Originally Posted by
jib71
I remember being with one colleague who caused a great fuss at a restaurant that served barley tea with lunch and he wanted green tea ("because this is Japan"). He was terribly surprised when the restaurant didn't go the extra mile for him ("I thought service was supposed to be great in Japan"). Come to think of it, he was a total a$$hat.
Yeah, I had an experience like that. While spending the summer in Japan in the 1980s, I met up with faculty member from the same university who was attending a conference in Tokyo and was showing him around. At lunch, he wanted authentic Japanese food, so I took him to the most
kaiseki-like place I knew of, and when the waitress asked about beverages, I said that I was fine with just water, but he ordered milk. (The thought of milk with
kaiseki makes me gag, but...)
The waitress started stammering apologies, and I leaned over and told him that the restaurant was very unlikely to keep milk on hand.
He started going on about how they SHOULD serve milk to please their customers. Never mind that he was probably the first customer in the history of the restaurant to ask for milk with his meal.
The whole day was like that.