Ok, I have one...and maybe someone can explain it to me.
What is it with the stupid piece of lemon skin on the saucer with an expresso ?

I also hate when waiter splash the whole table with water when serving a glass. And when they don't get my request about "no ice cubes"

Please tell me where this lemon thing comes from...

Celine

Scarlett-I'm 6'4" and go somewhere around 255#, Hawaiian shirt and my knee was still bandaged...like I'm going to SNEEK ANYWHERE!?!?!?! O:)
Right now you could time me with a sun dial in a 40yd dash!
Kal

Kal, how does your knee feel today?
Is Mrs Kal being a good nurse?
And are you being a good patient?

((F))

Here's another vote for (or is it against?) the waitstaff who are attentive and pleasant throughout the meal and then make you wait until the cows come home before they bring the check. Somehow they take invisible pills just after they clear the plates. You can't find them and you can't leave. I suppose there are worse things than being held hostage in a nice restaurant, but some of us have other places to go and things to do.
A friend of mine is in the habit of asking for a glass of water along with whatever other beverage she orders - coffee, tea, etc. - just a quirk, but she likes to have a glass of water nearby. The server remembers to bring it maybe 20% of the time. Most times it never arrives even after she's asked twice or more. Strange but true.

SCARLETT
Love the Pants dancing routine....but I'm sure that you meant to say SKIRT...being the fine southern lady that you are!!!!

KAL
MMM 6'4" 255.....single? I have a sisiter that would like to meet you...and while you're here you can have a whole bushel of sweet Jersey tomatoes!!!

Well, my 13(1/2) yo would say when the waitperson asks if they should bring a children's menu. Geez have they never seen how much food kids that age eat? Another one is when they bring his drink in a plastic cup with a lid and a straw. He hands it back to them and politely asks for a glass but we've already fallen off our chairs in fits of laughter!!!!

OMG, I completely forgot about the sexist waiters!! I can't tell you how many times I have even put my credit card right in the waiters hand and they still hand it back to my husband! ARGH!

And speaking of asking for no ice, my other pet peeve IS when there is no ice...especially when they brew their tea for the iced tea, and pour it still fairly warm over the ice, thereby melting said ice. You end up with a lukewarm drink, no ice and diluted tea.

My goodness but it's a small world. I believe some of you were next to our table. We could hear your rumbles - we could just imagine what you'd do to that officious wait person when they tried to smooth your napkin for you. We were incensed at what you had to put up with!! You have every right to be the cranky old stiffs you've turned into. Poor things! Being on a plane must be a living hell.

People who talk self-importantly on cell phones throughout the meal even though they are dining with companions.

Ditto on the sexist waiter. For years I've put my credit card in a neutral zone in the middle of the table just to test them (and in the beginning, maybe to raise their consciousness).

As for "still working on that" it is my mother-in-law's pet peeve and my husband and I cringe when a waitperson says it to her - we know from experience what's coming next!

2 days ago I stopped at a restaurant for lunch. I was greeted with a question: are you here for lunch? Should I've answered: no, I'm here to see a movie!

Servers who constantly interupt at their own convienience.

Cell phones.

Being pressured to leave when the server thinks you are spending to much time taking up his/her table.

Getting pressured into ordering a dessert when you don't want any.

Servers trying to take away your plate before you are finished.

Sitting in the Non Smoking section which is nothing but an area divided by an imaginary line from the Smoking section.

Out of control children and their parents who don't care.

Now you've gotten me started:

Don't know if it is old age creeping up on me or what---but what is the deal with eating by one teensy little candle! Blackout is over folks. I have no idea if the tableware is clean & I can't see the food. Why does it have to be so dark? Are they hiding something? I have to keep a flashlight on my key chain to read the damn menu!

Another pet peeve is lipstick (other than my own) on my wine/water glass.

Also, these attempts at 'being different' with ladies room decor. When I have to go, I don't want to hunt around for the handle to the sleek, stylish, what-the-heck-is-this stall door, or figure out how to get the tp out of some jaws of life dispenser. I can't stand the very visible wicker laundry hamper of used cloth hand towels smeared with makeup. Can I please just toss a paper one in the pail?

