This Really Annoys Me Pet Peeve Thread

[sudbuddy]

Fourth.

Nice

 

[Schlenkerla]

People who routinely make a stink at restaurants and talk to the manager over a perceived slight by the wait staff. They almost always have never worked in a restaurant and don't understand life from the other side. They also just look like entitled a$$holes. @Schlenkerla I'm sure you're a good guy and all, but based on your first few posts you seem to fit the bill on this one. I would encourage you to put yourself in their shoes and come down off your high horse on something as trivial as an appetizer.

Dude I have worked at a restaurant, so I know how the people feel working there.

In most cases this is really only a pet peeve when it's something like my wedding anniversary and I'm gonna drop $150 for a dinner for two.

I generally recognize inexperienced wait staff. I will order accordingly or say something to space it out. If I'm doing dinner and a movie and I need to burn time I just let them know I'm not in hurry. I'm not about to be bothered with a wait especially if they are busy.

That's why I said they must never eat out for dinner or think about the customer experience. If they did, they would know any normal person wants to eat the appetizer and not have main course come right on top of it or immediately after ~ 1 or 2 minutes. When you haven't had time to eat it and probably reload in drinks before the main course.

I have had the appetizer come after the main course... with two separate people bringing out food. I've had salad come before the appetizer too.

They need to pay attention to what they are doing. Managers should explain this to younger employees with little to no experience.

So, I order in this sequence; a drink/cocktail, an appetizer, a meal, later a dessert and a cup of coffee. Tell me the order they should come out. The meal comes with soup/salad and bread.

This is NOT a trick question and not complicated.

 

[sudbuddy]

They need to pay attention to what they are doing. Managers should explain this to younger employees with little to no experience.

And of course, it is your DUTY to tell the manager how to train his staff. How silly of me.

Dude, that's no way to behave in public. I would be humiliated if I was at a restaurant and someone at my table started acting the way you have described yourself in previous posts.

 

[sudbuddy]

To wit:

If this happens, the manager hears about an the waiters gets nothing more than a 10% tip.

Its just inconsiderate if you ask me. When this happens I send the food back and ask for the bill. I pay for the appetizer and drinks and then tell the management about the service.

I will get upset, bite my tongue, at that point I'm done eating. I get up and tell the manager.

Even in McDonalds!!!

I'm like WTF is the deal with breakfast all day?

I say, I want my money back for the eggs... They obliged me.

English a second language?

That's just snarky

I won't even bother with the episode(s) you described at Red Robin because that is just entitlement and over-analysis on a mind-boggling level.

 

[Schlenkerla]

And of course, it is your DUTY to tell the manager how to train his staff. How silly of me.

Dude, that's no way to behave in public. I would be humiliated if I was at a restaurant and someone at my table started acting the way you have described yourself in previous posts.

Yeah its my duty to tell the manager of the restaurant where the bear $hits in the woods, I know the bear and the woods better than anybody else.

I love being a condescending jerk in public especially in restaurants. They can spit in my food, put my steak in the crack of their a$$, drop pubic hairs in my drink and I'm no wiser.

Dude - I'm extremely polite. I'm discrete about conversations with managers. If their employees aren't doing what it takes give their restaurant a good reputation they need to know it. Done tactfully with out any sign of anger or contempt.

I'm the type of person at work that wants to know if I'm not meeting expectations. I ask how I'm doing. This way I can make changes before somebody tells me bad news at a year-end review.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Fourth.

podz. I speak only one language fluently. 2nd is German about 60-70% confidently.

Your English it's definitely better than any other language I'd try to speak.

I wasn't sure if there was a misunderstanding colloquial or slang.

I wasn't intending to be snarky.

Frankly wasn't sure if you were an American living abroad or Finnish.

 

[sudbuddy]

Don't be that guy.

It would never occur to me to complain to the manager, that's just a whiny d!ck move in my opinion.

 

[sudbuddy]

On that note, let's give it a rest.

I hate when people say "to where." As in, "let's do something this way, to where we can achieve this"

 

[soccerdad]

Do what?

