My pet peeve: people who take the opportunity of eating in a restaurant to make themselves feel superior by treating the staff as "servants." I was raised to always treat people the way I would like to be treated, and that includes wait staff in restaurants (my mother was a waitress, among other "careers").

So, if I am treated well, they should be treated as well or even better.

If I am not treated well, a word to the management is in order.

As to my fellow diners, the ones who are boorish, rude, demanding or insensitive are never asked to join me for a meal again!

I know that we can all recount stories but as cabin crew we have plenty of charm school alumni to make our day just that bit special. I find that a common habit is never to look at the person who is taking your order, and talk at them - who are they when all said and done?

As for the worst exhibition that we ever had on board - and this one always stands out - was the couple that we had coming in one night on quite a long haul flight. They were in First Class and had not so much handed rather than waved their coats at the crew member for her to collect. I forget what went on prior to take off - but when we reached altitude was got straight out and the drinks orders were taken. I came by the First Galley to find the Purser with his mouth still agape at what had taken place. Apparently when he had gone to take the drinks order - and please bear in mind that this is a most charming personable individual who is an asset to the company.

He asked Sir what he would like to drink. He was told.

"Madam, would you care for something to drink"

She did not flinch or even look at him. He bent down suspecting that she might not hear him and to get eye contact.

Excuse me Madam? Would you care for anything to drink? "

She looked at him in stoney silence. He persisted and this time gestured drinking as he wondered if she actually spoke English

"Madam would_you_Like_a_Drink?"

She remained silent but her husband's voice cut through

"My wife does not speak to the hired help. She will have Champagne. Now"

Our Purser was speechless. He had never never been spoken to like that ever in his career. He's been called names, he's had discourtesy, rudeness in it but condescending rudeness and attitude - no Never. I shan't bore you with how I dealt with it, but that was the worst that I can remember in longer than I care to remember. Food allergies - deal with them all the time and are part of the world in which we live.

For you all - and this is rather OT - there was some article in the Telegraph colour suppliment about two years ago extolling the virtue of roast or casserolled squirrel (I kid you not). Some wag wrote to the paper and said that were this served in a restaurant that menu should contain tha warning "May contain Nuts"!!

PG

I bet that it wouldn't be boring

I shan't bore you with how I dealt with it, but that was the worst that I can remember in longer than I care to remember.
PG[/QUOTE]

Please reconsider and tell us. Can't wait to hear it! ^

[/QUOTE]Same here - in the meantime I'm reminiscing over the ordering habits of Robert Dupea (Jack Nicholson) in Five Easy Pieces:

http://www.filmsite.org/five.html

Dupea: I'd like a plain omelette, no potatoes, tomatoes instead, a cup of coffee, and wheat toast.
Waitress: (She points to the menu) No substitutions.
Dupea: What do you mean? You don't have any tomatoes?
Waitress: Only what's on the menu. You can have a number two - a plain omelette. It comes with cottage fries and rolls.

My wife and I were out dining this last weekend at a restaurant that has fabulous cole-slaw. I had finished all of my entr�e and had a couple of bites of slaw left when I found a used band-aid (bandage) in my slaw. I stopped the waitress when she went by and explained what I had found. She brought the manager over and they kindly offered to give me something else, but I was almost done so I wasn't hungry. They did comp the meals. I guess I'm the opposite kind of customer. I didn't make a big deal of it (or sue).

BTW - we left a tip, too.

That reminds me of a bad experience I had once at an Outback Steakhouse. I ordered a medium steak and it took so long to arrive it was cool to the touch, not even remotely warm. When I mentioned it to the waitress, she took it away and brought it back soon thereafter. It had clearly been microwaved - it had that smell and it was grey throughout. When I asked to see the manager, he came over and was very rude - "Well you wanted it warm, what did you EXPECT them to do?" He was kind enough not to make me pay for the now-ruined piece of meat, but didn't even offer to have something else made for me. Turns out he was the owner of the place, not just the manager. Despite his unpleasant attitude, I was perfectly calm and polite the whole time. I think we left a tip for the waitress since it wasn't her fault the boss was a jerk.

Care to elaborate? I'm not sure I've ever seen this behavior. In what way could a diner treat a staff member as a "servant"?

Same here - in the meantime I'm reminiscing over the ordering habits of Robert Dupea (Jack Nicholson) in Five Easy Pieces:

http://www.filmsite.org/five.html

Dupea: I'd like a plain omelette, no potatoes, tomatoes instead, a cup of coffee, and wheat toast.
Waitress: (She points to the menu) No substitutions.
Dupea: What do you mean? You don't have any tomatoes?
Waitress: Only what's on the menu. You can have a number two - a plain omelette. It comes with cottage fries and rolls.[/QUOTE]

A great scene that clearly demonstrates the idea of "thinking outside the box". Nicholson ends up ordering a chicken salad sandwich to get his toast, but tells the waitress to hold the lettuce, tomato and chicken salad", but that she should charge him for the sandwich so she's not violating the "no substitutions" rule. Classic.

From Pucci Galore's post
"My wife does not speak to the hired help. She will have Champagne. Now"
Lucille Ball was famous for this sort of behavior.

Now I'm immensely curious as to how you dealt with that one. If I were the head FA, I would probably have intentionally embarrassed them by moving them to economy--and then finding the most normal-looking people I could and paraded them up to the newly-empty F seats. (Would getting fired be worth it?) :-)

Seriously, Pucci--I want to know how you dealt with their snobbery in a creative and productive way.

Jackal

If I were ever lucky enough to have hired help, I would speak to them all the time.

If you are lucky that's all the waiter will do to your food.

Annoying thing I see a lot is when people order, they point to an item and ask the waiter, "Is this a good entree?"

What's the waiter supposed to say? No?

Better thing to say is, "Is this dish spicy/salty/sweet/whatever?"

Actually, yes, I think a waiter should be honest about a particular entree. If he/she's tried it, and it wasn't his/her thing, he/she should say so, but at a minimum should explain WHY he/she didn't care for it, i.e., "I found it too spicy/salty/sweet/whatever for my liking. My favorite dish on the menu is X." Or, "this item is one of our top choices".

I'm not suggesting that the waiter disrespect any of the chef's creations, but I think it's perfectly acceptable to make recommendations based on personal likes/dislikes IF ASKED by a patron. I did this just last night when I was out for dinner. The waiter told me that the soup was good, but not his favorite, and he recommended a salad that I might not otherwise have tried. I appreciated his input based on my inquiry.