Kudos for Mike replying but someone has clearly departed from the truth. It's not unlike a customer to exagerate (sp?) when being clearly upset with service BUT it's also not unlike a wait-person in a VERY busy environment to bypass "policy" in order to collect better tips (in this case, it's very possible that this good waitperson saw full plates but didn't have time to track down a manager and go through all the problems associated with a strong complaints when it was just easier to dump the uneaten food and say "it was all eaten"...especially given the low % chance that the customer would escalate).
Mike is the in tough position of either:
a.) going with "the customer is always right" and throwing the proven waitress under the bus OR
b.) standing behind the waitress and just soothing the customer without blaming the waitress when the customer will most likely never return anyways.
...can't blame him for choosing "b" to keep a proven waitress but I would warn him to keep an eye on those returning plates because most likely, most wait staff will not abide by quality control rules when things are that busy (been there/done that). The best way to do this is to have the dish washers responsible for reporting "full plates" and warn waitresses that if they are caught dumping ANY food before it gets to the dishwasher, it's immediate termination.
Tough place to be in Mike. I wish you and your establishment luck. It's a diffucult business to succeed in and the fact that you are this busy means you are doing something right.
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