No, I have not gone off my rocker.

There is a point to my subject line. I’ll get to it a minute but first, let me tell you about dinner out last night.

The wife and I had no kids, a shocking and rare occurrence and she wanted to go out to dinner at very upscale and usually delicious Thai restaurant. We had been to this restaurant many times and enjoyed it, as much as someone can enjoy Thai food.

I’m not a huge fan of that cuisine and prefer authentic Chinese, Korean or, of course, the king of all cuisine, Italian. But, since I am vying for “husband of the year”, Thai food it was.

We ordered basil rolls as appetizers. They were just “okay.” I had bigger, better and less expensive ones over the weekend at a local Vietnamese joint.

For my entree, I order the basil lamb chops. I was looking forward to them…until they arrived. While plentiful, they were mostly fat .I had to cut around the fat to find the meat, which was rare instead of medium rare like I ordered them.

The truth is, I should have sent them back but I was tired and didn’t want to deal with it so I ate what I could and left the rest behind.

When I got the bill and saw how much it was, I started thinking about whether or not I would ever be back. Mind you, I am a foodie and will spend ridiculous amounts of money on dinner so it wasn’t the price. It was because I was disappointed.

The takeaway from my little dining tale of woe is simply this: You always must perform. You always must deliver more than you promise. You always must your online event better than they thought it would be and the product you’re selling superior to what you say it is.

You can’t afford to disappoint your customers, your audience even once.

Folks who have never experienced what you do, will never be back. You’re one shot to win them over will be gone. Some current customers and fans might give you one more shot if you disappoint them but many of them will be lost forever.

Will I ever go back to that restaurant again? Probably. I’ll just chalk up my dinner yesterday to being a bad night. BUT, I can tell you this:,I will be even more critical the next time and if they don’t wow me…well, you know.

Kick butt, make mucho DEEnero

Dave “Food Critic With A Message” Dee