New Meaning to the Phrase “Finger Food”

Posted on May 1st, 2006 by Christine.
Categories: True Story.



Last Tuesday, a man eating at TGI Friday’s in Bloomington, Indiana found part of a finger in his burger. Now this isn’t more of this Anna Ayala “finger in the chili at Wendy’s hoax.” There actually was a piece of finger in his burger. Apparently, the kitchen manager cut his hand while preparing this guy’s meal and in the chaos of people getting him to the hospital, another server picked up the plate and served the finger-burger to the guy.

Now… why did this story hit home? Well… for one thing, Christopher and I watched plenty of flesh-eating zombies picking up fingers and eating them as we watched “Land of the Dead” last night… but also because a few weeks ago, while he and I were eating at TGI Friday’s in Torrance, I found a piece of metal in my soup.

Christopher gets mad at me if I ever complain to a waiter about anything, so once I pulled the long strand of metal out of my mouth, I quietly put it on my plate.

Christopher: What’s that?
Christine: Metal… I think…
Christopher: Let me see it…
I hand it to him. He examines it.
Christopher: This ended up in your mouth?
I nod.
Christopher: You should complain.

So the waitress comes over and I show her the metal. She immediately goes and gets the manager. He comes over to the table and his accent is so thick, I can barely understand what he’s saying…

But he does end up telling me that he’s very sorry and that the metal in my soup is actually a piece of scouring pad they use to clean the dishes and sometimes the wiry pieces come off. Then he comps both our meals.

We were satisfied. I felt the manager handled it well… but that brings me to the controversial aspect of this whole thing.

If you go into a restaurant, you have a reasonable expectation to believe that you won’t consume (1) something that could hurt you, or (2) human flesh. That’s reasonable… but at the same time, I’ve worked in restaurants. I see how even though rules can be followed, things do happen… kitchen staff are trying to rush, they’re careless, they’re slammed and doing their best to keep the waiters happy because they’re bitching that stuff is taking too long. I’ver personally seen them pick a lobster up off the floor where it accidentally fell out of the tongs and put it on a person’s plate. I’ve seen them take a steak that someone asked me to take back because it was too rare, flip the steak over so the grill marks look different, and take it right back out to the patron. I’ve seen bartenders simply wipe lipstick off a glass, rinse it with water, and pour a new glass of wine for someone else. These things happen. I know they happen, I expect them to happen, and I still eat in restaurants.

But does a patron (like the guy who got served the burger with the finger in it) have the right to sue the establishment? I’m bugged that we live in such a litigious society anyway where everyone’s looking for the bogus lawsuit to ensure they can just be lazy asses for the rest of their lives… but at the same time, finding part of a finger is very disturbing. Did it cause any real damage? No… he didn’t eat it. Did it cause psychological damage? Maybe… I doubt that guy will never enter a restaurant again. Was it gross? Sure. But is that enough of a reason to sue? I agree he deserves a little more than a comped meal… but how far should people be willing to go?

Apparently, the guy called the police and was told that finding a finger in his burger is not a criminal matter. TGIF’s has publicly apologized. We’ll see what happens I guess…

17 comments.

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Katie the Mercenary uttered

) >- hmm that is disgusting..but I do agree people are sue happy. I don’t think that would be any worse then la cucaracha crawling out of your burger … ya know!?! No he shouldnt sue but should get more then a meal

May 1st, 2006

Christine the Lioness stated

But the question becomes *who* should say how much is enough? Is it up to the restaurant? The guy? A jury?

I’d probably be happy with free meals at any TGIF for the rest of my life. -) Oh… and they’d have to hook Christopher up with potato skins and buffalo wings… that would be the agreement. -)

May 1st, 2006

Mia the Groupie stated

Hmm good question. who really is to say whats enough. In my opinon I think hardly anybody has a say in how much is enough. If the sue happy ppl get there way then a jury if they are on their side. But ill go with the restaurant if only cuz in this case i love TGIF p

May 1st, 2006

eric the Lil' Devil thought this

didn’t i address this very topic a few months ago on the post about chris’ dialing and deciding dinner charade? the only people who know how disgusting the food there is are those who prepare it! so either get a job there or an iron stomach? huh? he’ll get paid. 8-|

May 1st, 2006

Keith the Director added

Yeah you might as well lock this guys country club memebrship tobeevrly hills in for life… it’s not even that disgusting! Maybe I’m just desensitized to violence etc. I found a bug on the lettuce of my sandwhich one time at Eat’N'Park I had it sent back and demanded they cancel my order…why? because i know that exact same plate was coming back out with if i was lucky a new piece of lettuce if not the same exact piece minus it’s little friend…

I defintely don’t think I should have sued but wish i would have now taken a bite of the sanwhich and got my payday! Thats what I get for being honest and examining my food before consumption. This guy doesn’t deserve a huge cash settlment but will get it, but did deserve more than just the table having a compd meal. I like christine idea about free food for life. that would payoff in dividends!

