Norq From Ork

This evening we went to the hotel restaurant for our meal. We’ve had such a relaxing few days and really enjoyed our time together. (We’ve never had a holiday together, not even a honeymoon!) We ordered our food and a few minutes later the waiter seated another couple at a table near to us. The woman asked about the sauce on something as she was ordering and the waiter wasn’t sure about it so said he would go and find out. She was unnecessarily rude about this and while her husband tried to pacify her a bit she said ‘he should know this menu inside out’ and the poor waiter looked somewhat embarrassed. Then came a complaint that she had been waiting too long for a her food.

 Next, when her food arrived she complained the ‘knife was too hot’ (!) So sent it back (surely that’s a sign it’s clean right?) then she complained that the duck wasn’t cooked correctly, and eventually said she wouldn’t be paying for any of her food and got up and walked out. The whole thing was really upsetting to see, and made us feel so uncomfortable. We were mortified for the young waiter trying to manage the rudeness in a restaurant full of people and my husband turned to him and said ‘well we think you’re doing a brilliant job’ we chatted to him and he said he was only in his second week there. I told him not to lot to lose faith in people, that sometimes people let themselves down but the majority of people were good. People’s rude intolerant behaviour says more about them than it does about those serving them. I would hate to think people were that rude to my children but with both of them having waited on tables I know they have been treated in a similar way. Sometimes you have to wait a few minutes for your food, keep things in perspective. If your knife is too hot, wait a few seconds and it will cool down. I’m not perfect. I’m sure I’ve sighed loudly in a long queue in the past, or requested a dirty glass be replaced. But I certainly hope I never behave in such a way as I saw tonight. I hope I scatter joy not misery. I hope you do the same. And I hope you’re lucky enough to always have food on your table and a clean knife and fork to eat it with. If you do, you really have very little to complain about.