I went out to a restaurant, and as most restaurants do, they bring my drink with a straw in it. Maybe I’m eating at the wrong kind of restaurants, but every restaurant seems to bring me one. I looked around, and noticed that everyone else is drinking their drinks with a straw.
Am I the only person on earth who dislikes drinking throug a straw? I will drink through a straw if I’m eating fast food, but these are sit-down restaurants. When did it become standard to bring a straw to every patron?
AFAIK, it is standard to bring a straw for every drink. However, everybody knows that real men don’t drink through straws. It just looks so uncool. If I went out with a man that drank through a straw, I’d seriously have to question his masculinity.
It wasn’t wine was it? That wouldn’t be very classy, no.
I don’t like straws either. Especially not for soda cans. They already have that nice big opening and the little edge, so you can drink right from the can! People who walk around with straws in their Coke cans are weird.
I don’t use straws. I think they make soda taste funny. Maybe siphoning through a straw makes it flat.
StG
But straws are neat. I especially like twirly crazy straws, though I don’t drink from them in public. My mom is worried about germs and she won’t drink straight from a glass anywhere but at home. She uses straws at restaurants.
usually women drink soda cans with straws… the only time I might is like mcdonalds burgerking those type of fountain drinks with the bigger straws… the little straws are for sissies… so no don’t sit there settling for the deal… lol… :wally lol… is that how u use them smileys?
I don’t like straws either. I have a collection of McDonald’s and Wendy’s straws on the passenger side floor of my car if anybody wants 'em.
I also figure if I’m afraid the glass in a restaurant isn’t clean, I shouldn’t be eating there anyway.
That’s what I tell my mother.
I’m gonna go pro-straw.
Most restaurants, especially fast food types, use crushed or shaved ice (both of which I hate). When I try to drink straight from the cup or glass, an ice dam forms sending waves of drink cascading over my face or I end up choking on shards of ice that wedge themselves in my throat.
Also, it’s easier to drink a milkshake with a straw.
Oh but those don’t count. They’re a whole special breed of straw, and are perfectly acceptable. Especially when drinking crazy blue kool-aid or something, and watching the color swirl around…
I’m buying one tomorrow, and I will walk around drinking in public with it. 
Yay! I bought a pack of ten, in different colors, and promptly gave one to each of my roommates. My preference is for purple. It’s just a twisted length of plastic like a slightly stretched-out ringlet of hair. It doesn’t fall down in bottled drinks, which is one thing I really like about it. I even drank blue Kool-Aid through it today.
You’re right there. It just has to be big enough to slurp the slivers of strawberry through.
I hate it when they give you a thin straw. It ends up collapsing and you run the risk of caving your skull in.
I’m with the OP. I don’t use straws. They give them to me but I don’t use them unless backed into a corner.
Life’s too short to use straws.
Only once has a waitress (Steak and Ale, Vienna, VA) had the good sense to see a couple of straws next to my place setting and say ‘You’re not using these, are you? I won’t bring any more.’
Heathens! A straw must accompany every drink. Even water. Even if you’re sitting at home drinking out of one of your own cups.
Straws are a no for me in a restaurant. I can’t stand drinking through one (especially water, which is what I usually order). If I know they are going to bring a straw, I will ask them not to. It saves me the trouble of finding someplace to put it and have it aligned to a compass point or something. Yes, I’m a fiddler. My napkins have to be aligned parallel to the table edges (Og help me at a round table - trig starts going through my head), my glass must rest at a certain point from the plate, and the condiments must be in order.
An unused straw just complicates things as far as implement alignment goes.
Yeah, definitely one minute to Wapner.
One of my college roommate’s environmentalist quirks was that she did not approve of straws–too much waste. On the rare occasions when I went out to eat with her, nobody got a straw.
In general I will use a straw if one is provided, but often don’t at fastfood restaurants when eating by myself. And if there is ice in the drink, I like a straw.
The only time I use a straw is when I get a soft drink at a fast food place or a convenience store. In restaurants, if my water arrives with a straw, I set it aside. If the servers just set straws on the table, I move them to the edge so the wrappers won’t get wet and they can use them again. If I catch them fast enough, I tell the server I don’t want a straw, but they’re usually on autopilot.
I don’t use a straw for a couple reasons, the most important of which is this - it can cause the same wrinkles as smoking does over time! And I’d rather spend that particular action making smooch-face w/ someone. Them wrinkles’ll be worth it!
I always hated putting my mouth around a straw in a sit-down restaurant and tasting something before I even sip; the bartenders typically use unwashed hands to grab a straw from their container and drop it in your drink. eww.
And yes, the avoidance of wrinkles IS more important to me than that. I turned 35 last weekend.