May 1st, 2006

Christine the Lioness penned this

So, Keith… the slice of finger isn’t “that disgusting,” but you sent back a piece of lettuce that had a bug on it? At least we know bugs live in lettuce so it makes sense why that might be there.

And btw… it’s always in your best interest to examine food before consumption. I find hair and bugs and all kinds of stuff in my food because I do always look. I don’t make a big deal out of it (I make a bigger deal if my food is cold or they put dressing all over my salad when I specifically asked for no dressing), but at least if you look at it carefully, you can take out anything you don’t feel like eating. ) >-

May 1st, 2006

aJ the Zen Master chimed in with

Ugh.. Finding a finger is really gross, revolting. And yes it can be extremely disturbing mentally. But suing the restaurant, especially when it was not at fault, I mean an employee lost a finger for god’s sake is equally bad.
I mean, I’ve read about so many frivolous law suits where people behave like morons and expect the establishment to make everything idiot proof (hint, hint: Starbucks - Contents may be hot lawsuit) which portrays a rather sad picture of the american law system (

May 2nd, 2006

Christine the Lioness thought this

aJ… you don’t have to tell me… I agree 100%… there are so many frivolous lawsuits… it’s ridiculous. People have forgotten that shit happens and that doesn’t mean you have to sue over it or someone else was negligent. It just means shit happens. I think people who subscribe to the mentality that they are constantly victims, the world is out to get them, and they deserve to not have to work for the rest of their lives because something weird or bad happened to them should go live on an island by themselves somewhere. It doesn’t help anyone to run businesses bankrupt because you don’t want to work and therefore everyone else should suffer because you want a big payday. God, those people disgust me.

May 2nd, 2006

Keith the Director chimed in with

weell no christine, the thought of a finger in my food is disgusting and would be def. sent back. The bug thing happened like 8 yrs ago. Either way they are both sick in their own rights, and this bug looked nothing like soemthing that would live in a plant! :-w

May 2nd, 2006

Keith the Director hunt n' pecked this

aj i agree 100% and am quite found of the dumbass who was awarded $128 billion from sueing Phillip Morris for getting lung cancer after smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day for years on end… and the jackass who got how much $$$$ from sueing McDonald’s for burning her toungue and her lap after drinking coffee that was “too hot”! Did the steam rising out of the toip of the cup not give a caution to the wind sign? Or was this moron from somehwere that ppl enjoy a frsh ice cold cup of coffee each morning? If there is such a thing!

May 2nd, 2006

Christine the Lioness mentioned

Oh you mean coffee is *supposed to be* HOT??? Get the fuck outta here… 8-|

May 2nd, 2006

Christine the Lioness chimed in with

In case you’re interested in seeing what the *most* ridiculous frivolous lawsuits have been (including illegal immigrants who sued a Holiday Inn for firing them and won $72,000), check out this link… you won’t believe some of these…

http://www.calahouston.org/best.html

/ )

May 2nd, 2006

Keith the Director mentioned

Thanx Christine for showing the flaws with our legal system….how the fuck do you award assholes like these money for this shit…especialy an illegal immigrant $$$ for being fired… they shouldn’t even have been awarded the law suit let alone a trial!

May 3rd, 2006

Christine the Lioness added

I think some of these have to be hoaxes… a jury simply could not come to the conclusion that someone who legally had no right to be hired could be wrongfully terminated. But who knows… right?

May 3rd, 2006

eric the Lil' Devil stated

welcome to america huh? give em all cash and let em stay.

May 4th, 2006

Christine the Lioness quibbed this

And we wonder why people file frivolous lawsuits… oh yeah… because dumb ass juries award them money… I forgot. / )

May 4th, 2006

Keith the Director uttered

exactly my point christine thank you for staing the obvous of the point on why some deuschebags don’t deserve a trial at all!

May 4th, 2006

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