Found Hair in Your Food? What Do You Do?

Today my husband, daughter and I were at Claim Jumper in Thousand Oaks, California. Claim Jumper isn't an upscale restaurant but it is costly which to me means there should be great food and service. Today's experience made me not want to return but also brought up the question, what do you do when you find hair in your food?

Here's the story. My husband orders the barbecued Salmon and I order a Meatball Calzone. My daughter has the chicken nuggets. Both my husband and I found hair's in our food, my daughters was perfect and hair free. My husband found a blond hair, pretty short and if he wasn't looking carefully he may have missed it. The hair I found was long and black.

My opinion is since the hair was most likely cooked it's not like it contaminated the food, so it's not a big deal, but they should at least know that hair was found in both our dishes. We politely told our waitress that there were hairs in our dishes and she promptly got the manager. The manager asked if we wanted replacements and we didn't because our daughter was ready to leave. She offered us a dessert which we turned down because we didn't need it. We told her that it wasn't a huge deal, just that they should know what is happening and perhaps fix the situation. She gave us our meals free and we went on our way.

In my research of what to do in these situations I've found that politely telling the waitstaff what happened and asking for a replacement is the best course of action. Being polite about it allows them to believe that you actually had a problem and work to find a solution. If you make a scene, yell or get angry you're more likely to find them unlikely to work with you and you never know what may come out of the kitchen the second time around.

It's important to realize that mistakes are made, in any industry. Constructive criticism allows them to recognize the problem and make a change. The manager at Claim Jumper said she'd talk to the kitchen staff and make sure everyone was wearing the proper hair covering. She told us it was unacceptable that it happened and was very sorry about it. I believe this reaction from her was appropriate and the only reason she let us have our meals for free is because we didn't get out of control and yell at her. She encouraged us to come back again and that next time ask for her first and she'd give us our free dessert as well.

So when you find that hair in your food at a restaurant remember to stay calm and be polite. Ask for a replacement and voice your concern over finding a hair. You're more likely to get the response you want than if you're demanding or hostile to the staff. And remember to tip your waitress because she has no control over what the kitchen does. If she response appropriately to your requests and complaints she shouldn't be penalized for the kitchen's bad behavior.