Airing of Grievances: End of the Year Blowout Edition
I try my best not to be too negative on this site, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to vent. Every once in awhile I’ll share some of the more angry useful emails I get in a post called “Airing of Grievances”. (If the Eater Complaints Dept. would like royalties, I’ll be happy to pay up…) You would think during the holidays, the complaining would be reduced… and yet here we are. Here are the final complaints of 2008 in one big blowout post:
“Touch of India sucks, it shouldn’t even be included in the best buffet under $11 poll. I went yesterday for their lunch buffet because one of my friends loves goat. Well the goat was super salty, not to mention the chicken tandoori, their only other meat dish. The non-meat dishes included some mixture of potatotes, peppers, onions, etc. Actually, I’m not even sure what I ate but it tasted mediocre. Touch of India’s only saving grace would be their fruit salad. It is a sweet (no pun intended) mixture of fruit pieces and what seems to be yogurt. -Dennis”
Can’t really argue with that… when I ate at Touch of India I was less than impressed. Now on to the cupcakes…
“I was on my way back to work from lunch at decided to pick up a cupcake at Crumbs on 42nd St. (btw. 5+6th). While browsing the cupcakes in the fridge I noticed a fly flying around inside the fridge. I told the lady at the counter and her response was a simple ” I know”. I asked her if she was planning on doing something about it like gee I don’t know maybe opening the fridge door to let the fly out. She said there was nothing she can do about it. I asked her for cooperates number which got the other 2 employees in the store involved. All three of them thought I was nuts for making an issue of this.”
That’s not the end of it… more on Crumbs, plus bad Vegetarian food, and “Doc Chuck” after the jump.
“(Crumbs cont.) I’m not that guy who makes a huge issue about germs. Heck, I still follow the 5 second rule. What bothered me more than anything was their lack of interest and the fact that they wont even put up an act of shock and/or disbelief when I brought it to their attention. If they don’t mind the customer seeing flies flying around in the fridge it makes you think what else might be going on in the back that doesn’t bother them. -David”
If I saw flies at, say, my favorite chinese food restaurant I probably wouldn’t complain- so it would be hypocritical of me to say anything about flies at a cupcake bakery (as much as I love complaining about cupcakes.) Speaking of things people like to complain about… here’s one about vegetarian food- but it’s from a vegetarian (as opposed to one of the many vegetarian haters who read the site.)
“Terrible. I hate Uncle Marky’s Organics (on 53rd btw. 2+3rd). This is the worst vegetarian/vegan place I have ordered from and I have been a vegetarian since I was six years old. Bottom line, you get barely anything for the ridiculously high prices. The customer and delivery service contributes to the overall horrible quality of this place. The delivery guy could not speak a word of English, which wouldn’t bother me so much if he could find the location to deliver the food, which he couldn’t, nor could he really explain himself. I received a tiny portion which took me under 5 minutes to eat; it cost $15 but could barely be counted as an appetizer, SERIOUSLY. I am not exaggerating. I don’t even eat huge portions but this could not be considered a meal. Also, the menus online for this place are not always accurately price, so beware. I would simply avoid this place forever.”
And finally… this one doesn’t have to do with food- but it’s still a complaint, and shouldn’t go unheard.
“I’m a big fan of your site. However, these people such as “DocChuck” who post non-sensical, unrelated comments really take away from it. I know you have a day job and can’t monitor the site 24/7, but I think I speak for a lot of your readers when I ask that you delete his posts. RudyMcBagel is only marginally better. Part of the fun of the comments is sometimes they venture off track a little bit, and the snarkiness towards the Tuesday guest is part of blogging in NY, but DocChuck’s posts are just wasted bandwidth. Obviously we can all ignore him but why give this guy his jollies? Thanks. Keep up the great work and happy holidays. -Eric”
(Actually, for those who didn’t know- this is my day job now… so I won’t use that as an excuse.) Thoughts?
Or have you got a grievance you’d like to air? Email it to zach@midtownlunch.com
Posted by Zach Brooks at 3:46 pm, December 29th, 2008 under Airing of Grievances.
39 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
39 Comments
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Sarah is spot on. Mindless drivel like Doc Chuck’s is a waste of time and space and takes away meaningful threads. Everyone doesn’ t have to be saying something deeply profound all the time, but try to stay remotely on topic, even if it is just making fun of someone’s appearance. When I see a post by Doc Chuck, I tend to ignore the entire thread, which defeats the purpose of this site. I’m afraid of a slippery slope where the Doc Chuck’s of the world start taking over the site and devaluing all of Zach’s great work.
