no rice sub ice cream hold. hold .hold

or some of the best alargy's you have seen. I love it when thay come in and the front staff bring you a card that thay have had laminated, with all the things thay can't eat ( some are just plain allergic to air) or the people that (its a miracle thay are still alive) bring in ther own food and plates cutlary and glasswhere. think Jack Nickelson in as good as it gets and magnifiy it x 10 

feal free to add your favoret bill mod's we have a wall of shame for some of the best, but we are starting to get hassel from the front as it now covers a large tac bord on the line ...We should frame it and give it to the worst offender in a award ceremony.


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## chef heather (Aug 17, 2004)

I personally think it'd be pot kettle black for you to criticize ANYONE for anything seeing you can't spell basic words like "feel" and "allergy."  Anyway...if you knew how serious food allergies were, you wouldn't find it so funny. I hope I am never misfortunate enough to end up at your truck stop, "Chef."


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## danbrown (Feb 19, 2004)

I second that.


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## rivitman (Jul 23, 2004)

People with food allergies should stay at home, or know what to order when they arrive. making the kitchen responible for ther special needs is foolish, and opens us to a lawsuit.

We are not dieticians here, or clinicians. 

"Are there Onions in X?" asked the waitress.

Ummm, No I said, but later had to cancel the order because I rememberd that there was onion powder in a prepared ingrediant that was a small component of the sauce.

Might I have killed that customer?
Maybe, but from then on, I forbid staff or myself from making any guarantee that any food leaving our kitchen if totally free of any allergen.


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## danbrown (Feb 19, 2004)

Sometimes, from the line, it's easy to forget the real reason that we are making a living in the kitchen. The pressure can build, and internal and external stresses can get to be too much. At times like this we can forget the importance of our guests. It is in these moments that we must work to remember who is putting the pennies into the paychecks.

When people have allergies, I try to see it as a challenge, it makes me stop and think about details that are often difficult to remember (I feel your pain about the onions Rivetman). Challenges are what makes cooking exciting, not something to complain about. C'mon, making people happy is the job, they're paying for a service, if you don't think you're being sufficiently compensated, find another job. 

I definitely agree with the approach "we can't guarantee," unless you're running a perfect HACCP kitchen, and you've got today's journal on a PalmPilot, and it's in your pocket.

Usually I just play safe bets, there are unmarinated grilled chickens, white rice, and V&O salads for onions, gluten is the easiest thing in the world as long as you can avoid roux in the sauce, and really I don't think I've met an allergy I can't offer at least two choices to answer. People with allergies usually have a pretty good idea what it's safe for them to eat, and I do my best the hear those ideas or have them brought to me by a server. That's how you build a reputation for caring about your customers. That's how you build a reputation with the customers. That's the job.

Pinning up tickets that have errors on them is bullying the waitstaff, and I need less "chefs" like you in my kitchens, the 1980s are over. Let it go. Teach people by showing them and talking to them, not mocking their mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. Learning from them is how you improve.


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## rivitman (Jul 23, 2004)

Generally, I would agree, but my staff are well briefed, and I view repeat ordering offenses as gross carelessness.

Things like selling items not on the menu, setting prices for special items not offered, hanging tickets 20 minutes late, none of this is acceptable, and they should expect a response.

Accomodation is fine for chefs with the time. Often, I don't, not in the middle of a hundred cover service period. I simply don't have time or personnel to deal with it. It slows down service to every order on the rail. When time permits I will do what I can. 

Do I try to accomodate? Yes. Do I still think those with food allergies, especially life and death ones should either be intimately familiar with the idea that there are eggs in ceasar dressing, and need to accept that restaurants are not well suited to special diets? Yep.

I don't think this makes me less service oriented, or a kitchen neanderthal.


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## mikeb (Jun 29, 2004)

A good one I remember. Someone ordered a steak, on the bill it had a note saying she was allergic to protein.... We all had a good laugh about it. Amazingly enough, she didn't die when we gave her the meal...  

Another time the server told me a customer was allergic to strawberries... AFTER I had already sent out the dessert (which had a chocolate strawberry truffle). Gotta love those servers... The customer ate the truffle and was fine btw...(server got lucky)

For the record, I take allergies very seriously (especially nut allergies), but sometimes customers blatently lie and make up rediculous allergies...(see example #1..)


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Well said! I lived for "challenges"...on the other hand Rivithand had some valid points as well So there can be a fine line..., also the rest of your post Dan, was well said.


