I've always been told that I expect too much from people, that I should lower my standards or else risk being constantly disappointed. The one reason I keep getting told this is because of my constant frustration with customers who come into restaurants. I understand if the cuisine is one you've never tried so you are confused or hesitant. I understand if the chef or menu uses words or language unfamiliar to you so you have to ask for help. What I don't understand nor do I tolerate well is people that don't seem to understand or have even the slightest grasp on how their own country and cultures food works. These same people don't appear to have ever eaten out in public before, or cooked food themselves. The entire concept of how food is prepared and for that matter how it works is completely baffling to these people. My favorite examples of this are when asked what kind of toast they'd like with their breakfast and the reply is regular. Regular toast. Another is eggs, when asked how one would like their eggs, the response over easy but not runny, is baffling. If these were things that just happened to me once or twice, I could laugh and shrug it off. I have heard these and other such gems an astonishing number of times, so much that it is second nature of me to explain how eggs are cooked, and ground beef temperatures. These are things that I feel like anyone over the age of 18 has no excuse for not knowing.
The fact of the matter is that most people are astonished and blind sided by the goings on in a restaurant like it's their first time ever eating outside their home. Don't expect a complete stranger to know what you like and don't like, don't expect them to know your allergies. If you don't like tomatoes but can't be bothered to rad the description of the item you want, ask. Tell your server you hate tomatoes and if one so much as touches your plate of food, you'll send the whole thing back to be remade. We are not mind readers, I wish we were, our jobs would be infinitely easier, but in the absence of that skill, open your mouth and speak. You're allergic to nuts? So much that your throat will close up and you'll need to be rushed to the hospital? Speak up. How do I know this unless you tell me? Sometimes I have trouble remembering all my own allergies, let alone trying to read the minds of hundreds of strangers each day. Don't ask me what's good here? When we have a ten page menu and, again, are complete strangers. I don't know what you eat and don't eat, my favorite thing might be disgusting and appalling to you. You could very well be allergic to it, or a vegetarian. Please give me some sort of help in guiding you towards something you might enjoy. I'm not trying to sound like as much of an asshole as I'm probably coming off as, I'm just trying to give a little bit of insight into the requests and assumptions people make that make my job so much more difficult. A little insight will go a long way.
