'AITA for ‘causing a scene’ at my boyfriends work?'
So, I (22F) and my boyfriend (23M) went to dinner at the restaurant where he works as a pastry chef. I ordered a Caesar tortilla and, after 45 minutes of waiting, received a Caesar salad instead. I told him that’s not what I had ordered, and he told me to wait and that he would go to the kitchen and make me a tortilla.
After a few minutes, he came back with the plate. It was just the previously made salad stuffed into a tortilla, and the crispy breadcrumbs from the salad were still inside. I told him I wasn’t going to eat that because it wasn’t what I ordered.
He said it was basically the same thing and that I should just eat it. But it’s not the same thing. I specifically wanted the tortilla because of the crispy bacon and the melted cheese inside. In the salad, there are just thin slices that I don’t even like the taste of.
He told me the kitchen would close soon. I ordered at 9 PM, the kitchen closes at 11, and the restaurant closes at 12. He said I should just eat it because I had been saying for the last three or four hours that I was starving.
I told him that wasn’t the point and that we could just go somewhere else to eat. He ended up telling his colleague, the waitress, to take it off the bill, and we went to a fast food place instead.
He ended up being mad because he said I caused a scene and embarrassed him in front of his colleagues. Keep in mind, I’m the quiet type. I simply said I wouldn’t eat that, and then he spoke to his colleague. So, am I wrong for not eating something I didn’t order?
OP added more context:
It went down like this. I told the waitress, “Excuse me, but I ordered the tortilla.” She seemed annoyed but said, “Oh, okay, we will make it.” My boyfriend then told me to wait and went to the kitchen to make me a tortilla.
When he came back with the dish, I told him I didn’t want to eat the salad stuffed into a tortilla and that it wasn’t important anymore, and that we could just go somewhere else to eat. I said this in a normal tone. I wasn’t mad, just hungry. He told me, “Just eat it.” I refused. He then called the waitress and told her to take it off the bill. We left, and I ate somewhere else.
He said I embarrassed him because him telling his colleague to take it off the bill was “causing a scene.” That’s the whole story. He had been working there for a few months and got the job because my dad’s good friend is the co-owner.
Here's what people said to OP:
Quiet-Plankton-7237 says:
I work in a restaurant. If a significant other / friend/ family of someone who works here would come, it would be the highest priority to get them the food right and on time. It's like a VIP costumer.
I don't think you are the AH, especially if you pay for what you order just as everyone else. Maybe the culture where he works in a bit more "toxic" than what I think is right, and that's what really makes him uncomfortable, but in any way you did anything wrong here.
Thundernutz79 says:
NTA - It always shocks me when restaurant staff get upset when you insist that you get what they are going to ask you to pay for. This could have been avoided if the restaurant simply provided adequate service and the correct item.
Mundane-Run6179 says:
NTA. You didn't "make a scene." HE made a scene by fighting you on getting you the correct order when HIS COLLEAGUES not only had you wait an insane amount of time for the WRONG ORDER. I would have been embarrassed as hell and extremely apologetic in his shoes, not a complete jerk trying to make you the problem.
sluilcb says:
NTA, he should be ashamed of whoever messed up the order and for the wait time. I’d be embarrassed if that was my place of work.