A ‘hairy’ experience at Houston’s

Stern freshman Sooyun Byun studies by day and serves customers by night at Houston’s on Park Avenue, a pricey American cuisine restaurant. Byun has been a waitress since she was 16, and she’s experienced it all when it comes to waiting tables. Her’s is one of her most unusual stories from on the job.

“This man came in once and told the greeter that it was going to be three people. He sat down at my table with a newspaper.

“So I walk up to the table and asked him if he wanted anything to drink. He asked for a glass of wine and said that his wife and son would be joining him soon, but they were just in a lot of traffic.

“He said that he would go ahead and start the meal, and he ordered a couple of appetizers for the table (as if he expected them to come in the next 20 to 30 minutes). He ordered the salmon, one of the pricier things on our menu.

“I bring the food in then wait two minutes before I go back and check how he is doing. Houston’s has a policy requiring servers to perform a two-minute, two-bite quality check, in which the servers verbally or nonverbally check with the customer on the quality of the food.

“So I return to the table to check on the food, and I ask him, ‘How is your food, sir?’

“He says, ‘Well, there is one thing.’ [He] lifts up the salmon, and underneath is a huge hairball! And this is not just a little piece of hair. It’s a huge ball, as if a cat spit it out or something you take out of the shower drain.

“There really isn’t anything you can say in this kind of situation other than apologize. So I apologize profusely then take it back to my manager.

“Well, all of the line cooks have shaved heads and wear hats, so after some discussion we realize that there is no way that ball of hair got under the salmon unless the customer put it under there. But at Houston’s, the guest is always right, so my manager went to the table and offered to buy the man his meal, including his wine and appetizers.

“To this day I have never forgotten that man, who probably carries around a vial full of hair in his pocket.”


Sara Gates is a staff writer. E-mail her at features@nyunews.com.

Comments

1 comments

Soomin Byun

Tue Dec 9 2008 18:38

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I am her twin sister and she has told me about this story. Very well written! It brought some good laughs during the stressful time of finals!

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