Katie and I are cut from the same mold when it relates to one thing: sending food back. This attitude relates to other, smaller dining mistakes, too. In a phrase, we don’t like to cause a fuss. Sending a whole dish back? It seems like such an affront to the restaurant.
This is true even when it is perfectly within our rights to cause a fuss. Sometimes, a burger we order will come without a dipping sauce that appeared on the menu, or a drink or appetizer that was ordered simply never made it onto the bill (or our table). Oftentimes, we’ll dismiss this. It’s a small mistake that didn’t really matter and we’re satisfied to remain silent and not cause any undue distress to our waiter.
I’ve sometimes wondered if this is something we should strive to change. I’m sure that most waitstaffs wouldn’t hesitate to fix or accommodate our requests, and we – as customers – should get what we want. That’s how the whole transaction works, right?
But it takes a certain character, a certain level of confidence, a line of knowing you’re in the right that we often just fall short of. While there’s an obvious line of customer abuse or neglect that prompts us to speak up, we just let slide most of the small (honest?) mistakes that get made.
I wonder if other people feel the same way, or if they’d speak up at the slightest mistake. Did we get raised to believe that doing so is akin to whining, while others feel that to stay silent is akin to being doormats?
I certainly wouldn’t judge one side as being better than the other, although I would argue that the extremes of either case are equally annoying.