Years ago, I worked for a company where the drinks came in “regular” and “large”. I invariably ended up having to question customers several times a day about what they meant when they ordered a “medium”.
Several years after that, I worked at a restaurant that served drinks in “small”, “medium”, and “large”. I invariably ended up having to question customers several times a day about what they meant when they ordered a “regular”.
It’s really a no-win situation.
Interesting, I’ve been to many dim sum places and have only ever seen the stamped card thing. I’ve only ever seen the plate counting thing at conveyor belt (an conveyor belt equivalents) sushi places.
I’ve been to Yum Cha places which use cards, but the staff invariably write on them in Chinese and it’s almost impossible to work out - some times I’ve gone to pay for a veritable banquet of dim sims and wontons and it’s come to something disturbingly reasonable like $11, and other times I’ve had about three dishes but one of them was on the Double Dragon Special list or something and I don’t see much (or any) change out of $20.
An interesting experience of mine perhaps closer to some of the other discussion in the thread, though:
One of the first times I visited the US as a teenager and I wanted a coffee from somewhere slightly upmarket. Being from New Zealand, where coffee was either “White”, “Black” or “Cappuccino” (if you were a bit fancy) - and only came in one size - I thought it would be an interesting cultural experience.
The thing is, the Coffee Dude (I’d never heard the word “Barista” back then) was asking what size I wanted and - following an amusing situation at a fast food restaurant where I’d asked for a large soft drink and received a cup with enough drink in it to fill a paddling pool - I knew that asking for a “Large” would probably result in me receiving a small Latin American country’s entire bean harvest in a cup.
So I said I wanted a medium sized coffee. Unfortunately, this place had like six sizes of coffee and no display cups to enable a handy visual reference.
The Coffee Dude was saying, “well the El Presidente is like 40 ounces, the Il Duce is about 30 ounces, the Chevalier is 20 ounces, maybe 25 if you don’t want too much milk…” and I realised those units of measurement mean nothing at all to me (and still don’t, incidentally - allow me to introduce the Metric System, ladies and gentlemen!)
After some scientific guessing (Which of those things was about number three in the list of six sizes?) I managed to get the size that was slightly bigger than I thought was prudent for a caffeinated beverage.
So yeah, the act of ordering a simple cup of coffee in the US proved to be quite an eye-opening experience for me.
Because they just got owned and probably feel kind of insecure now.
And now you’re doing it.
The first time I went to Panda Express it was a little confusing getting my order in. I don’t recall the exact issue and the server was friendly in getting me through the process but I remember the confusion and reminding myself on subsequent trips that it wasn’t the norm.
Went to a restaurant in Santa Cruz once that labelled their bathrooms “robots” and “aliens.” The joke was, they were both single occupancy bathrooms with locking doors, so there was no need for them to be gendered. Still a bit worrying if you hadn’t been there before.
[QUOTE=Miller]
Went to a restaurant in Santa Cruz once that labelled their bathrooms “robots” and “aliens.” The joke was, they were both single occupancy bathrooms with locking doors, so there was no need for them to be gendered. Still a bit worrying if you hadn’t been there before.
[/QUOTE]
I would expect no less for Santa Cruz. I wonder if anyone’s done “MARS” and “VENUS” in homage to the book?
As for Panda Express’ linear ordering system, most of their locations I’ve been to have an opportunity for the clueless to enter the line midway, which leads to the staff calling out “I can help you over here!”
We went to Yank Sing in San Francisco right after Christmas. They use the card and stamp system. The dim sum is served in containers and plates, usually 6 - 8 pieces. Besides the clutter issue, the prices are different for different dishes so they’d have to sort the plates also. It isn’t a place to go when you are pinching pennies, especially not with 8 people.
I think I ran into a plate system in NJ. Otherwise, only sushi conveyer belt systems used it in my experience.
Here’s how it would work (using that guy’s explanation):
That’s how someone could end up getting extra food.
The restaurant chain Marché has the same system in Toronto (except they charge you $100 if you lose your card!). I remember being confused the first time I went there.
Host: Here’s your ticket.
Me: I don’t need one, I’m not going to have anything.
Host: But you need this ticket in order to prove you didn’t have anything!
Me: ???
Togo’s does have one odd thing about their ordering. Their sandwiches have names and numbers, but the numbers are in a completely random order. I suspect it’s in order that they added a given sandwich to the menu, but it looks bizarre on the menu. They also don’t list all the available sandwiches on the big board; you have to find a paper menu (laid out completely differently) for the full list.
There’s a sandwich chain called “Which Wich” that does the bag thing. It’s annoying the first time.
StG
Bearing in mind what happens when you vivisect humor, I’m fine with observational comedy that rings true. This does not.
TMBG, surely? But by then, Starbucks was quite simply not snooty, if it ever was, of which I remain unconvinced.
Coffee’ll do that …
That’s the place I meant! I’d forgotten the name, but it’s probably why I’ve been using the (possibly invented) term “marketplace restaurant.”
I think he caught on around post #155. 
Ctrl+F didn’t work to find it. I’ve never heard of WhichWich either, I can see how that can be confusing. Panda Express is easy though, the employee was being overly snooty. The only weird part about the local one is that the line starts at the entrance, continues to the far wall against the back wall, then loops back along the sneeze guards. In other words, the line starts in the back.
Do you not have pints like every other civilized country? US pints are smaller (83% the size of Imperial pints, while US fl. oz. are bigger at 104% the size of Imperial).
I still don’t know how much coffee to order, but then I don’t drink it much. And telling me the oz. won’t help even though I know that measurement as it’s hard to conceptualize the size, but easier if I think “ah, a venti is a little bit bigger than between a pint and a mug of beer (22 oz. usually), that’s too much.”
“Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
“I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone, “so I can’t take more.”
“You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter: “it’s very easy to take more than nothing.”
I think the term that I’ve heard is “market-style dining” or a “market-style restaurant”.
Here’s the relevant post:
It’s post 82.
La Madeleine was also the first place that came to my mind. You explained why that place annoys me perfectly.
Holy Crap!! MORE than a pint of coffee? And people actually order and drink that?