Many of us have had two semesters of psychology classes in college, but that didn’t prepare us for a lot of the craziness life throws at you. Supper clubs are usually pretty safe unless you run into a bad potato.
Bad Potato 101
I was once on a flight from San Francisco to Narita Japan. Dinner had been served in first class and then all of a sudden a lady a few rows in front of me started going off on the flight attendant. She was basically screaming at the poor attendant that she had been given a bad potato. She was going on and on at a very high pitch about her bad potato. It was pretty embarrassing for the other flyers. Then the senior flight attendant stepped in grabbed the guilty potato slapped it and said: “Bad Potato, Bad Potato”. To which the other people in first class started laughing and applauding in relief.
Bad Potato 102
A few years ago we were having dinner on a Friday night at the country club with a group of friends. One buddy had gotten there early and by the time our dinner was served he had been pretty significantly over served with scotch. This buddy who is affectionately called the “High Rolling Redneck” likes his baked potato piping hot. The reason he likes them hot is to melt his ten packets of butter. He is not a “Low fat” kind of guy.
The kitchen at the club bakes potatoes in an aluminum foil jacket and keeps them in a warmer. They are never piping hot. The HRR noisily complained to his waitress. The waitress went back to the kitchen and returned with another normally lukewarm potato. Well by now the Dewar’s was talking and the HRR lost it with complaints and ran into the kitchen to let the chef know about his dissatisfaction.
There was no appeasing the redneck that night much to everyone’s embarrassment. To his credit he did go back the next day and apologize to both the waitress and the chef. To this day the HRR’s bad potato is legendary. If he ever orders a baked potato his fellow diners are sure to remind him of past transgressions.
The moral of the story is that if you ever serve a baked potato at a supper club, makes sure it is served with a side of Prozac.
If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Morgan James Publishing published the Kindle-Version on September 5, 2017 and the hard copy coming out January 30, 2018.