List for Cranky People
Aug 19th, 2003, 07:46 AM
#41
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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
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
Aug 19th, 2003, 07:49 AM
#42
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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
Right now you could time me with a sun dial in a 40yd dash!
Kal
Aug 19th, 2003, 08:12 AM
#44
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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.
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.
Aug 19th, 2003, 08:14 AM
#45
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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!!!
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!!!
Aug 19th, 2003, 08:15 AM
#46
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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!!!!
Aug 19th, 2003, 08:17 AM
#47
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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.
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.
Aug 19th, 2003, 08:46 AM
#48
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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.
Aug 19th, 2003, 09:04 AM
#49
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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!
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!
Aug 19th, 2003, 09:12 AM
#51
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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.
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.
Aug 19th, 2003, 09:26 AM
#52
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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.
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.
Aug 19th, 2003, 09:37 AM
#53
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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.
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.
Aug 19th, 2003, 10:03 AM
#54
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Who's the Salmon LOL
Yes, Bailey, a SKIRT !
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 ???
Yes, Bailey, a SKIRT !
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 ???
Aug 19th, 2003, 10:04 AM
#55
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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!
"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!
Aug 19th, 2003, 10:17 AM
#56
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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!
Aug 19th, 2003, 10:25 AM
#58
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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
Aug 19th, 2003, 10:29 AM
#59
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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
- 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
Aug 19th, 2003, 10:33 AM
#60
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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!
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!