I don't know if this is strictly southern speak or not. Both my SIL and DIL say 'Do what?' when normal humans would say. 'Pardon me' or 'come again', or just plain 'what?' I have taken to responding with, 'No, you're good, don't do anything.'

 

[sudbuddy]

Do what?

I don't know if this is strictly southern speak or not. Both my SIL and DIL say 'Do what?' when normal humans would say. 'Pardon me' or 'come again', or just plain 'what?'

Ewww! That would drive me nuts

 

[Rhumbline]

OK, here's my submittal.

The idea that everything gets better by hooking a microcomputer up to it.

Among the countless examples of this are microprocessor controlled toasters. they promise you your toast will be cooked identically every time.

I don't need that kind of control over toast. I like a little chaos in my life just to keep things from getting boring. Know how I cook toast? A cast iron skillet on the stove.

And while I'm at it, THE CLOUD. I have a job that requires sharing a lot of information with a lot of people and getting their input. My way is to call them into a room and lay everything out with everyone throwing ideas and comments back and forth. I'll always have that IT idiot who thinks they'll just videoconference in (from a building 200' away) and wants me to upload crap to the Cloud. instead of sending me a document, they'll say that they put it in the project folder in the cloud, which I have no access to and no interest in using. for the same amount of effort, they could have attached the thing to their email.

It's inefficient, error prone, and offers no added value.

 

[MaxStout]

OK, here's my submittal.

The idea that everything gets better by hooking a microcomputer up to it.

Among the countless examples of this are microprocessor controlled toasters. they promise you your toast will be cooked identically every time.

I don't need that kind of control over toast. I like a little chaos in my life just to keep things from getting boring. Know how I cook toast? A cast iron skillet on the stove.

And while I'm at it, THE CLOUD. I have a job that requires sharing a lot of information with a lot of people and getting their input. My way is to call them into a room and lay everything out with everyone throwing ideas and comments back and forth. I'll always have that IT idiot who thinks they'll just videoconference in (from a building 200' away) and wants me to upload crap to the Cloud. instead of sending me a document, they'll say that they put it in the project folder in the cloud, which I have no access to and no interest in using. for the same amount of effort, they could have attached the thing to their email.

It's inefficient, error prone, and offers no added value.

Now, your appliances can spy on you. This is becoming a marketer's wet dream.

 

[podz]

Among the countless examples of this are microprocessor controlled toasters. they promise you your toast will be cooked identically every time.

I don't need that kind of control over toast. I like a little chaos in my life just to keep things from getting boring. Know how I cook toast? A cast iron skillet on the stove.

This is why I will never have anything to do with sous vide - it can never cook a tomohawk steak with more attitude than I can do while standing in front of my weber with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

 

[Schlenkerla]

On that note, let's give it a rest.

I hate when people say "to where." As in, "let's do something this way, to where we can achieve this"

Ok I think you're reading too much into this. Assume it's more passive-aggressive venting here.

It's easy to say this, and that, bitch and wine here, and make a big deal of it in a thread than give honest feedback to restaurant managers.

I travel quite a bit for work. I eat out three times a week. Maybe two times a year I talk to a restaurant manager. Most of the time my wife is with me and is pissed about the food or the service

I only ask for something to be taken something off the bill when they've really screwed up or there's an obviously quality problem.

My wife once got chunks of a wooden spoon, I think, in an alfredo pasta dish. I once got perch fillet with the biggest black beetle, pinchers and all, in the center of the fillet. Just like it was a cherry on a sundae. I don't know how they missed it.

The instance I referenced where we rejected the food and asked for the bill was where a supposedly hot appetizer came late and was cold, then seconds later the main course comes. The waiter was snooty taking the drink and appetizer order (according to my wife). We just threw in the towel. We paid for the drinks.

Once we have had the appetizer come after the main course.

I'm sorry about the red robin thing. They should have said, "Have you been here before, you need to use the tablet to page the wait staff?" Something along those lines.

 

[Rhumbline]

Now, your appliances can spy on you. This is becoming a marketer's wet dream.

Exactly! My refrigerator does not need internet connection. No, it ain't gonna happen. and the same goes for the washing machine.

