Eddie’s dining annoyances: that you’re invisible to the waiter
Adeline loves food, a lot of it and often, both at home and out. Usually that goes well, but sometimes it doesn’t. In the series Eddie’s Dining Annoyances she shares her observations. This week, we need to talk about being invisible in restaurants.
For a moment I thought the crouching waiter had already ticked off all the boxes on my annoyance list, but there is something even worse than a bobbing little head just above the table. Being invisible to the waiter. As if you had never reserved a table, never greeted anyone at the door, never taken a seat at a table—completely invisible. Not because they’re deliberately ignoring you—I used to work in hospitality and know what that looks like—but simply because they completely forget about you. It happens to me (often).
Invisible creatures
The infuriating thing about being invisible is that you know it’s happening immediately. Someone shows you to a table and then leaves you sitting there looking foolish for quite a long time. I (the understanding former hospitality worker) still pretend that everything is perfectly normal. It’s rush hour, everyone arrives at once, hot dishes take priority, there are only two of them. That sort of thing.
After ten minutes with no response, my boyfriend visibly starts to get irritated, which makes me come up with even more excuses. Even though everyone around us is receiving drinks and food in abundance. Yes, even the people who came in after us, the invisible creatures. It’s a vicious, invisible circle.
Outstretched neck
Just before my boyfriend goes to ask what’s going on, I sit there with my neck stretched out, moving along with a waiter’s route. Chin slightly raised, a half-mad grin plastered across my face and my eyebrows raised into the air as friendly and questioning as possible. I keep this up for at least five minutes. By then, my dining companion is openly wondering whether, at 1.94 metres tall, he is really that easy to miss. Fair point. I’m not exactly what you’d call a wallflower either, but you still start to doubt yourself. What makes you so invisible?
Not just to one waiter
Recently, I was so incredibly unseen after an entire evening of not being seen (yes, really) that they even forgot to bring the dessert from a predetermined (!) menu. I was a little taken aback, even though I knew perfectly well that I had been virtually invisible all evening. Not just to one waiter, but to all the other waiters as well—and the manager.
Still, deep down I hope the chef briefly wondered what had gone wrong when he saw those two abandoned desserts still sitting there. Or perhaps I was so invisible that he never made them at all; now that would be truly sad. Next time, I’d better make a proper racket when I walk in somewhere.
Read also:
- Eddie’s dining annoyances: one of those pompous waiters at the table
- Eddie’s dining annoyances: soggy tea bags lying around
- Dishes that (star) chefs never put on the menu
