When, if ever, do you honk at drivers? And have you ever sent food back?

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Having been in NYC and France this year, noting the honking going on in the former and the efficient, rapid driving in both, we have come home to MORONIC driving, which we were always aware of, but now are less tolerant of. Why hold up the hold line at the left turn light just because you're sleeping at the wheel? Why go less than the posted speed in the fast lane? Make that damn right hand turn at the red light, please!!! JUST GO! And it's not that I'm in a hurry - I always leave extra time (for obvious reasons) to get somewhere - it's just that it's incompetency that drives me nuts. Just drive!

The traffic here is horrendous, and the roads are full of very bad drivers for no good reason. Wide streets, long, well-paved, straight, flat highways, no roundabouts, etc... what's your problem, people? There are so many accidents here, even in summer. I just don't understand. I have my car radio tuned to the weather/traffic station all the time.

What's it like in your neck of the woods?

And how about going to a fancy-schmancy restaurant ($$$$) and having to send your steak back 3 times? Did I say medium-rare? Even describe how it should look? And then get 3 rare-raw steaks? Very disappointing.

Do you ever do that? I don't if it's a lower-end restaurant, but if we're paying $32 or more for a steak, I want it the way I asked for and shouldn't have to send it back (repeatedly), especially in a fancy restaurant.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 14 • Views: 5,433 • Replies: 42

@Mame,

I’ve been to Europe several times and they always honk over there. You don’t honk around here because you don’t know if the idiot you’re honking at is carrying a gun in his car, I simply get out of their way and move on.

I send food back all the time but I don’t ask for it to be returned, if they can’t get it right the first time I just let it go. I have friends that are waiters and I’ve heard some horror stories about what happens to some of the food when you send it back.

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@jcboy,

Well, I was in Provence, which is certainly not Paris, and not one person honked. We don't allow carry guns up here so I'm not worried about being shot at, but I don't honk because it'd probably stun them and slow them down even more.

This was a fancy restaurant, so I doubt they'd spit or whatever in my food Smile

It was just a case of it not being cooked to the right time, and the server was very understanding. I don't bother sending food back at lower-end places (which I usually eat at), but like I said, if you are paying more for your meal, I expect you'd have a chef who knows what medium-rare is and I'm not paying for what I don't get. And really, if the point is made nicely, why spit? Point is, you didn't give what was requested. Don't know why the kitchen staff couldn't see that and why they'd have to spit on it.

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@Mame,

Sounds to me like you've got "wtf am I doing back here so soon" syndrome.

After driving miles of pretty country roads and empty motorways (albeit on the wrong side) and a few weeks of unhurried, well prepared meals in seemingly exotic surroundings, you've been smacked round the back of the head by the norm again.
A few weeks from now and you'll be toodling along at less than the speed limit, wondering why freshly tanned people are honking at you..... Very Happy

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@Lordyaswas,

LOL.... don't think so, but have at 'er Smile

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@Mame,

http://decalboy.com/Decals/HORNBROKEWATCH.gif

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@Mame,

Mame wrote:

This was a fancy restaurant, so I doubt they'd spit or whatever in my food

You're kidding right?

The difference is, in a fancy restaruant, the actual chef spits in your food

1 Reply

@chai2,

I'm certainly not kidding. I worked in several restaurants and no one ever spit on any food or did anything gross when I was at work. A lot of that is mythology. If you ever got caught, you'd be fired.

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@Mame,

I read about a craze sweeping the posh restaurant circuit in London a few years ago, and warn people to read in the other direction if you are of a nervous or squeamish disposition.

You have been warned....

Ok then. If someone received appalling service or was sure that the restaurant inquestion had treated them badly....ripping them off or possibly tampering with food etc., then they would perform an upper decker.
Basically, they would go to the loo, quietly lift off the lid of the close coupled cistern and....erm....basically....poo in it.

Not clever or funny, but apparently some restaurants fully deserved it, according to locals when questioned on the matter.

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@Mame,

Mame wrote:

I'm certainly not kidding. I worked in several restaurants and no one ever spit on any food or did anything gross when I was at work. A lot of that is mythology. If you ever got caught, you'd be fired.

If you're in a fancy place, and the chef/owner himself does it, who's going to catch him?

