Things that annoy you in pubs/ restaurants

MamaMoo_2

People who come over to "pet" my children whilst they're eating. Yes, my three year old is sat quietly and eating like an angel for once, could you please not disturb that by ruffling his hair and trying to engage him in conversation.

Waiting staff who ask my children what they'd like to eat. I have just spent 20 minutes getting them each to settle on a meal, please don't ask them and then look at me surprised when the answer is "ice cream and cake".
They then look disheartened when their meals come out as "we asked the lady for pudding first!"

Staff checking if the food is ok, usually when a) I have a mouthful of food and b) when I've had all of two mouthfuls out of the whole plate.

Playing on the quiz machine when some idiot feels the need to stand behind me and shout all the (usually wrong) answers into my ear

Children running around whilst their mother and her friend polish off their second bottle of plonk, forgetting that one of them actually has a child with them.

Finding a restaurant has sold out of half of the dishes on their menu by early evening because the chef forgot to order or "that's not very popular so we don't buy it".

aileth

Kate/Bob wrote: »

What's wrong with being left handed?

I'm right-handed and eat left-handed! I don't have poor manners, I'm not some sort of 'weirdo', I simply grew up doing it and felt more comfortable with it.

Now I'm going to be wondering when I'm out whether someone is staring at me, completely mortified that I had the gall to eat like that! :rotfl:

stockton_2

I hate pubs with 24 hours news on TV. Utterly depressing. Nobody watches it and the sound is usually turned down but it is still depressing.

Also hate those pubs and clubs were you have to walk past the snooker/[pool players to access the toilet. They resent your "interference" with their game. Those type of places lose me as a customer. I want a bit more class.

eyelinerprincess

I eat awkwardly too. But my brother is left handed and he eats right handed. Go figure.

giraffe69

I'm right-handed and eat left-handed!

I'm left handed and eat with knife and fork the conventional way round probably because that is how I was taught. Indeed the only people I know who do it the other way round are right handed.

There are plenty of things to get irritated about mentioned in this thread but which hand you hold your knife in is not, I would have thought, one of them.

I'll vote
loud and intrusive music
badly behaved and under supervised children
those who answer calls or make them but speak so loudly it is not clear why they need a mobile

mufi

vyle wrote: »

What collective noun/pronoun (not sure which) would you prefer? I call everyone "guys" or "dude". If I say "ladies and gentlemen" it sounds too formal. "Ladies" sounds sleazy. "People" has got a somewhat racist/discriminatory connotations. "customers" just sounds weird (Hello customers.)

Madam/ma'am offends people who think it insinuates that you run a brothel (seriously).

Then the gender specific ones also offend genderqueer/genderfluid/trans people.

Guys has become somewhat neutral.

Why does one need a collective noun/pronoun?


Hello, good morning, good afternoon, good evening; any of those will do nicely.


'People' is completely surplus to requirements (see above), but racist!!??

Azari

vyle wrote: »

What collective noun/pronoun (not sure which) would you prefer? I call everyone "guys" or "dude". If I say "ladies and gentlemen" it sounds too formal. "Ladies" sounds sleazy. "People" has got a somewhat racist/discriminatory connotations. "customers" just sounds weird (Hello customers.)

Madam/ma'am offends people who think it insinuates that you run a brothel (seriously).

Then the gender specific ones also offend genderqueer/genderfluid/trans people.

Guys has become somewhat neutral.

Just don't add anything.

Good (morning/afternoon/evening) is perfectly acceptable and a lot more classy than: 'Hi'.

You are, after all, commencing a business transaction, not greeting your mates in the pub.

I'd consider a waiter saying 'Hi Guys' to anything other than a single sex male group in casual dress quite disrespectful. Whereas a pithy 'table for <n>' is perfectly acceptable.

Remember, people are there primarily to eat/drink, not make friends with the staff. (Obviously things get a lot more fluid if you viist a place more than once and do get friendly with the staff.)

tattycath

Just thought of another one...
People who eat like they're mixing concrete-absolutely hate it!

BakerBoy

Not pub or restaurants….coffee shops.

Young men with facial hair who advise me not to put sugar in my coffee. Or refuse to make me a large white coffee. Or, and this really riles, refuse to make me two flat whites in one big cup (even though I can see the big cups) because they've 'got the perfect balance in a flat white and only make it in a 6oz cup'.

I always dreamed of better coffee in the UK. Didn't realise it would come with such utter snobbery.

LilElvis

JReacher1 wrote: »

If you genuinely get annoyed by a person using cutlery the other way around then I would suggest you seek medical help. It's completely harmless and not in the least annoying.

Have you ever witnessed Americans eating? Nearly half will ineffectually hack at their food because they are holding their cutlery as if they have pens in their hands. This is then followed by clattering as the cutlery is dropped on the edge of the plate, fumbling as the fork is swapped from the left to the right hand ...... so that they can turn it upside down and use it as a shovel. Their only saving grace is that Americans do recognise that asking for ice in your drink means getting more than 2 already melting cubes plopped into your glass.