Dining Out Annoyances

I enjoy eating out but I often find myself annoyed. I figured that it might be therapeutic to share by annoyances.

I find drive-thru windows to be very convenient but I often find myself behind someone who cannot determine what they want or have to specially revise everything on the menu. So I sit and wait as they deliberate and then change their mind 1001 times. I keep thinking that they need to have two lines at the drive-thru. One for the clueless people and one for everyone else. Then I'd get in line for the clueless people because they'd be too clueless to determine that line was for them.

I love going to a restaurant and asking the server what the 'soup of the day' is, and they respond, "I don't know, would you like me to check?"

The "I don't know" is either the fault of a poor server or a poor training process with a bad manager. How a place as a 'soup of the day' and not inform the servers and the servers not find out boggles my mind. One would think that if you have a 'soup of the day' someone might order it and they might like to know what they are getting before ordering it. If one is feeling especially flatulent one day, bean soup might not be a great option. Or, if the chef is very inventive, I might not be interested in learning what fish head and brussel sprouts chowder tastes like.

The other part of the response is a classic. "Would you like me to check?" As a point of reference, generally someone who asks a question would like to know the answer. Amazing.

Another pet peeve is around the issue of soft drinks. Usually the only not sugared items are, besides water, iced tea and Diet Coke/Pepsi, all of which have caffeine. I wish something was available without caffeine and sugar.

Other pet peeves:

Steak. Why is it that it is a rare occasion that I get my steak cooked as I asked?

Pasta. Overcooked pasta is, frankly, detestable. I am always amazed how many places overcook pasta----and this is especially unforgiveable when the place specializes in Italian food.

Servers that tell me that I'll really like the scallops. I won't. I do not like scallops and, no, they do not taste like chicken.

McDonalds. Bad food, their way. At least at some other chains I can get bad food my way.

Undetermined fish. I enjoy some fish but I've had the experience of asking what kind of fish was on the 'fish special' tonight and being told, "fish, just fish." When I point out that they have varied meat options, they look at my like I have two heads. One server finally said, "You know, the square kind of fish." I think I had chicken that night.

Margarine served with bread instead of butter. Or margarine for your pancakes. I guess anyplace that thinks that margarine takes the place of butter.

Places that offer "New York style" and don't. New York style pizza is advertised a great deal but most of the advertising is false advertising. There are remarkably few places that offer anything close to a New York style pizza. Just because the pizza is found and the crust is hand tossed does not make it New York style.

I have been in delis that said they were New York style. When you see a corned beef or pastrami sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mayo, it is not New York style. It's also a tell tale sign to not order their corned beef or pastrami.

Stale burger buns. What were they thinking?

Patrons who think that servers do not deserve a decent tip. A good server should receive at least a 20-25% gratuity. If you go less than 15%, shame on you---unless your service was exceptionally bad----and even then it might not have been your server's fault.

I am actually not all that choosey and most of the places I frequent I enjoy and most of the servers who wait on tables work hard and do a great job. But now that I have shared my annoyances, I feel so much better!