Victor’s “West Kentucky’s Sandwich Specialist” Incident

Complaints About Drink Quality Results in Getting Office Barred from Delivery Service

Kimberly Cummings 

A few weeks ago while working I made a lunch delivery order with Victor's a local eatery that I had become very fond of over the years. The store has a numerous selection of deli sandwiches, snacks, sides and some various dessert items. I had grown to love a handful of these sandwiches over the years and used the eatery often since I rarely have time to leave work at lunchtime.

This particular day I order a "Pastrami Reuben, baked beans and a iced tea". The order came in a timely manner and after sitting down to eat I was less than thrilled with the way the iced tea tasted. It had a somewhat soapy, antiseptic taste. It didn't taste like it had spoiled but instead had some kind of a flower smell to it and this weird after taste that I couldn't quite put my finger on. At first I called the store and asked what kind of tea I was given. I asked the question because I was thinking that possibly I could have been given some sort of fruit tea since that would explain the weird smell and taste. I explained to the owner that it was a soapy, flowered taste and that was why I was asking. He stated that it was just plain tea. I hung up but after getting sickly feeling I called back to ask him again if he had tasted it and told him that perhaps he should discard it and fix another batch. He stated he had thrown it out and fixed another batch but explained the weird taste as possibly the container hadn't been fully rinsed out while cleaning. I said I had started feeling a little sickly and he stated that he was sorry and simply hung up.

I felt like I had been wrong done by the owner since he had delivered the food himself and could have offered to bring me a free drink to replace the one I had, however he didn't. I was extremely upset about the whole incident since he knew that I was one of his regular customers and spent on average ten dollars every time I placed a delivery from his store.

I have someone in my family that has studied to be a food handling specialist and hopes one day to become a USDA Food Inspector. I called him to find out what possibly be reason for the weird taste in my tea and I explained the whole drink incident to him. He stated that it definitely could be that it wasn't rinsed out properly but if I was so inclined I could report it to the local health department for further work-up. I told him I thought I might since I was concerned at how sick I was feeling.

I made a couple of phone calls to the local health department and gave my information and told them they could come by and get the drink considering I had almost a full drink left, however I never heard from them. Ultimately after 24 hours I threw the left over drink away and forgot all about it.

As of today I was astonished to learn that I have been barred from placing any other orders from the eatery. It seems as the owner has decided that my complaint is reason to refuse me service and for that matter everyone else that works out of my office. I know that it is his right to refuse service but what does a person do when they have a complaint and the store seems to disregard it. I stand-by my original complaint and by complaining to the health department and I sincerely hope that I may have stopped another person from feeling ill due to improper rinsing or cleaning practices.

Overall I think the store has a wide variety of decent sandwiches and good service but in this instance their lack of disregard for a frequent customer is appalling. I can only hope that in the future the owner pays more attention to anyone that calls to report a food issue, especially if they say they feel sick. I also hope that the owner learns from this article that I truly did enjoy his food however barring a patron because they make a complaint is uncalled for, as well as extremely childish.

Victor's is located in Murray Kentucky at 13th and Main.

The End.