Channel: Good Mythical More
YouTube Video ID: GiGttmmF1ws
Episode Number: 3078
Transcript
What's the most annoying thing restaurants do? Welcome to Good Mythical More. If you operate or work at a restaurant You might not like what we have to say. Well, no, this is gonna be useful data. Yeah, yeah. Useful data. This is just, this is constructive feedback from a patron's point of view going into a restaurant. I mean, well, let's just put a disclosure on this. Let's go ahead- Disclose it … let's go ahead and right up front say- Disclose it all … we've never worked in the food service industry. Right. We've never been on the other side- Right of the, the kitchen door or on the other side of- No, I've been back there a couple of times. Oh, really? Sometimes the bathroom's back there and you gotta go through it to get to it, like in a weird- It's a small place … bar kind of thing. But you, that's not what I mean, and you knew that, and you- Hey, hey. You're kind of rage-baiting me, but that's okay. Oh, rage-baiting you? I've worked at several restaurants- So keep us honest … of different types, so if you need anything, here I am. Okay. I mean, who, who else in here has worked in the food service industry? Show of hands. Two over here. A good, a good- Three … a good half. All right. Five. All right. Yeah. Look at them hands. And I am sensitive to that. It's just like, it's, so all right, so we're gonna rank these from, like, bad to worse. Menu can only be accessed by QR code. This is a pandemic era thing, right? That's when- That's when it started … that's when this started. For sure. And- And people have kept, people have kept it up … I don't like it because I don't want to, I don't want everybody to be on their phone. It just puts everybody on their phone at the very beginning of a dinner, and you're not … It, it just takes the … It, the, being at, like ordering- It's never been seamless either, too oh, ordering's maybe the best part of going out to eat with, with people. Well, as someone who actually likes to eat, I would say that's not true. Okay. E- e- Uhh … except for maybe the eating part. The eating part is the best part. And, and, and, and you know what? I'll even say the best part of eating out with people, the appetizers. Okay. I'm not gonna argue with, with you there. But I would say- And appetizers- … the most important part- 'Cause you're the hungriest … of going out to eat is ordering. The most important step is ordering, 'cause you wanna get the right thing. But it's also fun. Like, when you go out with a group and you're sitting there order- unless it's you, and you and Christy are there, and you know- That's true we're getting in a fight. Yeah. Well, that only happened one time. But we keep talking about it. 'Cause it was a big fight. It- It was awkward. But I didn't do anything. What country were we in? Australia. Australia. We were in, at a Chinese restaurant in Australia. Well, it was a big group and you started ordering for everybody. I didn't start ordering. And Christy was like, "Maybe I wanna order for myself." Okay. I will set the record straight. W- we had a group of, like, 12 people. The menus, and so- … I was like, "Somebody need…" Like, you know you got all these people looking at the menu, and so I'm, like, going to … I'm not trying to take charge, but I'm like, "So I definitely think we should get some of the so-and-so." That's the only thing I said. It was just like, "This place is known for this thing." It's like, so I definitely, I wasn't ordering. The waiter was not present. Right. Maybe Jessie started saying, "And we should get this." And then by the time there were like five things. No, no. No, no. It literally, out of … I said one thing. I said- And what did you say? "I think that we sh- I, I definitely think we should get some of this." And she's like, "Well, hold on, now. I gotta look at the menu." I wasn't saying you can't get what you want. I'm just saying, like, I'm, like, throwing a suggestion out. But then we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant in New York City recently. Yep. And we laughed about it. We all laughed about it. Me and her laughed about it. 'Cause she was, she was, you know. Yeah. That was one of her first times back into a loud restaurant atmosphere after her brain injury. And so she- It was a difficult time … and so she was having a tough time, so the circumstances were, you know. It wasn't all your fault. Right. Um. But this, yeah, yeah. But the QR code makes it- This depri- this deprives you of having that type of experience. So this is pretty bad. We can move it around. Is there anything besides people just being on their phone and … Because then it's hard to get back off your phone. So you've ordered, you know what you want, other people don't. Well, then they're still on their phone. So what if you're- And then you're looking at, you're doing stuff on your phone. And what if you don't have a, you have a bad connection, the website's not loading. Which menu, the re- which menu am I supposed to go to? I'm gonna say, though, on the opposite end of this, if this is one bookend, I love the other one. If you pay with a QR code, I love that. I love just being- 'Cause you can just pay when you're ready. You just pay and then you just leave. You don't have to wait for the rigmarole of- Yeah … bringing, bringing me, I'ma give you this, you're gonna take that, you're gonna come back, and then I gotta sign this, and then I gotta sign that, and then, and then I guess I leave. Agreed with that, too. All right. Too loud. Too loud. Music too loud