Division of Spousal & Relational Conduct
Case BIC-SRC-4783
Status: Open (20 years)
| Complainant | Wife |
| Incident date | Approximately 2006. Exact date unrecorded. Subject remembers what she ordered but not the year of her wedding. |
| Location | A restaurant. She cannot remember the name. She can describe the lighting. |
| Item not ordered | Salmon |
| Item ordered instead | Something else. It does not matter what. |
Incident summary
On a date approximately twenty years ago, the subject dined at a restaurant and did not order the salmon. She ordered something else. She has never recovered from this decision. The meal she chose was adequate. It was not bad. She finished it. But across the table, someone else had the salmon, and it looked — in her words — "perfect." She did not taste it. She did not ask to taste it. She has been thinking about it since.
Investigation timeline
2006 — Incident occurs. Subject mentions it on the drive home. Husband says "you can get it next time."
2007 — Subject brings it up again at an unrelated dinner. "This is fine, but it's not that salmon."
2009 — Subject orders salmon at a different restaurant. Reports it was "not the same."
2012 — Husband suggests returning to the original restaurant. It has closed. Subject receives this news quietly.
2014 — Subject mentions the salmon during a conversation about regret. Husband did not know they were having a conversation about regret.
2019 — Subject sees a salmon dish on a television programme and pauses for longer than is normal.
2024 — Subject tells her daughter to "always order what you actually want." Daughter is choosing between chicken nugget shapes.
2026 — Case referred to Bureau. Complaint is ongoing. No resolution in sight.
Assessment
The salmon has become structural. It is no longer about the fish. It is about every choice the subject has ever made and whether she is living in the correct version of her life. The Bureau does not have jurisdiction over existential regret but has opened a file regardless, as the matter does not appear to be resolving on its own.
Recommendation
None. The restaurant is closed. The salmon is gone. The subject knows this. It has not helped.