Now...here's a story that actually happened to me. I'll let you decide whether there was 'stupidity' involved, and by whom, and on what level. Maybe *I* walk among THEM.

Many years ago, I was traveling with a friend on a project in Colorado. We had stopped for breakfast at a small diner in Poudre Canyon. There were the usual items on the menu, complete with a list of 'standard' combinations, most of which included eggs, which I do not eat (at least in forms identifiable as 'egg')

But...the #3 breakfast was almost exactly what I wanted, sausage, hash browns, and toast...except for the egg. ($1.75) So...I told the waitress I wanted sausage, hash browns & toast. "No egg?", she asked, "That's the #3, and it comes with one egg."

"No, I don't eat eggs", I replied.."Just the sausage, hash browns & toast."

"Ok", she said, "but that'll be "$2.25"

"Ummm...why?"

"Because you are ordering ala carte, the sausage is $1.25, the hashbrowns are 75¢, and the toast is 25¢."

"You mean," says I increduously, "you are gonna charge me 50¢ to NOT cook an egg?"

"Well, that's the way the menu works, the regular breakfasts are at set prices...the ala carte items are priced individually.

I was so nonplussed, I just ordered & ate the expensive way. My buddy said later, "you should have just ordered the #3, and said "hold the egg"." I really wondered if that would have worked.
What I really should have done was order the #3, ask for the egg, raw...in the shell...and at the end, leave her the egg as a tip, saying that she could sell it to someone else for 50¢....or maybe not.


So...was the restaurant stupid for not having a simple way to resolve such issues? Or the waitress, for not suggesting that she just CALL it #3 and not cooking the egg..? I suppose I could have ordered the egg scrambled hard, and left it on my plate....but, dammit, I don't like LOOKING at egg on my plate, and they'd no doubt have gotten it mixed with the potatoes.