and/or bad acoustics that amplify guest chatter. This is becoming a bigger problem for me. Not because I'm annoyed by loudness. I think I have a pretty high threshold for, like, loud environments. You can't hear. But because I can't … Like, something's happening, 48 gonna turn 49, where- You can't hear, huh? the ability to decipher what people are saying in a party setting, in a loud setting, is getting harder. And you find yourself thinking, "Man, this is, this is…" I don't wanna be one of those people who's just, like, disengaged. Because I can't, I can no longer t- hear what's going on. But, like, this is a problem. Like, understanding people in a loud environment. But you- Do you ever just roll the dice and be like, "Uh-huh, yeah." And then- Oh, I do that already … they're like, they ask a follow-up question, but you realize you don't know what to say. No, you don't remember that. Right, yes. Yeah, that's me at every party. Just be like, "Dude, I cannot hear what y'all are talking about. Just leave me out of it." Don't try to, don't try to talk louder. Put us all in a stupor. Don't try to get in my face. I'll just be over here in a stupor. But a loud restaurant- I'm old now … is a sign of a happening restaurant. Of things are happening, so that's why it's gotta stay on this side, right? tiny water glasses. Water glasses that only hold five sips of water. Even if you have, like, the, the carafe out there, if you don't have the carafe, waiting on water when you're thirsty at a restaurant, ooh, that's bad. That's bad. That's over here to me. This is not something that if I, if you gave me the opportunity to list all the things that could go wrong with a restaurant, this is not wh- I would not get to this. I don't order a drink, so I'm dependent on the water. Water is my drink of choice at a meal. I mean, if I'm gonna get, like, a glass of wine or something, or a beer, I'm gonna, like, I'ma go to town on that early. Mm-hmm. And then I'm waiting on, I'm, I'm trying to, I'm trying to balance it out with the water, and it's got, I, they keep the water coming. But sometimes they give you too much water. Too much water? Sometimes they give you, sometimes it's a bi- it's a giant thing, and then it's full, and then you feel wasteful if you don't finish it. You know? That's why the carafes that keep coming, I think the best thing is a small glass like that, not a shot glass, but, like, a tumbler, and a carafe. An endless carafe, and you gotta stay on top of that carafe. So I like tiny water glasses with a carafe. So you can't- Because then somebody's not, oh, uh, 'cause I hate it when I've, I've drunk all my water and I'm, I'm parched. So you like this. And I look over there and somebody has their full water glass. Got their, got their full water glass. And I'm like, "Well, at what point do I just start drinking their water?" Immediately. Immediately? No. I mean, I might ask them. "Can I have your water?" It's just like, "Can I have your water? I mean, you're ob- you're obviously not thirsty." Yeah, this is not, I… The only one so far that's like a this is annoying for sure for me is the QR code menu. So- 'Cause are you still ordering, you're not ordering on the phone. You're still ordering from a person Well, well that's another level. That's another level. QR code ordering on the- Do you like ordering on the phone? What? Do you like ordering on, on your phone? Or is that another level- No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no like even worse? Even worse. 'Cause, 'cause what about when Jessie wants to substitute something? Now I gotta put that in the app. I'm not gonna sit down in a restaurant to get DoorDash. Yeah. I'm there for a reason. You know? Uh, uh, don't Uber Eats across a dining establishment Server checks in too frequently. Okay. This is a big one for me. I gotta be honest with you because I cannot tell you the number of times that a really interesting conversation or story has been interrupted by the waiter coming up. I just think that a waiter's gotta know, they gotta get in when they can fit in. I'm just sorry, you know? You gotta … There's, there's a- Yeah … there's a technique to knowing when you to swoop in, you know? If somebody's owning the table with some enthralling story, you just gotta do the flyby. I mean … Yeah, flyby. Carney, were you working in, like- Crop dust. Crop dust? You gotta crop dust. I don't wa- I don't want to be crop dusted. No, you I'd rather be DoorDashed than crop dusted. You have to crop dust with your attentiveness, just to throw a little attentiveness. Just sprinkle. Just a sprinkle of a look. Okay. Were you, were you in a fine dining establishment, or are we still just talking about hot dog as a sandwich? Hot dog as a sandwich. I was just in hot dog and on the street. Not, not the podcast. Yeah, that's the only thing I worked at. Was that a good Carney impression? Oh, he left. He offered his advice and then immediately had to go poopy. He, he, he- … he, he knew that we were- So he was like, "Yeah, I, I worked in the food, food and service industry. I will be in the restroom." What? He knew that we were gonna talk about hot dog on a stick. All right. When you gotta go, you gotta go. S- well, scratch that. I made and served you food for a long time here. That's my food industry. And y- you were attentive, but … Thank you. Was I too attentive? I don't even know what I was gonna ask Carney. I think it's do you do the flyby? Was anybody a waiter? Do you do the flyby? I flyby. You flyby if they're talking, right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean- Yeah … do they train you to do this stuff, or you just have to know? Not where I worked. They don't train you. They g- You had to figure it out. They don't give you You gotta read the faces of the people, you know? They don't give you the hacks. 