And, yes there is such a thing as too trendy and hip. Tao, here in NYC, which usually has great food, has decided it is not enough to pump up the techno volume until you are screaming across the table, they have installed a gentleman banging a MIKED bongo drum for your further enjoyment. The glasses were vibrating off the table the last time (and I mean the last time) we were there.

Finally, do I have to be humiliated every time someone has to move furniture to extract me from a banquette table for two? After a lovely romantic evening, why must 3 waiters rush over to push our table into the next so that I have to squeeze through, all the while dying that my fat butt is in the face of the diner at the next table. Mortifying.

Totally agree on how annoying it is when they stand holding a bunch of entrees and proceed to auction them off to the highest bidder: "Who's the salmon?" Do I look like a salmon? (OK, maybe I do, but that's not the point.)

I've noticed that part of this problem is that in many upscale type places, your waiter/waitress is not the same person who delivers your food. So they don't have a clue who ordered what. (Although I thought the original order-taker was supposed to note the seating designation.) So not only don't they know who gets what, but they also are unaware about any extra requests you initially made, and can't follow through.

My favorite peeve at one specific restaurant: When I ordered a second soft drink, the waiter took my dirty glass and returned with the same dirty glass (lipstick marks and squeezed out lemon still there). This was not a chain with free refills. I asked if I was being charged for the second drink and he said yes. So I politely explained that in that case I believed that a clean glass was included in the charge. He looked at me as if I was being picky, which only annoyed me even more.

Who's the Salmon LOL
Yes, Bailey, a SKIRT ! :D But who can remember what they wore into the store when their head is banging from too much techno!!
Surfrider, how nice to be so above it all.
Ellen, speaking of restrooms, I really don't like to 1-flounder around in the dark finding one or being in one, 2-trying to figure out what that cute picture on the door represents, woman, man, coat closet ???

1) Servicers with an attitude:
"I'm too good to be serving you. This is just a temporary job for me."
"You're just a high and mighty so-and-so, and I don't have to be nice to you!"
"You are so demanding - what! you want butter with your bread?!"
"What do you mean, leaving me a tip of less than 15%, especially when I have ignored you most of this meal!"

2) Menus with an attitude:
"Seared Hawaiian ahi tuna done to perfection" [Size of ahi tuna is slightly larger than a postage stamp, stacked high with "decorations" of cheap potato or carrot]
"Gourmet steak italienne" [size of steak is also slightly larger than a postage stamp, with a side of some kind of weed, now made out to be a "fashionable vegetable"]

3) Restaurants with an attitude:
Loud music
Glaring lights
Tiny tables
Rock-a-bye-baby tables and chairs


4) As to specific incidents:
Twice in the last three months, while out dining alone with my wife, the waiter managed to FORGET my entree altogether - no, just two, 2, duo, deux people at this table and just two orders!

Another incident just last week - we went to a VERY upscale, highly touted, new restaurant [yes, the one where they gave me that mouthful of tuna for $35] and, after the entree, since I was still hungry, I started to eat the rest of the bread. This was a restaurant so "upscale" and trying so hard to be "European" that we were not given breadplates. I broke off a piece of bread and laid it on the fancy tablecloth, the waiter came over, swept up my empty plate, grabbed the piece of bread - I fought him, like I would an alligator, and got the piece of bread back! My wife looked totally disgusted at the germ-infested piece of bread and, with her eyes, dared me to eat it! To make a long story short, I came home and downed an entire box of cereal.

And, my biggest pet peeve of all, when the waiter crouches down so that his eyes are on a level with the tabletop. Why, oh, why???!!! It is so weird to be giving your order to a pair of eyes peering over the tabletop!

OO,OO, what about having the waitperson give the specials, ordering a special and having the waitperson come out 5 minutes later saying they are out of that special!!! Drives me nuts! It's right up there with the screaming 3 year old during my dinner at a nice (read expensive) restaurant! I love kids but I also love babysitters!

Oh, how could I forget this one.

When a restuarant charges $10 more for the fish's head attached than a restaurant serving the fish without the head attached!!!!