 

[JonM]

Watch the recent episode of Nova about cybersecurity. It is frighteningly easy for hackers to access those web-enabled gadgets. It's especially worrisome when people have those door locks you can open and close from a smartphone.

Imagine if a hacker accessed a brew nanny and bumped the temp up to where you'd get esters and fusel alcohols!!!!

 

[podz]

podz. I speak only one language fluently. 2nd is German about 60-70% confidently.

Your English it's definitely better than any other language I'd try to speak.

I wasn't sure if there was a misunderstanding colloquial or slang.

I wasn't intending to be snarky.

Frankly wasn't sure if you were an American living abroad or Finnish.

Don't worry, man. Here, most people are already studying their third language and many already bilingual by the time they are nine years old. If it weren't for the prevalence of english and german language tv, we'd all be restricted to the hell of watching local drama-queen episodes such as Salatut elämät.

Might not be too late for you to take up Spanish lessons - I hear they're taking over large swaths of your country. They might even have some good tv series ;-)

 

[podz]

On that note, let's give it a rest.

I hate when people say "to where." As in, "let's do something this way, to where we can achieve this"

The etymology of many of the strangeties in USA English, are from grammatically perfect Swedish/Finnish/German having been literally translated into English by immigrants and taken into regional use where they settled.

If it really aggravates you, then you can go all Winston Churchill on their arses and tell them "I've had all of this, up with which I can put!"

 

[Schlenkerla]

Don't be that guy.

It would never occur to me to complain to the manager, that's just a whiny d!ck move in my opinion.

I know you said ok let it rest. I'll stop after this unless you want keep going back and forth. Just say so.

You never felt like you were getting bad service, ignored, been shortchanged, or have been mistreated by bad employees? If so how did you resolve the problem?

I don't know what you do for a living. I work in a very large corporation, it's a bureaucracy where people don't always play nice, they have their own agenda, or shirk responsibility. It's a wonder how they keep their jobs.

If you're being held accountable to a goal or deadline and you need to get something done but one person or group is the obstacle you can't blame them and let it go.

If face to face conversations don't work or telephone calls, sometimes you have to cc their boss in an email or call a meeting and invite them and their boss and hammer stuff out with them and your boss.

You can call me winey d!ck, but in the long term I'll keep my job and get a good raise and eventually get promoted.

It's better than being the one who's getting d!cked.

 

[Rhumbline]

The etymology of many of the strangeties in USA English, are from grammatically perfect Swedish/Finnish/German having been literally translated into English by immigrants and taken into regional use where they settled.

If it really aggravates you, then you can go all Winston Churchill on their arses and tell them "I've had all of this, up with which I can put!"

We've got a lot of French Canadians down where I live. it still cracks me up to hear something like "Throw me over the fence, a rake"

...and then there's the German friend of ours who comes over and says something like "You will get me a beer" when he means "Will you get me a beer?" completely different meaning and we gave him endless grief over being the bossy German a-hole.

In the military they always taught us simple phrases when we'd be going overseas. It took a while for me to realize how stupid it was to learn how to say "I don't speak Norwegian" when the average Norwegian would realize pretty quickly that was the case. Likewise, it's pretty dumb to be able to ask "Where is the train station?" if you can't understand the response.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Don't worry, man. Here, most people are already studying their third language and many already bilingual by the time they are nine years old. If it weren't for the prevalence of english and german language tv, we'd all be restricted to the hell of watching local drama-queen episodes such as Salatut elämät.

Might not be too late for you to take up Spanish lessons - I hear they're taking over large swaths of your country. They might even have some good tv series ;-)

It's the old joke....


Q. What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages?
A. Trilingual

Q. What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages?
A. Bilingual

Q. What do you call someone who only speaks one language?
A. American

 

[soccerdad]

The way you started out, I thought you were going to tell the joke about the cunning linguist.

 

[Hoppity]

When "What happened?" is used as a substitute for "Pardon me, I didn't hear you".

 

[Kampenken]

This could get ugly, but hear me out....

Drivers who think its cool to pass a bike rider (pedal bike) close. 4' is the law people obey it!! (I'd say about 95% give us riders a fair amount of space, but its those a-holes who pass, quickly too within a foot, or inches....B@st@rds!