'Cause you could tell … Like, you can definitely tell when somebody wants something. Like, "Ah, I w- they didn't give me my so-and-so." And you wanna show up right before that. Like, there's somebody at the table, and they look … You, like, you, first of all, you don't want that to happen. Oh, you know something? First of all, let me say I'm incredibly grateful for people who work in restaurant, restaurant workers. Mm-hmm. They … I, I l- I like to give big tips because I know they're working hard, and I give a big tip almost every time, and an extra big tip if you do a good job. Okay. So- Would you like to see what a, a, a flyby looks like? Do you wanna- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah … see what Blaine does? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. This, okay, Blaine's gonna do it. Keep going. Tell your … Y- you know, you're in the middle of your story. Yeah. But the thing that I recently picked up on when I was at a restaurant was, uh … It was a little too strong. Blaine, that was a little too strong. Kinda lurky. I felt your presence. Try, try, try again. I mean- You, you dipped a toe in. Let's go by without a toe dip this time. All right. Is I s- l- I legitimately … When we, we got our, our dishes. That was nice. I like that. Oh, yeah, you baited him. That was perfect. So I wanted hot sauce on my, um, burrito or something. Look at that, he's reaching in. That's, that's a great follow-up. And I told Jessie, "Why don't they give you your hot sauce, your ketchup before … Why don't they ask you that?" 'Cause they give you silverware before. 'Cause now I'm waiting. 'Cause it was something that needed hot sauce, and you would've known it needed hot sauce. Oh, that is the … That's the worst. And now I'm like, should I start eating the, this burrito? Or sh- how long is it gonna be until I get the hot sauce? I mean, one time I got coffee and I a- and they didn't bring the creamer. Aw. I'm dead in the water. Yeah. What are you gonna do? It's just getting colder. I mean, you're gonna eat some of your burrito You're gonna eat a warm burrito that you don't like, and you're gonna eat a cold burrito with sauce on it that you did like. Right. Or would've liked. That's tough, son. I'm sorry that happened to you. So that's what server not attentive enough … I think that this is- Oh, and then … I think this is worse than a too attentive server because I, you know, you can, you can ignore Blaine when he walks by if you have to. But if he's, if you need him and he's not there- Right, that's definitely worse. This is … I mean- That's definitely worse … this is worse than QR code. That's … Yes, it is. Is it? Yes, it … Yes, absolutely. Server too attentive gets into who am I talking to on my dinner date? Am I talking to the person who works there or am I talking to the people I'm with? Like, I don't want to start voring a relationship with my server. I don't. Mm. I want you to be invisibly apt. I want your aptitude of invisibility to be high, and I want your aptitude for everything except for connecting with me to be high. Wow, that's harsh. Someone once told me that they thought if I was a server I'd be the kind that, like, sits down at the table. And I, I really had to evaluate some life choices. Yeah, and d- you need to stop that, Chase. I don't think anybody does that anymore. I think that was a- Sit down at the table? It was a thing that happened in, like, 1998 in a Chili's somewhere. And it's- No, they're still doing that. They're still doing it? They squat down next to you to- Squat down is different than sitting down at your table But y- y- I don't like the squat down, but the sitting next to me, like sitting in the open seat or sitting in the booth. Like, now I'm like, "Hold on now. You gonna, you, you gonna split the bill?" Exactly. It's like, hold on, we can- If you're dining with me, you're- You're not invited to this party. Oh, ooh, ooh. Seated too close. Now- Se- seated to another diner? This is my nightmare. Seated way too close to other dinees. This is my nightmare. Ugh. French cafe style seating where you're next to the person who you're not with. You're closer to them- It's tough, bro … than you are to the person that you came with. I mean, and y- you, I feel like I have to talk to those people. Oh, I don't. Like, they're so close. You start, you start, like, yeah, sh- you guys should break up. You're sharing, yeah, you're sharing a meal together. Yeah, yeah. I, I really think you guys don't belong together kind of a thing. Or at least- How is that? I'll ask somebody how something is. I've done that. Are you done with that? Jessie and I went to a place recently with that type of seating, and there was a couple seating n- sitting n- seated next to us. Well, let me guess. And- You decided to move seats. No, no, no, no. Not that story? No, no, no. That's- Different story? … that's a Valentine's Day story. Okay. Not that one. Th- this wasn't as extreme as that. That wasn't, we, in that scenario, we were 12 feet from each other. It was crazy. It was like being at a king's table. But- Yep … this was just they were too close, and they had such an interesting relationship the way that they were talking about, like, every single thing, like their take on the way that they would talk about this. And they were in an argument, but then he was