What came first: the chicken or the egg salad?

Most days, I have delicious leftovers for lunch at work. Some days, though, we eat too much the night before, and I’m left to my own devices for a midday meal. I usually end up at the same café that’s about a five minute walk from my office because of their clean, bright atmosphere, friendly staff, and healthy food choices, offered at a reasonable price. It’s usually a win-win type of lunch situation.

I went yesterday to have a little bite of something and read the local music rag while having a little sit in the sunshine. Feeling like having a salad, I looked at the options: Greek, Curried Chicken Orzo, and Thai noodle. Although I would normally have the Thai, I felt like doing something different and chose the curried chicken.

I grabbed the paper, found a table outside, and prepared to enjoy my curried chicken orzo salad. I was surprised, however, to find that the salad should have been labelled: Curry Egg Orzo salad (with Too Much Mayo and Red Onion, but that’s a different story). As best as I could, I picked out the egg (and red onion) and ate the salad, because I was hungry and because I suppose egg is chicken? The other main element, orzo, was there, and the salad did have a bit of a curry taste, so I received about 60% of what I thought I was going to when I chose and purchased the salad.

But, still, I was left with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth (so many red onions). I will probably still go back, but I’ll never order that salad again. I will probably still recommend the café to my co-workers, but I’ll likely tell them the story.

The lesson for business? Make sure you and your client both share the same clear vision of what the end product or result will be. You might think chicken and egg are the same thing, but the client might not, and that might affect their decision to use or refer your business in the future.

And, take it easy on the red onion.

Melissa