The Sad Secret of Specials?

"Well there goes my first theory."

Our waiter had just cheerfully explained to us at a volume suitable for a drill seargeant that she was taking a little time off from drinking.  Since being sloshed was the only explanation I could come up with for her jocular complete lack of filter or any knowledge of appropriate behavior, it was back to the drawing board.  One of the first moments we realized that we were not dealing with the average waitstaff came when she was telling us about the special.  She prefaced it by saying that after all her time in the restaurant business (which must have encompassed a truly Olympic number of jobs if she's gotten fired as much as she deserves), she has learned that a special is made up of ingredients that the chef can't get rid of by other means.  This struck us less as refreshingly honest than as knowledge possibly gleaned from Applebee's, not a shall-remain-nameless but quite expensive resort hotel.  Especially when the special for the evening was halibut, a fairly popular fish.

So, I turn to you, my twelve readers...is there a grain of truth here?  Are specials not always about getting new seasonal ingredients?  Given the other 'wisdom' this woman passed on, including that certain meats are 'gamey' because of the way they are killed, not because of their texture, I am highly skeptical.  And of course reluctant for anyone to actually lose her job.  My mother, ever astute in reading character, thought that she would probably make a pretty good bartender, where her more bizarre qualities could be an asset rather than a hindrance....