Comments on: The Things that Bugged: Annoyances in Oh Nine (or maybe just a recap of Christmas week.)

By: Max

Max — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 10:45:27 +0000

As someone who witnessed the (I believe) first-ever outburst of disgust from SP over “stupid” food (the item in question was a serving of hummus studded with oversized shards of flatbread), I’m delighted to see it on the list (though not on my table).

By: The Modern Traditionalist

The Modern Traditionalist — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:17:14 +0000

Absolutely dead on accurate. On the topic of waitstaff, I would like to add an addendum. When one delivers the incorrect meal to a table, they shouldn’t take the frustration of the error out on said table’s diners. We had a waitress deliver an entirely different table’s meals to ours and when we kindly noted this to her, she stormed off only to be later heard complaining about our arrogance.

By: tintin

tintin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:13:24 +0000

I’ll add to the list of annoying – - Monogrammed everything. A little goes a long way.

By: W. Vernon Trotter

W. Vernon Trotter — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:49:55 +0000

As any AA member would say, “Live and let live.” Life is too short.

By: jason

jason — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:26:19 +0000

Service staff should follow the guidelines of 100 things not to do, recently published in the Times dining section. It was created by a lawyer who is about to open a restaurant. Chief among the 100 things were examples of over-familiarity and chattyness: introducing yourself, saying ‘you guys’, saying something is a ‘good choice’, and so forth. I want the menue to speak for itself and I am capable of asking questions. Another bad practice is floating zone coverage of a table, rather than having one waiter/captain responsible for it. If every staff member in the room is responsible for you table, no one really is. I believe John’s point is an urban myth — imagine if management caught wait staff doing what he suggests.

By: Elisabeth

Elisabeth — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:29:02 +0000

Love the mention of sweatpants. Last night we were reminded of this again while eating out. A family of four came in, and wife and children were all well dressed. Bringing up the rear is dear old dad in sloppy sweatshirt and sweatpants. Nothing like having a clear juxtaposition to illustrate just how poor this looks. And, like Elle, I may have to snag that pic for future use on my blog.

By: Elle

Elle — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:33:19 +0000

Love that road sign! I just took a screen shot and sent it to my co-worker after an annoying meeting… it may re-appear on my blog!

By: John

John — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:31:32 +0000

Tread carefully in restaurants. Waitstaff will be bringing you your food. You wouldn’t want them to do something naughty to it out of your sight before bringing it to you.

By: bunny

bunny — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:48:32 +0000

GREAT list. I will take the line note a bit further–if you expect to go anywhere the week of Christmas, be it the movies, the grocery store, the mall, the gas station, etc., EXPECT that there will be traffic and lines. It really annoys me the people who become flustered, then rude, because they did not plan accordingly. If you didn’t want to have to wait in lines, and wait nicely, do your shopping online or finish it before Thanksgiving.

And while I understand your note regarding overly familiar service people, it bothers me terribly when people take out their holiday frustrations on service people who are just trying to do their jobs in the proper way. I have seen so many people be so rude, to the pointing of threatening people’s jobs or becoming physically wrought, that it is just ridiculous.