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If you see a post by Doc Chuck you ignore the whole thread? That’s kind of dumb. Why not just ignore the offending post? I glance at the name of the commenter before I read. Fortunately it’s posted clearly and bolded on this site. If I think that person is an idiot, I cruise on by. Total time wasted: 0.000000001 seconds. BTW, I frequently re-read Doc Chuck’s posts a few times. He has some … ‘interesting’ posts sometimes.
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Has the doctor been scared into hiding or has Zach already begun “curbing” his enthusiasm?
Give us liberty or give us death (of a food blog).
It is our duty to govern ourselves. There is no need to censor our comments, regardless of what they are. This is still America and the first amendment gives us the right to speak our mind. Even if its a sick, incredibly unfunny one.
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“Scared into hiding?” ROTFLMAO!!
I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t, I guess [scratching head].
But, more importantly, what, exactly, about this wonderful site and you bizarre people would “scare” me?
Au contraire, mon ami.
Midtown Lunch is a treasure trove for a professional psychologist like me.
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Just know, I got your back, Rudy.
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You’ll know you’ve made it when you’re hated…
Anyways, I agree with the first commenter, what happened with the sandwich post? I’m guessing I didn’t win, since I didn’t get an email saying I won, but y’know, I call shenanigans! My sandwich totally blew everyone else’s out of the water ;p
Zach, I <3 your site, you know that, and though I pray I never have to work in an office (in the strict Office-Space sense of the word) again, if I had to work in Midtown, your site makes that possibility a little easier to bear. Do what you want to do and I’ll support your decisions :)…. unless they include calling rice noodles “wet crepes” shudder shudder. -
Might I also mention that I do not post vulgar missives involving “hamsters” or “blow-up dolls,” and neither do I respond to them, save to say that I do not own a hamster, just a single housecat named Mr. Cutlets, nor do I own a blow-up doll (my dear wife is more than accomodating).
I also seldom use coarse or foul language, a practice which is obviously de rigeur among New Yawkers.
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Well, I DO work in an office (very nearly in the Office Space sense of the word, hehe) and this site is the one I hit up first during the day. It’s somehow entertaining escapism even though it’s about Midtown. I can totally do without the DC comments & ensuing riffs although honestly some of them make me laugh out loud when I think of them hours later. I’m trying to say you’re doing an awesome job, Zach. I’m glad it’s the full-time gig now. DC in or out, I will dutifully sift through the other stuff if it means I find my next favorite Midtown lunch spot.
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It’s true, DocChuck doesn’t own me — it’s more of *TWITCH* a tenant-landlord relationship.
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i wasn’t aware you can waste bandwidth.
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I have to say I think we’d get a lot better submissions for the Tues profile if you didn’t have to include your picture. It seems that’s where lot of the uber rude comments stem from and I know quite a few people who read this blog and wanted to submit but after seeing some of the rude comments, decided to pass.
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Personally don’t have much need for Doc chuck and don’t find Rudy that funny either (he has his moments) but banning posters is a slippery slope.
Zach if this is now your day job I would recommend you chime in with comments more frequently. You could maybe help keep the threads (vaguely) on topic which might dissuade the more random/lewd stuff.
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Mamacita, Danny and anyone else, before you go supporting DC maybe you ought to take a look at his myspace page. I went there the other day when it was mentioned in a thread. This is one sick prick. The mocked up AIM profiles he lists have people’s children on them. Now if they were my kids I would be a bit fucking miffed. If they were your kids you would tearing him a new one right here.
But since you support this crazy fucker maybe you should know how deep the shit runs. I looked at the myspace page and DC is not a clown. He has taken people’s kids and posted sick shit about them for his own amusement. So maybe before you go patting this guy on the back you ought to know what you are saying. To me your just as bad as him if you support that shit. It is amusing for you to listen to this hillbilly asshole. Good when he finds your family’s pictures and creates your AIM profile don’t come bitch to us.
Zach get rid of DC he is one sick fucker. No kidding around. Kids are off limits that is not even a debate topic. -
I feel greasy, oh so greasy. I feel hairy and linty and slippery.
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It’s inappropriate for you to post an email attacking some of your visitors. You should delete it.
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I say again: the “Doc” that posts here is NOT the real one (ie, he is not the creepy guy with the myspace page).
He is mocking him.
I am very surprised you can’t see this. It’s obvious.
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My grievance is that Zach never comes to the FiDi. Come on Zach, show us downtowners some ML love. We can go to Cosi and stop by the Treats Truck.
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u r being unthoughtful to Indians!
Infamy!! Infamy…they’ve all got it in for me.