Wednesday, February 12, 2014

A bacon cheeseburger

Two of my favorite foods are bacon and cheese, and when a new restaurant opened up in town with a bacon cheeseburger on the menu I thought about trying it out. Then when a teammate passed on the word, that yes the bacon cheeseburger was indeed good (b/c here you don't always get what you might expect), I thought yes, I need to try it. The teammate did mention that when his wife got the burger it was missing the meat paddy, or shall I say the "burger" part of the burger,  that we so often consider an essential part of the burger, but after a quick trip up to the then embarrassed manager, it was settled and the burger was added to...well..the burger. Confident that that confusion was now settled in the newly established restaurant, I went with Ruudy plus one of our other teammates and I was so excited about trying the burger that the others came on board and also decided they too would go for the elusive bacon cheeseburger. When the waiter came to take our order and we asked whether the bacon cheeseburger was available today, because sometimes, ok most of the time, the things on the menu are not actually there. So our hearts were still not too settled, and then the waiter told us he wasn't sure about a few ingredients in the burger so he would have to go and check. This is good, because normally he would just take the order, go back to the kitchen and come back 10 minutes later and inform us that, actually, it's not there. We patiently waited, and shortly he came back and announced, that yes, all the ingredients are surely available. So now with happy hearts we decide all of us to go for the glory of the bacon cheeseburger. He told us it would be 20 minutes, I told him, I'm going to time him, b/c most of the time I multiply by 3 when I'm given a time in this country. He laughed and changed the time to 30 minutes, I laughed and started the timer as he ran off to the kitchen. About 35 minutes later, yay! not 20 times 3, the waiter comes forth bearing what appears to be bacon cheeseburgers! We are excited, the saliva is already dripping, and the anticipation is great. He slowly sets the plate down in front of us. We smile, we cheer, I slowly pull back the bun, to reveal neatly stacked cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and even special sauce...but wait...alas, something is missing, could it be? why yes...the burger, the paddy itself is surely missing. Waiter, the burger is missing, no, no it's there, um....let me check, yeah, it's missing. oh. We look at each other, was the burger the ingredient that earlier he thought might be missing? Could the cook have thought that it was a nonessential part of the burger? We may never know. We kindly ask the waiter to add the burger to the burger, he kindly replies, it's not there, tomorrow. tomorrow? Am I really ready to risk such utter devastation again tomorrow? No way. Well, at least sir, could you please discount the meal, since it's missing a main portion of the...well...burger? Tomorrow. Tomorrow? You'll discount tomorrow? Are you already anticipating that if I come tomorrow as suggested, I may run in to the same problem? No way, please, just discount today, I may not make it back tomorrow. He finally takes the receipt back to the kitchen, and gives a small discount.  And we quietly, slowly eat our bacon cheese"burgers". At least the toppings were good. I can't wait to try the whole thing some day, but I've learned my lesson, and will verify that, all, whether considered essential or nonessential ingredients are available before I order again. May you also learn from my mistake.