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## chef911 (Feb 24, 2005)

Now Its amusing and surprising the backlash from people.
For your Information Heather. I have worked in dumpy little truck stops,Third world countries,and All over Europe.(Though I admit never in the U.S.of A., Maybe it's different down there) It was not untill I started working in one of the top restauants in my city, that I have ever had so many people cry wolf...yes cry wolf ..
I am not intolarant to genuine medical needs ..(and I can hear Heather already beginning to dout my abillity of telekinesis) it is the people with dislikes I have a major problem with. Every thing becomes an allergy. I deal with the risk of anaphvalactic shock very seriously with the kind of zero tolerance that can send a halting wave down the line, for some one that that banters the words "ALLERGIC TO" around so that absent minded floor staff, might just get there order right. 
I would personally like to thank Rivitman, for his insightful look into a high paced kitchen, and I am sorry I offended any upper management.You can tell them by there tone and belief that the front house, is in it for anything, but the tip's. I apologise to Hether.Who for lack of information I can only assume lives in Califoria and workes in a politically correct, low volume ,High staff ratio, university cafeteria. 

I started this as a fun thread. For any who deal with the consistently, unnecessary, stress put apon them by absent minded, crocodile smiling "well I'm an actor realy, I'm just doing this to pay the bills" front staff.

We are professionals with a love and passion for that of our chosen field. A old saying comes to mind 
"It's hard to soar with the Eagles 
When you are surrounded by Turkeys"

As far as allergies are concerned I find it a a deadly serious issue and I have allwayes bent over backwards to accomodate. From the mundane to the inpossable. 

I ask myself now, why did I wake this sleeping Dragon.

Was it for a thertherapeutic venting of the collective?

A bonding with my peers?

Or for S**ts and gigles baby?

That I have asked these provocative questions begs for a varied response.

Please continue to post your thoughts as thay are of a valuable and much needed voice. 

Some one once said "Your either with us.. or against us" 

But it was not me!!!! 

We are in this together so don't take it too much to heart.

I await your thoughts.


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Personally I saw no intended offense in your original post. Some saw otherwise, I myself can see both sides. When I first read it I thought the only thing I could think of offhand when I got an order for a NY Strip "Pittsburgh style" (or black and blue as some know it.) charred on the outside and raw in the middle, and they wanted it medium well  I told the waitron (kiddingly of course) that if they didn't know what they were ordering I wasn't going to make it  . I explained what the problem was and they clarified it with the now embarrassed but further educated customer.

Perhaps the problem was not so much what you were looking for in your post, but the way it was presented. I think I understand where you were coming from. I have seen many people that "confuse" not liking something, with an allergy, but it is a thin line to tread because it is a very serious issue, and you can't always tell the whiners from the serious cases. Instead we have had posts about FOH staff that have totally infuriated us for various reasons, and that's likely the way the post should have been presented. Allergies and modifications are a touchy subject as you found out, and nothing to laugh about, and I am convinced that is *NOT * what you had intended.
So let's all have a drink and fuggetaboutit :beer:


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## headless chicken (Apr 28, 2003)

Not that its a food allergy but my mother gets nautious when she tastes milk (something about the taste of milk) yet she will order ice cream, yogurt, even items with cream sauces with no problems  

The one I find hilarious is this vegetarian girl I knew back in college, she would order a meatball sub from Subway. She removed the meatballs of course, she said she liked the taste of the meatballs in there but not the texture of the meat.


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## jim berman (Oct 28, 1999)

Heather... let's not make a mountain out of a mole hill. I did not read any malicious intent Chef911's original post. Keep in mind, ChefTalk is an educational forum for a lively exchange of ideas and understanding; let's refrain from personal attacks.


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## chef_bob (Jan 13, 2005)

Boy did this get a little out of hand! 

Back to what I beleive was the spirit of the original post, one of my favorites was a Burger with Pineapple juice as a Mod. Turnes out the server wanted the burger with nothing on it so they figured PJ for "plain Jane" made as much sense as anthing. Sure had me scratching my head for a few minutes though.  We actually ended up adopting the Mod and used it several times for "plain Jane"


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

I always liked those which ask for their steaks MR but with no pink, or WD but still pink. Happens.


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

Dan,

Good post, Chrose...well you know


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## chefmikesworld (Nov 17, 2002)

I was the Exec at a Hilton in Lynchburg, Virginia...

The waitress was my girlfriend turned wife...

I had a no call/no show, so I was on the line and the soon to be Mrs. Cheffy was in the dining room, slow night, all was good with the exception of having the CheffyBoy work that night...

I get an order for a Chateaubriand with the mod's reading...hold the pickle, hold the lettuce, and extra ketchup...

I started just chuckling (I really loved this little girl)

I made the chateau, grabbed a #10 can of ketchup unopened, placed it on a tray covered with a cloth napkin and had a runner bring out the food with the directions for the runner to explain to the patron that if they cared for ketchup with the chateau then they had to figure out how to open the can...he played it to the T, without the next ex-Mrs.Cheffy having any idea what was going on....I go out to watch his perfomance only to find out it was my mother...

LOL...

