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  • Cultural Stupidity

    I tried to think of a nicer title, but I just couldn't. You'd think if people walk into an international restaurant they should at least know what food is being served.

    Anyway, I've had people order for food not found in a Chinese restaurant.

    One time a lady asked for red curry (Thai?) but thankfully her husband corrected her.

    Probably my biggest itches is when people confuse Chinese with Japanese, which happened a few months back.

    (Taken down drink orders and walking away)
    Stupid Lady: Excuse me?
    Me: Yes?
    SL: Do you have miso soup?
    Me: O_O
    SL: Do you have miso soup?
    Me: O_O
    Husband: Miso soup is Japanese
    SL: Ohhhh
    Me: (In my head)



    I was so stunned I couldn't squeeze out my usual sarcastic answer.

    I told my dad about it later and he told me that next time I should tell the customer:
    "I think you can find some...in the shop next door...in a packet"

    (Interestingly I've been to Chinese restaurants that serve teriyaki chicken)

    Bloody hell, ordering miso soup at a Chinese restaurant is like ordering bangers and mash at an Italian restaurant.

    There probably have been more stupid incidents, but I don't remember them all

    BTW, is there a difference between Chinese Jasmine Tea and Green Tea? Is Green Tea just Jasmine Tea?

  • #2
    Well, people order billions and billions of burgers from a restaurant with a Scottish name, so why not?

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    • #3
      Quoth PoliteBoy View Post
      Bloody hell, ordering miso soup at a Chinese restaurant is like ordering bangers and mash at an Italian restaurant.

      BTW, is there a difference between Chinese Jasmine Tea and Green Tea? Is Green Tea just Jasmine Tea?
      Of course - you have to go to a Mexican restaurant to get bangers and mash.

      As for the tea, my understanding is that jasmine tea is made with jasmine for flavour (don't know if it's added to tea leaves, or on its own). Green tea and black (Western-style) tea are made from the same kind of leaves, the difference being that black tea undergoes some sort of processing (I believe it's fermentation or something similar) while green tea doesn't. I'm a bit more vague on red tea and white tea - I believe they're different kinds of leaves from a plant closely related to the one that provides ordinary tea.
      Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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      • #4
        the difference between green tea and jasmine tea is that jasmine tea has a green tea base but is also blended with white . black tea and jasmine

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        • #5
          Quoth emax4 View Post
          Well, people order billions and billions of burgers from a restaurant with a Scottish name, so why not?
          "Oh, I ate lunch at some Scottish place, 'MacDougal's".

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          • #6
            Very basic tea primer:

            white, green, oolong and black teas are all from the same plant. The difference is in the amount of processing and fermentation, from least to most, in that order. The tea plant (camellia sinensis) is the one plant from which all true tea comes. Different varieties, growing environments and methods of processing produce the wide abundance of tea types that we know and love today.

            Red tea is not true tea, it is rooibos, and comes from an African bush. Yerba Mate is another non-tea tea. Herbal teas are not true teas, but tisanes, which is an infusion of basically any herb with water. Like peppermint! Jasmine tea is true tea (generally green, in my experience) which has been scented with jasmine flowers. Jasmine Yin Hao is one of my favoritest teas.

            I am by no means a tea expert. But I do love me some tea.
            My webcomic is called Sidekick Girl. Val's job is kinda like retail, except instead of corporate's dumb policies, it's the Hero Agency, and the SC's are trying to take over the world.

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            • #7
              "I'm so excited to eat here, my friends have all been telling me that this is an authentic Chinese restaurant ... the first one in town. So, I'll have the Chicken Chow Mein and my wife will have the Steamed Mixed Vegetables, sauce on the side. This is gluten-free, right?"

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              • #8
                *hangs head in shame*
                I get Japanese and Chinese foods mixed up all the time. I love them both, and some restaurants carry both AND Thai foods too, so I'm never sure what dish belongs to which culture.
                I no longer fear HELL.
                I work in RETAIL.

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                • #9
                  Here's how I avoid doing things like that... I order things I see on the menu.