I'm not saying it's a constant thing....just to people who are being dickheads when they're sending their food back.

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@Mame,

Strangely, I rarely notice honking horns in New York. Guess I've just become to inured to it. Oh, occasionally I will hear them but it seems like it's far less than it was in the 1960s,where it seemed to be a raging cacophony, especially in areas of midtown.

As far as horn honking, since I don't drive, I don't honk...my contribution to reducing noise polution.

Regarding food, I learned a long time ago that it is unwise to ever send it back. No telling who is back there. It's not just the chef either, the waiter/waitress may be annoyed having to bring it back and forth when they were hoping to get to another table. Delaying for tending to this, means a longer wait for another customer which in turn can lead to a lower tip.

Probably quite rare it happening, however, I'd not rule it out entirely and would rather not take the risk. For me, if the place cannot get it right, I just will not return and will advise others of the issues encountered.

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We're becoming a society of namby-pambies. I worked in the front of the house (server) as well as in the back (cook). If a customer doesn't like the way we prepared something (eggs over easy but were served runny or hard, let's say), it's our responsibility to replace it - quickly - with the right order. Didn't want white bread? Sorry! Back we go.

It's a simple thing. We want what we ordered. And in Vancouver, that restaurant will be out of business in a snap if they screw it up and don't fix it and/or comp the meal (not necessary, but they do it all the time).

I can't imagine working with anyone who would spit in someone's food.

And also, a person can just say, "This isn't what I ordered", not raise a huge stink about it. It can be done nicely.

When you're paying, as I said, over $30 for your entree, which incidentally doesn't include any sides, I want what I ordered. And I don't want to wait another 30 min for it.

If you're at Ricky's (more of a lower-end place) , you just order what they can't screw up and expect to get what you pay for.

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@Mame,

As far as honking for the person asleep at the wheel - ie not moving when the light changes, not moving over a bit when turing left, etc. For the sleeping at the light change - I give a curiousy wait - sort of like 5 seconds to wake up - if they don't move in this length of time, I toot as lightly as I can - I try not to blare realizing they are just sleeping on the job sort of thing. If the opposite happens to me (I'm caught sleeping) - I always give a little wave like thanks for waking me. Same if some one isn't moved a bit/over so I can get around them on a left hand turn - a little toot just to say wake up I'm behind you.

For poorly prepared food ie the rare vs. medium rare or even worse over cooked - I will send back no matter where I am. I like my steak cooked a certain way and that is it! Of course, I try the polite route - excuse me - this steak is a bit overcooked - could you get this medium rare. I'm a paying customer and I expect it to be cooked a certain way. If you ask politely, I couldn't imagine anyone would take offense - hubby worked in the restaurant industry and he'd never think of anyone doing that because your food wasn't prepared correctly.

On an aside note - how the heck did you get such two unrelated items in one question?

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@Linkat,

We went out for dinner to a higher-end restaurant for our anniversary and we were commenting on the poor drivers compared to NYC and France. NYC drivers are impatient, French drivers are fast. Here they are pokey and don't care if they're holding up 25 cars.

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@Linkat,

Thing about that five second courtesy pause is that they wake up and make their left turn on green arrow only, and you are stuck for another full cycle.

On food, cold coffee and slimey, undercooked, limp bacon get sent back.

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

On an aside note - how the heck did you get such two unrelated items in one question?

I wondered about this myself.

I'm going to start my own thread like this.

1 Reply

@chai2,

I think you mean 'threadS', lol

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@Mame,

Hey, wait. I liked food before the word foodies. Mame and I know each other, she hates anchovies. Mame is to be listened to.

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@Linkat,

The restaurants I've been accessed to lately, help of others, do not serve meat that hasn't been - corporatomatized.
hard for me to explain, but I haven't had rare anything here in Land of Sand.

I was a girl who had a great steak (portion) in the chicago stock yards in the later fifties.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

So, we have, in the hinterlands, at chain restaurants, a refusal to make stuff pink, not to mention rare (watch my head explode). They were courteous in the denial.

It's because they buy crap in bulk and need to kill the hell out of it for insurance.

1 Reply

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When, if ever, do you honk at drivers? And have you ever sent food back?

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