WELL DONE

I have written about JAG a few times, an office where I used to work. JAG was a division of a larger mental health services company I once worked for in Phoenix, AZ. Before JAG I was a billing manager for the company out of their Goodyear, AZ office.

This office was out in the boonies, the fringes of the Metro Phoenix area. A small office of about 8 people total. Myself, the receptionist, a doctor, a college intern and therapists. My best friend at the time, Gil, worked IT for the company. Once or twice a week he would come out to our office, and the two of us always did lunch, or dinner after work.

One lunch, he took me down to a Mexican restaurant about a mile from the office for lunch. Turned out he had been eating at this place for a long time, before the Goodyear office even opened.

This is a True Story I call WELL DONE.

There wasn’t much on the menu that I liked, except for the Steak (I love Steak). I ordered the Steak and asked for it to be Well Done. BANG!!!

You would think I just – BANG!! – tried to rob the place. The server got pissed and started to mock me. Apparently having a steak well done is for pussies. She tried to convince me to have it medium rare, but I insisted.

Gil, joking, got in on the mocking. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy,

When are food came out, the cook came with it. This ass let it know he didn’t like Well Done.

The steak was actually good, but the experience was terrible. The only reason I stayed was because Gill drove and paid for lunch.

We haven’t even got to the good part yet of this story yet, as this wasn’t the only time I ate here. There were a couple of other times I got railroaded into this place, with the same experiences.

Then came the fateful day, an office dinner. Our entire office – eight or nine total, including Gil – went to dinner there. I wasn’t happy, but went along for office unity. As always, I ordered the steak, well done. I received the usual mocking – evening from my co-workers - but let it slide.

The next day only three of us showed up at the office. Everyone else was sick!

Guess what? I (we) found out that this restaurant already had a health violation against it, and had failed an inspection earlier that week. They were shut down for two weeks or so to make changes.

Can anyone say food poisoning?

The only reason I wasn’t puking my guts out was because I had my steak Well Done.

Almost everything at this place was undercooked – hence the food poisoning.

The place did reopen a little while later. I never returned. Gil I don’t believe went back. Some other co-workers did. At least one got sick again.

Then it happened again – BANG! – another health violation!

The restaurant eventually shut down, or was closed down depended on the source, because nothing was well done.

The thing I could never figure out is why my co-workers – who got food poisoning from this place more than once – actually missed the place.

Ace.