Comments on: Standards of Service

by: ianmack

Thu, 17 May 2007 16:02:15 +0000

on koh phangan, my girlfriend and i stopped to have breakfast in a cozy and newly opened restaurant. she ordered the poached eggs and ended up with a greasy plate of scrambled instead. no problem, how about a fruit salad? we got a bowl of fruit…with thousand island dressing on top. i tried explaining to the waitress that “this dressing is good for normal salad, but not fruit salad.” she nodded and apologized…and came back with a normal salad (lettuce, tomatoes, onion) with some pineapple on top. i got the impression she didn’t have much experience making Western food. we laughed it off and paid for everything.

by: Chocobuns

Wed, 16 May 2007 08:34:52 +0000

Did I ever tell you the time my first year in Kyoto that I said to a waitress at a restaurant where someone had barfed all over the toilet, “The bathroom’s condition: it’s interesting.” The longer I stayed and the better I got at Japanese, the more that comment haunted me because all the coi, understated irony of what I was trying to say, “The bathroom’s in an… *interesting* state,” was completely leeched out of what I muttered. In essence I just told a random waitress that I was very interested in the bathroom’s well-being. I hope that waitress still tells that story or at least put it up on the web. The salt was definitely finished.

by: Liza

Thu, 10 May 2007 20:31:46 +0000

I now currently live in the United States, but have had some amusing stories of food while here and in the Philippines. I ate at “hooters” for the first time, intrigued by the ubiquitous presence of this restaurant in the movies. I was eating a beef recipe and had a sudden craving for soy sauce. Filipinos use soy sauce with everything! I asked for soy sauce from the dumbfounded waitress, who could only adjust her straps and say curtly, we have no soy sauce here. I have also looked for spoons and restaurants where I’m only supposed to eat with a knife and a fork. Love food experiences? Food is so much a part of my life because I work for gourmet. They’re actually having a sweepstakes where a person each day will instantly win a trip for 2 to a top resort. You’ll add to your list of food stories when you win this one! Enter at http://condenast.eprize.net/gourmet/index.tbapp?affiliate_id=1v. I work with gourmet and am giving you an inside scoop. Good luck and funny eating!