Flip side, bikers who ride side by side. What the F is wrong with you guys!! Single file, unless you absolutely 100% positively know there is no vehicle around. Those damn pack riders are the WORST! You aren't in the F'ing Tour de France so stop acting like it an pissing off drivers who then find it funny to pass us single file bikers with inches to spare!! Oh, and those riders who flout the rules of the road. You should go to. Damn you.

Ok, I'm better now. Thanks.

 

[Rhumbline]

As far as bicyclists go I always try to give them a wide berth, same with joggers.

But here's the thing, you got a quarter mile of cars stacked up behind you because there's oncoming traffic. I'm passing you safely but four feet is not an option. How about pulling off the road to let the backed up cars by, just like I do when towing or driving slowly for some other reason? Courtesy goes both ways.

 

[hunter_le five]

This is true at chain restaurants which I won't set foot in anyway. If you're going to a chain restaurant then you're getting what you deserve....

And non-chain restaurants.

I'm with you. Tipping in the US is necessary because servers can be paid much less than the legal minimum wage. I don't have the exact numbers but if minimum wage is $7.85 per hour then servers can be paid something like $2.75 per hour and it's expected that the tips will make up the difference.

Federal minimum wage is $7.25, unless state or local laws specify higher. Tipped employees may be payed as low as $2.13 by the employer, HOWEVER, employers MUST guarantee that servers make at least $7.25 per hour at the end of the day, through the inclusion of tips or otherwise. If servers don't make enough in tips to bring them up the $7.25/hr minimum, then the employer is legally required to make up the difference.

Fact: there is not a single waitress in America legally making only $2.13 an hour. This is misinformation that is commonly spread, but patently false.

It's not "expected", it's the law.

And none of our waiters or waitresses make only minimum wage; some of them even make as high as the $50k-$60k range, plus health and retirement benefits. While agree that tipping should probably be eliminated and replaced by higher meal prices and fixed wages, my point is they're not exactly hurting.

 

[Stillraining]

All this darn theft proof packaging...there dang near buyer proof too.:smack:

 

[sudbuddy]

I know you said ok let it rest. I'll stop after this unless you want keep going back and forth. Just say so.

You never felt like you were getting bad service, ignored, been shortchanged, or have been mistreated by bad employees? If so how did you resolve the problem?

I don't know what you do for a living. I work in a very large corporation, it's a bureaucracy where people don't always play nice, they have their own agenda, or shirk responsibility. It's a wonder how they keep their jobs.

If you're being held accountable to a goal or deadline and you need to get something done but one person or group is the obstacle you can't blame them and let it go.

If face to face conversations don't work or telephone calls, sometimes you have to cc their boss in an email or call a meeting and invite them and their boss and hammer stuff out with them and your boss.

You can call me winey d!ck, but in the long term I'll keep my job and get a good raise and eventually get promoted.

It's better than being the one who's getting d!cked.

I have no idea how any of this justifies your behavior in a restaurant. It seems like you're trying to look better after I called you out for behavior that you proudly admitted to earlier. Just let it go man, you aren't always going to come out looking squeaky clean and this is one of those times. Now it's time for you to drop it and move on. Better yet, maybe you will take this opportunity to be more tolerant of the people that are feeding you

 

[Rhumbline]

And non-chain restaurants.
...
Fact: there is not a single waitress in America legally making only $2.13 an hour. This is misinformation that is commonly spread, but patently false.

It's not "expected", it's the law.

And none of our waiters or waitresses make only minimum wage; some of them even make as high as the $50k-$60k range, plus health and retirement benefits. While agree that tipping should probably be eliminated and replaced by higher meal prices and fixed wages, my point is they're not exactly hurting.

Everything you say is correct. I was trying to explain the tipping culture to someone outside the US and I didn't want to get too deep in the nuts and bolts. I owned a restaurant for a short time and the servers made more from that place than I did.

 

[Rhumbline]

and if it helps to stick a fork in the tipping debate, let me just offer this in support of both sides.

yes, it's that scene, and yes the language is Not Safe For Work.