For heaven's sake: DON'T cook it thrice!

Perhaps my singular indulgence is my roughly monthly foray with a cheeseburger. No McDonald's or fast food; I mean a serious, high-quality, mouthwatering burger. Like from a pub, or a burger joint, or a grill. I have had some great burgers, with beautiful buns and cheese and other toppings, and I've had some lousy ones. But the absolute make-or-break quality I need in my burger is a perfect medium rare. I emphasize this every time I order a burger, by placing extra force on the word RARE. I would be infinitely more forgiving if they served me a rare burger than a well done burger if they were to get it wrong. And let me tell you how often THEY get it wrong. And when they get it wrong, I don't get a pink medium burger or even close; I get a chalky, dry well done burger! Ick! Look at the (bacon) cheeseburger in the picture. It was one of the most appetizing, gorgeous burgers I'd seen in a while. Yet the thing was cooked thrice, it seemed. Just awful; hideous. If this happens again at PR Grill in Pentagon City, I'm going to print its name. Whoops. And the same thing happened in July at Elephant & Castle in DC. And even in Vegas at a burger restaurant I can’t remember the name of. SO please, please, please, please, don't mess up someone's burger. Especially because it could be their monthly burger. And that's just not cool. So cook my burgers medium rare, rare if you have to, and leave the thrice-cooked burgers to my rare-meat-hating friend Cody. Because you'd get much more than a gentle Friday blog nudge from Cody if you served him an undercooked burger than me an overcooked one, so consider yourself lucky. I might just have to get a little nastier (in sly British accent) the next time my monthly burger goes to waste.