I thank all of you for making my afternoon tolerable! I have experienced many of the same situations as you all only many of you portrayed them better than I ever could. Thank you bugswife1, Jason888, and others. Our daughter is a banquet captain at resort area in NC and I gotta have her read this thread when I get home. Thanks again for making my afternoon break very enjoyable. Dick

Here are the tops for me:

- Being seated at stools on the bar for dinner when the restaurant is more than half empty. When asked why, they said they like to seat people in different parts of the restaurant to make it more lively. Happened several times at the same restaurant, and always had to speak to manager to get a table.

- When authorizing payment on credit card, waiter stands over you to see how much tip you put in and takes it away right after you sign your name.

- Waiters talking amongst themselves in their corner when you're trying to signal for them, and totally ignoring you like you're invisible.

- Table next to us waited for their food so long that they got disgusted and left, waiter brings their food to their station and invites other waiters to eat it.

- Waiters having their thumb in your food when they bring your plates. Yuck!

And the award goes to...

- Watching waiter picking his nose while eating

I can't resist chiming in for this one

1) waiting for the check...I'll wait for a lot of things, but waiting to pay you so I can leave irks me beyond belief
2) I concur with the comment about lukewarm, watered down, iceless iced tea...grrr
3) dishes of salt on the table. I think they're cute too, but I happen to enjoy salt on most foods, and I don't want the grains that several other unknown fingers have touched, or the grains that were spit on/sneezed on etc. yuck
4) ordering coffee and dessert, only to receive dessert first and coffee 15 mins after you've finished the dessert...so frustrating!

Thanks for the opportunity to vent!

Am I the only one who hates to be called "hon" by the waitstaff?; i.e. "Have you decided what you want, hon?"

Gina, what are you going to do if/when you go to Baltimore? The citizens call EVERYONE "hon"!! :)

Oh, you bet, above the little fray, always, thank goodness. LOL, I just bet most of that occurred at a place with counter service. Probably in the burbs. Lets see some hands! Dennys? :>

How about arriving in a dining room at about 8-8:30, 3/4 of the tables are empty and having the maitre d' ask haughtily, &quot;Reservation&quot;? LOL It's <i>so</i> tempting to respond, &quot;It doesn't look as if I need one&quot;, bursting that big ole bubble. Registry Hotel, Naples, FL

Along those lines... I love the &quot;Will you be dining with us this evening&quot; line too. &quot;No actually, it's our duplicate bridge night, do you mind?&quot;

I dislike having the chef or restaurant manager stop by for a chat, but that's something they are trained to do here.

Lastly, (and along the lines of the above) the &quot;how is everything&quot; question. How I'd love to not always be on my best behavior!! &quot;Well, see these weeds here...they look like something I pulled out of the yard this afternoon and taste worse&quot;. &quot;That salad--yuck--swimming in dressing. Nasty.&quot; So much for the pleasant evening, so I smile, say wonderful and they smile and go back to the kitchen and keep doing the same things the same way and I never return. (Actually, as far as those weeds go, I really do like them, but thought they'd be easy to use here. :) )

OO, so true about the empty room vs. having reservations.

It was at least 8:00pm and we didn't have reservations and neither did the many other guests waiting in the entry. We all started to get the giggles looking at the nearly empty room while the host made busy at his podium. When one brave soul asked why we were all waiting when there were obviously many free tables,the host claimed that they had many reservations. That was too much! This is not in a town that experiences lots of late diners. We walked. Never been back.

LOL, OO, you gotta eat closer to home and avoid places south of Central. Offer some names, puleeeze - my pet peeve is too little dressing - I'd love to have my weeds swimming occasionally. Take care, and do watch what you eat.

OO,YES! that does go to the top of the list, those who meet you at the door of an empty restaurant and not only ask if you have reservations but look around the empty room, as if looking for an available table LOL
Now while some posters may dine in suburbs, there are also those who live and dine in cities and I think that the location should not matter, it is the restaurant!
But of course, I guess you have to experience it to understand it.

Frisee. Does ANYONE like that stuff? It feels like I'm eating a brillo pad.

When meeting friends at the restaurant and they won't seat you until your &quot;entire party has arrived&quot; even though you have reservations and the place is practically empty! UGH!!

Also, I second having to wait for the bill. Can I just hurry up and give you my hard-earned money and get on with my life please!!!!!!!!!!

