Our work cafeteria has some delicious food; I usually just stick with the self-serve salad bar, but today I noticed a smoked salmon salad was available. The demo salad had no sauce on it, just a triangle of toast with a dollop of cream cheese (easy enough to avoid). Well, I felt like a bit of a treat, so I decided to splurge my money on a fancy salad. I love me some salmon!

The demo salad LIED.

Imagine my horror when the salad server ladled about a half cup's worth of Italian dressing onto my gorgeous salad. I decided not to make a fuss, thinking "maybe I can splurge my calories, too," but I just input the amount into FitDay and my head exploded.*

Moral of the story: ALWAYS ask about sauces, even if you think there are none, or you'll end up like me: paper-towelling the dressing off each piece of spinach while your coworkers look on with horror. :P


*It also makes my head explode to realize that it wasn't too long ago that I would have obliviously chowed down this huge caloric amount! Thank goodness for FitDay...

Alternative moral of the story: Don't be afraid not to accept food that you don't want to eat.

"Wow! The sample doesn't have dressing. Can you make me one without dressing, please?"

I have just the perfect excuse for that: "I don't like dressing on my salad". Which is true (and makes other people rip they hair out of frustration when *I'm* the one making the salad).

Seriously, I'm going to second MariaMaria. Never be afraid of refusing the food if it's not conform. Back when I was working at McDo's, I tell you, I've seen people make a fuss for way less than a little dressing, so don't feel guilty or whatever.

They don't put dressing on the demo salad because it will turn the lettuce/spinach to a slimy green liquid in a half an hour to an hour (word to the wise: if you ever pack a salad for yourself in your lunch, bring the dressing in a separate container).

I agree don't be afraid to speak up, especially with something as easily fixed as dressing on a salad (it's not like you would have had to wait for it to be cooked or anything).

Once at a restaurant I asked for a salad with dressing on the side. I made a point to emphasize that I wanted the dressing on the side; I must had said it three times in the course of giving my order. And the waiter did remember to bring me a little bowl of dressing on the side. Unfortunately, he also put the dressing on the salad (so I had a fully dressed salad with another little bowl of dressing on the side--he must have thought I was some sort of salad dressing-aholic). I guess I should have more clear that I wanted the dressing on the side and NOT on the salad!

I'm good at asking for an order to be remade if it's serious (ie: meat in the dish back when I was vegetarian, or if it contains one of the many foods I'm allergic to), but I think in this case, I was like "ehhhhh, it'll be some extra calories" and didn't figure it out until I got back to my desk and input it in FitDay. I've really got to get into the "dressing on the side" mindset.

BlueToBlue, that's hilarious -- extra dressing for you!

I have to admit that I am afraid to ask for stuff to be re-made. I use to work in the food service industry and to think of what people I know did to food that was sent back it scares me to send things back. I usually just try to deal with it. I've totally been in that situation though. I always ask for dressing on the side it's been a habit of mine since I was a child. There are always times though that they ad the dressing on and I end up scooping it off. Totally irritating, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.