A Chili's waiter who spitefully spat into a customer’s drink last summer has been charged with the offensive offense, and the restaurant itself sued, after a DNA test proved he was the owner of the gross gob.
The incident happened in July 2014 at a New York Chili’s when Ken Yerdon and his wife were leaving with a take-out beverage that, unbeknownst to them, their disgruntled server had contaminated with spit.
The couple had just finished their dinner which, although politely tipping waiter Gregory Lamica for delivering, they had earlier informed him was substandard.
"We weren't rude or anything," Yerdon explained to ABC News. "It was a busy night but we didn't expect for our food to get spit in."
Yerdon was driving when he discovered the filthy crime -- the lid of the styrofoam container suddenly popped off, revealing floating phlegm in it -- so he took his spouse home and returned to confront the 24-year-old waiter about it.
He also pressed charges against Lamica, providing State Police investigators with a sample of the fouled fluid as evidence. And, since he’d twice unwittingly sipped from it, Yerdon then went for tests to make sure he hadn’t contracted any diseases.
A DNA mouth swab of Gregory Lamica, taken a few days after his misdeed, ultimately came back as a positive match to the substance in Yerdon’s drink, resulting in a guilty plea, a fine, a conditional discharge … and Yerdon's lawsuit against the Chili's Restaurant chain which is now pending.
In the meantime, Ken Yerdon and his family will be eating elsewhere when they get the urge to dine out again: "We won't be going back to Chili's," he said.
