"Where's the milk?"
 

I would not want to be a restaurant waiter/server; I'd probably get fired (or hurt someone) before the first day's shift's end....

But I have a question for those who are or who have been: why is it so often so difficult to get a glass of milk with the meal?

This happens in high-end resort restaurants to Dennys: I order breakfast and part of the order is a glass of milk. I'm usually asked if I want the milk with the meal; I usually say yes.

But I would say that 50% of the time, when the meal comes, no milk. I have to remind the waiter/waitress/server, sometimes more than once.

So my question: is there something about the typical restaurant routine/s.o.p. that makes this a difficult request?

Of course, if it were on United, I'd be asking if $200 in compensation would be appropriate :D, but fortunately here it's more of an idle curiosity.

It isn't kosher to mix meat with milk, and since you have already ordered Bacon and Eggs, they can't give you milk :D

some restaurants just dont get enough orders for milk to bother keeping stock...and some places (like chinese or thai places) dont have any milk on the premis since its not used in that food and azn ppl can be a bit more lactose intollerant...

i worked at an indian place....we had jugs and jugs of milk for making desserts...yet milk was never on the menu to order as is....i dont think anyones ever asked me for a glass of milk either...

the only place i see milk is at family type places (ie if the have a kids menu, your good)...order milk at a fancier place and they may pull there hair out for it... best advice is to pop into a cornerstore or even a mcds (ive never gotten an expired box from them) near your intended dining location and get a small box....just tell them you need a glass for it and that you bring your own since you can never find any (if they wanna fuss about it)...

I don't think this is exclusive to milk, rather simple forgetfulness. If your server takes drink orders on the first pass and you order a Coke 'with the meal', I'd bet you'd have a similar success rate to ordering milk 'with the meal'.

i worked in an indian restaurant...and i might have taken like 2 orders for milk the whole time i worked there.....we had plenty in the fridge... some smaller mom&pop fast food places dont even have milk...it is pretty weird that a dennys of all places didnt have milk...

depends on what you culture permits...theres dairy in the coffee, and thats usually free with most restaurants breakfast, and the eggs might be fried in butter before being plated with some bacon, ham and sausage... :D

I can imagine some server opening a few dozen pots of creamer to fill a glass.

Oh, they had milk; in fact all the restaurants that I am thinking of have milk on the menu (the only place I've not found milk available for breakfast is in F on US Airways :rolleyes:). There's just something about the routine of asking for the milk with the meal that usually means it's going to take a second request.

just wondering...would they remember it better if you asked for chocolate milk?

Or on UX. As you know, I routinely am on God-awful 5-6am UX flights and I would love to have a cup/carton of milk to start the day, but alas it is not possible.

i hate liquid bans....they should make a rule where if you want to carry a larger bottle of liquid they should let you take it on if you drink some infront of them...

We flew out of MCO god-awfully early with a couple of young granchildren a couple of years ago. Half the flight was kids and no milk to be had. I actually wrote CR about it and did get compensation for all of us, which wasn't the point.

I told them that failing to stock milk out of MCO was bad p.r. to attract future flyers - of all flights that should be a milk run... ;)

Back to the OP I have no idea how rare it is for an adult to order milk with a meal but it's definitely an odd phenomenom you're experiencing. We happened to eat breakfast at Denny's this morning after flying SYD-LAX-SFO-SEA for about 30 hours yesterday and fortunately the coffee at least was prompt. :)

Cheers,
Fredd

This exact scenario happened to me this past saturday at an IHOP, and it seems to happen quite regularly.

Ican only guess that the reason is that if you ordered it to be brought immediately you would get it 90% of the time, but by ordering it for delivery with the meal the server doesnt have it "on the tip of his/her tongue" I would say half of the time they don't bring it with the food they remember immediately before I have to ask.
Bottom line: Out of sight out of mind, so to speak

My complaint is the inability to find good ol' whole milk sometimes, not whether they forget to bring it or not.

lol that is definately not easy... the grocery store near me doesnt even carry whole milk in a single serve carton anymore...

Asking for milk in a restaurant in the UK would raise so many eyebrows no-one would forget the order!

weird...if i lived in the uk i would drink/order allot more milk... its sweeter and nicer than milk in america, and the milkman still drops off fresh ones. and you get it in a glass bottle!!! the best way to store any liquid... the only tradeoff is that the tapwater there is really funky...

I've noticed in the midwest the dietitians pretty much always drink milk with lunch. in other locations they rarely do.

I agree that the issue is the "with the meal" part moreso than the request for milk. It seems like the $15-$25/plate restaurants I eat at rarely have my server run my food. Usually my server follows up in a couple minutes, but the person running food may not know that you want milk.

I think you need to grow up to beverages like white russians ;)

I once went to dinner with a fellow American who had just arrived in Tokyo for a conference on his first visit to Japan. He wanted an authentic Japanese meal, up to a certain price range, so I arranged dinner at a fairly pricey place that served a reasonable approximation of a kaiseki meal. (I knew about it because some Japanese friends had taken me there.)

As we settled in, I explained what the menu options were and what the food items consisted of, so he made his choice of the A, B, or C course. Then he topped it off by telling me (and he had a loud voice that could be heard over the rush hour crowd at Shinjuku), "And I like a glass of milk with that."

The waitress had obviously understood his request, because her jaw dropped open.

I told him that I would be very surprised if they even had milk on the premises.

"Well, why not? They should!"

"Because you wanted a traditional Japanese meal and that does not include any dairy products." I had to break the news to him that if he wanted milk, he'd have to buy it separately at a convenience store and drink it between meals, because few if any restaurants were likely to have it on hand. I neglected to mention that the thought of drinking milk with traditional Japanese cuisine was downright nauseating to me.

I never have a problem getting milk, but then the only time I order it is at breakfast and when I'm having something sweet, like pancakes, waffles, French toast, etc. If I'm having something savory, I'll not order it. Maybe because I only order it with something I should be ordering it with, the server remembers because it make sense! ;)

I was at a formal dinner last week where they actually came around with glasses of milk on trays that they were offering with dinner. This was in Minnesota. I would say it must have been a midwest thing, but I grew up in Nebraska, and until now have never been offered milk at a formal dinner. Quite odd.