Tales from the Pit - You don't know catfish!

Yesterday, I got into a disagreement with an African-American customer with regards to the meaning of "fried catfish." Needless to say, it was one of the weirdest and most ridiculous arguments I had ever heard. It went down like this.

The woman ordered a catfish basket and proceed to sit down and eat with her boyfriend. At least, I assume he was her boyfriend, judging by the extent of their physical closeness and the lack of a ring on their fingers. If they were cheating, there was a lack of tremor in their voices or any sort of visceral reaction when I mentioned that her boyfriend ordered a grilled chicken salad.

After less than five minutes eating, she came up to the counter carrying her catfish as I was finishing up an order for another customer.

"Excuse, this catfish is too hard."

"Ma'am, it's fried catfish. It's breaded so we had to fry it for several minutes so it would be done."

"Yeah, but it's too hard for me to eat.It's not soft enough..."

"...Would you like to get something else or a refund?"

"I'll take the refund."

I'm pretty sure fried food has to be fried so the texture of the fish must change in order to properly undergo a catalytic reaction with the frying oil. For the record, most people have loved and enjoyed the catfish baskets we offer. A few handful would beg to differ.

WTF.