criticizing things about the way that she had handled a bunch of situations, but he would laugh as he was saying it to make it seem, I guess to make it seem like they weren't in an argument or something. Well, he probably knew you were listening. I heard every single word. Of course you did. And then Jessie, she, when that kind of st- stuff starts happening, she's so fascinated by the other people, she just gets quiet, and we just start listening to these people. So we're no longer talking to each other. Did you, did you- We could've just stayed in bed and watched TV. Do you make that face? Uh, I try not to It's not a good face But, uh- No one should really be minding their own business I, I mean, this is, this is the worst Not very flattering And I know that they probably do it because you can get more people into a restaurant this way No, hold on. You're saying this is the worst? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is the worst This is … No, this is not as bad as server not attending I would rather have no one ever come to check on me than sit next to somebody I don't know Wow And then you're moving this over here. Server to attend I'm Carney and I'm back from pooping Wow. Well, you l- you lost more than your poop Well I heard y'all needed someone with server experience- Oh, yeah. Jess's got server experience … to tell you what's what. So you're a s- you were a bartender I was a server, I was a bartender, I was a hostess. I had, I have 15 plus years service industry experience. So- As we- What you wanna know? As we talk about this, I want you to rate Blaine's flyby I saw his original and I cackled. Um- It was, it was beautiful Okay. He's gonna give you hell right now Cackled because it was good or bad? Um, it, it was entertaining All right Yeah. This is gonna be … He's gonna do a low touch flyby Backless seats. Backless seats So this is a seat without a back Like, that might be a stool Yes, a stool. Ah, thank you. Thank you. Oh, good. Okay. Pre- p- it's pretty good Not bad. Not bad. Yeah. Yeah Pretty good. Pretty good It gave it a, it gave it a seven One in the middle. We were talking here, he was over there. But, I mean, we did stop and say, you said thank you I always, I say thank you But I like saying thank you Thank you Makes me feel like I'm somebody Thank you Thank you Yes, yes. Yeah, you can't say like, "As expected," you know? You have to You gotta acknowledge it. Yes, of course. Of course you're giving me water now. You can't say that. I think I- That'd be crazy I don't wanna be uncomfortable in a freaking- Uh, but I feel like backless seats gives you a little bit of, like, I don't know, posture, you know? You can't slouch in a back- backless seat. So I think it helps me. Gets me kinda, like, involved So you l- you l- you hate QR codes more? I think I do, but- Who hates backless seats? I, I don't like backless seats. Okay. All right. Many, that's like 80% of the people here. I don't think anybody's… If you walk in and you're like, "Smoking or backless seats?" It's like nobody, eh, you know, it's not the type of thing… Nobody's gonna choose backless seats. But some people will choose a high top. I think also most, most backless seats are, like, wooden, and then it's just uncomfortable. So, you don't wanna be uncomfortable. I, I agree with that These are, these are bad, but- Unless it's bar top, and th- those aren't always- Yeah, I think it- wood … I think it can be okay, like a bar top type thing. But is it server… I, I feel like- I don't mind backless seats at a bar- Now I feel like we're moving it down … if there are hooks for my purse. The purse hooks. The thing is, if I have bags and there's no back on the seat, where am I gonna hook my bag? And a jacket's kinda the same way too, 'cause like you also don't wanna put your jacket low on the stool and have that- Drag drape and touch the floor. Yeah. Or it's just draped on your, on your lap, and you now have to worry about getting food all over it. Yep. Yep. But standing restaurants are becoming a thing No substitutions. No substitutions. This is an interesting one that, 'cause I think, uh, this says a lot about your food preferences because I don't I like everything. I don't have preferences. So I almost never ask for something to be done a different way or don't put this or that. So this is, this doesn't resonate with me, but it resonates with my wife, Jessie. I- She will substitute. And you know what? I actually am pro no substitutions. What? I know this might be- What? Something about just feeling like they have an opinion, and it's strong, and they're making something, and they're taking pride in it, and they don't want me to screw it up. Like, I don't want this to be my fault. This is like, "Don't worry, it's not gonna be your fault." Oh, so like a Mongolian buffet, you don't wanna do that where you're the one making all the decisions. Yeah. I don't, I don't, I don't wanna cook to the point of I don't even wanna make substitutions. I would just pick something off if I don't like it. Oh, really? So if something comes with tomatoes, you don't say, "No tomato," you're just like, "I'll handle that myself." It depends. It depends. You know, I'm human. But this seems to be, this resonates with y'all. So we're locking this in. No substitutions is bad. We're, we're putting these, we're putting this way back here, and we're locking in. All we really care about is this. Don't sit me close. Don't leave me alone. Don't make me get on my phone. Join All Access to unlock the Rhett and Link slippers quarterly collectible at mythicalsociety.com