Farewell, good sir. You will not be missed. What did he do?

I had a regular customer at the restaurant I work at (a sociable chatty man) turn up for his normal Sunday meal (steak and kidney pie and a couple of pints of IPA).<br><br>I said, 'Hello, John, how's it going?' as I always did and he seemed a bit withdrawn so I asked if he was okay and he just nodded.<br><br>I took his order and brought his beer over, it was then that I asked, 'There's not a problem with the food or anything, you know?' as he was a regular we didn't want to lose him.<br><br>He looked at me and said, 'The new manager is not at all welcoming, he's not very nice.'<br><br>I said that we'd speak to him about it, apologising. Then, to be certain, I asked, 'You wouldn't like a complimentary sweet?'<br><br>He said yes, he'd like a treacle sponge. I phoned the manager to make sure that the dessert would be fine and he said it's okay.<br><br>Then, as I was delivering the food to the next table, which is when I noticed he was eating his meal. I could not figure out how he had managed to eat his food so quickly as I'd only given him his food 2 minutes ago.<br><br>I asked the guy who served the food to him about this and he said he'd eaten his meal at 2.30 but had stayed for another beer.<br><br>I wondered how he'd eaten his meal so quickly so I went to the kitchen to ask the chef. Then, as I was talking to him, the new manager walked in and said, 'How is John's meal? I hope he enjoyed it?'<br><br>'No, he's still got to eat it. We've only just taken it out.'<br><br>'No, I saw him eat it so it must have been all right.'<br><br>Now, at this point, there is no one in the restaurant so there's absolutely no chance of him eating someone else's meal. At this point, the penny drops. We call John and ask him how his meal was and again he says that it's fine but he's not too sure about the potatoes.<br><br>Now, bear in mind that the potatoes in the steak and kidney pie are new and not something that we usually do, we've just recently started putting small pieces of potato into the pie.<br><br>'Aren't you here for your meal?'<br><br>'No, I had my steak and kidney pie with the potatoes.'<br><br>'Sir, either you have just eaten your meal or you haven't had it yet.'<br><br>'Both.'<br><br>Obviously, this is a complete impossibility. Never in my entire life have I heard of someone eating a meal that they haven't eaten before and know that they still have to eat.<br><br>To my dying breath, I will never understand this one.