A view from the other side.

I went out to dinner with my boyfriend tonight.
The service was mediocre.

From the time we started dating, my boyfriend has eagerly learned to be a better customer. He listens to my rants and frequently asks the most polite way to approach whatever scenario he ends up in. He genuinely wants to be as polite as possible, even when it's overkill.

Tonight he ordered some variation of surf and turf, a $30 special, and the steak came out way overcooked. The waitress didn't come back to see how it was; once she dropped off our dishes, she didn't come back at all until after we were both clearly done, with our plates pushed to the sides. While we waited for her to come check on us, he asked me how to nicely deal with his steak. He was considering saying nothing, but obviously felt unhappy about it. The waitress finally came by and quickly asked if we need boxes, leaving little time to give feedback, so my boyfriend panicked and just said yes. While she was getting boxes, we quickly discussed how to politely point out his shitty steak. So then she's going to get boxes and he still wants to know how to be polite and I said, "well when she comes back, you can politely say, "i just want to let you know that this was overcooked." He hadn't eaten it and he wasn't expecting anything for it, but he did want to acknowledge it. She came back with boxes and he spoke up about his steak. What did she say, you ask? She said, "Okay, that's fine."

What?!