1. Hate being being sandwiched between two other tables.

2. Uneventful food = nothing new or at least reminiscent of another trip/place.

We have invented a word, I think, for the guy who brings over the big pepper grinder and grinds away until you say ENOUGH! He is the &quot;peppier&quot; (French accent) and only the best of restaurants have one.

Iscott, LOVE it! It shall become part of our dining out vocabulary. &quot;Petit peppier&quot; has a lovely ring to it, n'est-ce pas?

1. Restaurants where they have crammed as many tables as possible into the dining room, so you are too close to other diners.

2. My husband and I were out for a romantic dinner and the host tried to seat us at a table for six. Hard to be romantic at a big round table.

3. While traveling, we went into a restaurant with our kids. Before we even talked to the host, we decided it didn't look like a kid-friendly place, so we turned around to leave. He came after us, asking &quot;how many in your party?&quot; When we politely told him we had kids and we were looking for something more family-friendly, he started arguing the point. I thought he would follow us to the car.

Ditto to ALL the above and:

Being seated near the restrooms in NICE restaurants! Even to the point of seeing feet under the stalls if you happen to glance that way.... eeeyucky-poo!!!

NOT exactly what i have in mind when requesting a table with a view!

Glad to know I'm not alone in some of this. I drive my husband NUTS when I get upset about bad/improper service. God love him, and I do too, but something in his life must have made him think he should just ACCEPT being treated poorly! One woman I once worked with, who in a previous life managed upscale restaurants in Metro Detroit said to me &quot;I would fire a waiter/waitress on the spot if I heard them ask a table 'how is everything?'. Doing so implies that there is a chance that things might NOT be what my restaurant strives to be (which is nothing less than superb) and therefore they are not representing what my establishment is and/or should be.&quot; That really made me think, and now everytime waitstaff asks me that it makes my skin crawl!!!!

I am SO happy to see that as of this posting, there are about 74 Cranky people posting and I think we are all brilliant and restaurants should sit up and take notice!!
I do love the Peppier!!
**Now for something a little different**
We went out to dinner with people a while back (it will be a cold day in hell before we go out with them again-just FYI)
and SHE pulled out her own tea bags at the end of the meal and asked for a cup of hot water. Now this was not a diner nor were her tea bags special..unless Red Rose tea has suddenly become priceless and only she has the remaining 10 bags!
Have you ever seen someone bring something to a restaurant to eat/drink?
What is the craziest thing you have had a fellow diner do that just made your jaw drop?

Scah-lett dahling, you are just soo much fun today! :D

My contributions for &quot;interesting&quot; restaurant behavior...

1. A well-dressed lady at a fancy restaurant at the table next to ours pulled out her dental floss apres dinner and proceeded to &quot;go to town&quot; on her teeth.

2. Man at next table in a fancy steak place taking the (mostly-eaten) T-bone in both hands and &quot;gnawing&quot; on it like a dog.

3. Man at next table in not-so-fancy steak house spearing large (6&quot;) piece of sausage with fork and gobbling said sausage - at which point it turned on him and the &quot;loose end&quot; speared him in the eye.

4. Man at next table in another fancy steak house eating corn on the cob and much of it went into lap. At the point the corn was finished, slurped fallen corn kernels out of napkin.

5. Man at free cocktail hour at less-than-stellar Cancun hotel removed dentures and placed them neatly on cocktail napkin on table in plain view so as to better enjoy the free food being served.

Have you ever watched someone tediously CUT a small olive to remove the pit? It cracked us up!! We were on dessert when he was starting his entree! We went shopping and met him at the car! This friend embarrassed us ALL THE TIME! I think my father let him be his friend because he felt sorry for him...LOL! Oh yeah, there was also the time the same person walked past an overweight patron he didn't know and told her she shouldn't be eating what she ordered! We were walking back from the salad bar and just kept going. He was on his own and I wouldn't have blamed the woman if she had punched him out! What nerve!!!

Okay, can anyone top that last one?? (I hope there isn't anything worse than our rude friend)

I hate it when the waitresses/waiters give you the &quot;three-headed look&quot; if you do NOT order an expensive cocktail!! Give me a break!! Some of us are not into drinking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sunnydelite, where is this happening? I don't drink and this has never happened to me. Not that it doesn't, but I'm just wondering...