What a fabulous spectacle...I could have died....my mom was just messing with me, the soon to be Mrs. Cheffy was so intimidated she didn't know what to think, she would have rather listened to my mom's beckon and call and tick me off then tick her off...

Was pretty funny...

Cheffy


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## jscibelli (Jan 22, 2005)

well, just to get back to the original intent...I once received:

"Pan-fried bass...allergic to butter, olive oil, nut oils, and wine."

hmm.

And just last week on a chef's tasting menu: can't have meat, gluten, garlic, onions (or anything in the onion family), organs (foie), cilantro.
Likes to stay away from: fatty fish, sugar, butter, salt.

Imagine that! Endless possibilities...


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## al_dente (Mar 9, 2005)

I work for a private club where the members write there own chits out. It seems to be the highlight of their day to play 'Server' with all their very own abbreviations...sigh. Imagine looking up at the rail and seeing 30 doctors prescriptions. It's about the same. The laughs regarding what they write are too many to mention, but they become less funny when a meal, or several meals have been prepared incorrectly and we come to an all stop to fix the situation...everyone looses. My solution has been to get the order taker to re-write the unreadable and clarify the order with the member before the misunderstandings occure.

Not a normal F&B system I know, but this thread looked like just the right spot to vent about it, heh.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

After awhile don't they all order the same thing anyway?  Mrs. So and so wants her Mandarin Chicken Salad with extra fried wontons.

Extra points for those of you who catch the added humor.


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## frizbee (Sep 27, 2003)

But I swear I am not....
We just had a (new) server the other day ring in a grilled cheese-no cheese-sub-bacon....
She meant to hit just add bacon but got very confused and really stressed out, and screwed it all up. But you know back of the hose let her have it!
My other favorite...is the folks who come into our seafood rest. and say...I am allergic to seafood. I mean come on....
Frizbee


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## chef john (Mar 3, 2005)

Probably the most unique one I had was when a Japanese customer wanted a T-Bone steak with the filet Medium Rare and the Sirloin Medium Well. My quick thinking sous chef scratched his head for a moment then boned out the filet and sirloin and threw the bone and the steaks on the grill. He cooked them as the guest requested then reassembled the pieces on the plate. Not a bad response, I was impressed. More importantly, the guest was happy. 
Carry on, folks.


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## al_dente (Mar 9, 2005)

True enough, but as much as they would like to become little potted plants sitting on chairs, I don't make it so easy for them. I like to pull the carpet out from under a couple of nights a week to give them some 'Food for thought' heh. Is it wrong to
confuse them in this way? Bless their hearts.


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## dano1 (Oct 23, 2003)

what do i win???..... same f'ng salad 5 days a week, nevermind that it hasn't been on the menu for 3 years, and sent back half the time to remake.
"It's just not like how XXX used to make it".


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## chef911 (Feb 24, 2005)

Now I'm geting the emotional responses I was looking for.



Let it all out my cuilnary brethren.

Doesn't it feel a little bit Better .

Now a seafood allergy, walking into a seafood resturant,
should be nominated for a Darwin Award!!


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## the chef (Mar 17, 2005)

I think this is a great topic for discussion, we all come across some interesting mods at one time or another.

The one that makes me chuckle...

RUSH
RUSH
RUSH
RUSH
*HOLD*

(you all know *HOLD* means that the bill sits in limbo for ten or more minutes until the server has a chance to run the drink orders to the table and then get back to the kitchen!)


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## txacoli (Mar 31, 2005)

Easy people......I am on both sides of that one: my son, also a chef is violently alergic to lactic acid....but I notice that many of the people with nut allergies were allergic to the sulfites in red wine in the 80's....and are now drinking only Merlot.....

Mods: Customer wanted to know if he could have the minestrone without any beans.......At the same place, we had a pasta sautee with lots of pancetta, sun dried tomatoes, kalamatas, etc. The mix was made up ahead in the cold table, of course. People were constantly ordering the Pancetta Pasta...hold the pancetta. Our chef insisted the girls call it a Stupid. Of course it never occurred to him to just keep the pancetta in a separate tub.....I was only the owner, so what did I know.....

Last month at our protest restaurant (only open on Monday night) I got a request for a vegan risotto. The girls know to suggest a risotto off the menu for vegans. Made it from scratch, of course (fennel, carrot, onion, garlic, porcini, fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, pine nuts...over arugula...all organic....$8!!) in the middle of the rush (two guys doing 60 covers in an hour). The woman sent back the risotto, and followed the waitress back into the kitchen! Demanding a ''veggie plate.'' I was too dumbfounded to be pissed....I explained that the only vegetable we had was asparagus, and it was garnishing her plate. She started yelling that everyone else was getting veggies, and pointed at the creamer potatoes. I want that!!

Are potatoes a vegetable? When you slice mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, carrots, etc do they stop being vegetables? What is it about rice that makes it not a vegetable if potatoes are?


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