                  I get curries mixed up really bad. For years I didn't like ginger or lemongrass or coconut milk in savory dishes. So I had a hard time at Thai places, but was mostly okay at Indian places, but not not always. Recently I inexplicably started liking all these (taste change like whoa) but still don't know which curry is which.
                  Replace anger management with stupidity management.

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                  • #10
                    It's like ordering pork chops or a roasted suckling pig at a Jewish or Middle Eastern restaurant.

                    It's like ordering a Happy Meal at an adults-only establishment.

                    It's like ordering a strip tease at a McDonald's.

                    It's like ordering a lap dance at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant.

                    It's like ordering deep-fried stuff at a health food restaurant, or any kind of meat at a vegan or vegetarian restaurant.

                    I can't believe the stupid here. Read the menu, please, before ordering!
                    Last edited by cindybubbles; 11-24-2014, 06:30 PM.
                    cindybubbles (👧 ❤️ 🎂 )

                    Enter Cindyland here!

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                    • #11
                      I've never found the wait staff at 'ethnic' (read, non-Anglo-Australian) restaurants to be impatient or anything.

                      I read the menu, I let them know that I have digestive and allergy issues and might have to ask a lot of questions, but I'm sure I'll find something that'll be delightful. Then I wait for the others at the table to order while I study the menu and pick out a few choices. I ask my questions, and there's always something.


                      Order off the menu, people. It's not that hard!


                      (Note: admittedly, if you have true-allergy (histamine reaction) or severe GERD, FODMAP, or other unusual and restrictive diets, it can be hard. I have enough GERD that I need to be careful - but I've never yet been anywhere that couldn't accomodate my needs.)
                      Seshat's self-help guide:
                      1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
                      2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
                      3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
                      4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

                      "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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                      • #12
                        There's a reason they put "gluten free" stickers on bottled water....... because people like this exist and will buy it over all the others' that DON'T have the warning because they aren't as "safe".
                        - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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                        • #13
                          Quoth Argabarga View Post
                          There's a reason they put "gluten free" stickers on bottled water....... because people like this exist and will buy it over all the others' that DON'T have the warning because they aren't as "safe".
                          Can you blame them? No one wants to risk having their dick fly off of them like a rocket.
                          To right the countless wrongs of our days... We shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise...Oh, what a wonderful world such would be...

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                          • #14
                            How to find the right place to eat

                            Warning: This may not apply to where you live. I live just outside Toronto that has a lot of ethnic groups.

                            1) One go to the area that is known for an ethnic group. IE Established ethnic neighbourhoods such as Chinatown, Corso Italia, Little India, Greek-town, Korea-town, Little Jamaica, Little Portugal and Roncesvalles celebrate the city's multiculturalism.

                            2) The menu has English in small type and the main large text in some language I can't read. (Note: this does not include French as I took that in High School, this also does not apply to Jamaica since the menu is in English).

                            3) The major of the people around me are also not talking in English. (This does apply to Jamaica as true Jamaican is a creole.)

                            4) I don't know at-least 25% of the items on the menu that I can read. (I grew up in Jamaica and this still happens to me.)

                            5) The waiters/waitresses keep walking by with plates of somethings I don't know what they are but they smell and look delicious, AND I WANT THAT TOO!

                            6) There is something on the menu that I would never have considered eating, but the fact it is there tells me this is the place to eat. (Don`t ask what the Jamaican item is.)

                            Give me all the above, and I am in food heaven.
                            Last edited by earl colby pottinger; 11-24-2014, 08:36 PM.

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                            • #15
                              Quoth earl colby pottinger View Post
                              Give me all the above, and I am in food heaven.
                              I'd add a few:

                              The décor is left over from a restaurant of some entirely different cuisine that went out of business 3 restaurants ago

                              That "hole in the wall" restaurant actually has one or more holes in the wall

                              Your car may or may not be there when you leave

                              The restaurant is located on the back side of a strip mall that also hosts several other restaurants of the same ethnicity, plus a fabric store and lots of little groceries selling cel phone cards and money orders to send funds back home, and several immigration attorneys
                              Last edited by EricKei; 11-25-2014, 06:41 PM. Reason: we just read it ;)

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