Steaks on the Water

 So. Yesterday was Father's Day and of course I spent it working at the crabhouse. I had been dreading it all week, because the band that was scheduled brings in an impatient, sloppy-drunk, trashy kind of crowd. It's always a minor nightmare when they play, especially for the servers outside, because these people just spread out all over the place, and sit, and just keep the waitresses running. They're the type of people that can't get their beers fast enough. Yeah.
 But yesterday wasn't that bad. Phew! At least for me. Of course there were the usual frustrations; the hostesses suck, cheap people,( one of my friends got $8 on a $130 check. YES! ), and we ran out of crabs, which pisses people off. But it wasn't that bad.
  I had a table of three that had come in for crabs, and of course we had run out. The mom was a wee bit pissy, "I guess I'll have to get steak since you've run out of crabs", she sneered. Because it's my fault we've run out of crabs. That didn't upset me. What upset me was that she was thinking about ordering a steak. And we don't do steaks well. And I'm not talking about the temperature.
  This woman is on the verge. She's disappointed because she had come down specifically for the crabs, and we had run out of them. Now she's thinking about getting a steak instead. Please don't do that lady. All of my tables have been nice and enjoyed their day, you could be a potential day-ruiner. So of course I try to steer her away from the steaks and towards the seafood. We only cook steaks one way: brown. Rare, medium-rare, medium; they all come out looking the same. So when people come into the crabhouse and order a steak, I cringe.
  So the lady orders a T-bone. Medium-rare. Poor thing. Of course when they finally get their dinners, and I go back to check, her steak is over-done. It's more medium-well. Now, I've noticed that most people who come into the crabhouse and order steaks, order them well-done. Which is perfect, because that's how they will come out anyway. Sometimes they order them medium-rare or medium, and they come out well-done, and they don't send them back. I don't think they really notice a wildly overdone steak. Surprisingly, I've never had to return a steak at this place.
  Not this time. I tell her I will get her a new steak, she says ok. My problem isn't that she is returning the steak, my problem is that the kitchen is going to argue with me over how done the steak is. And THAT pisses me off. True to form, the kitchen argues with me about the steak. "She's crazy, that's medium-rare!". Me: "No, that's medium-well". Jerk: "That's medium-rare, she doesn't know what she wants, I'll give her a rare steak". In case you haven't noticed, this a-hole in the kitchen doesn't understand that it's about the guest, not him. I'm thinking that his rare is probably more like a medium, so maybe this lady has a fighting chance at getting something close to what she had ordered. This guy is still fussing that the steak is medium-rare, this lady doesn't know what she's talking about, etc, etc. I told him that I work in a steakhouse, don't argue with me about temperatures. I sell steaks more expensive than you, so shut the hell up. Moron.
  I'm really dreading this re-order. I know it's going to take a bit of time, ( we don't exactly have a state of the art kitchen ), and it's probably going to be wrong. Great. The lady is being nice, and I don't want to ruin that. It had been a good day so far and I wanted it to stay that way. So the new steak is finally ready, I take it out, ask her to check and make sure it's done ok, she cuts into it and.....it is! Phew! Disaster averted. Looks like I can keep having a good day. : )