Kisa's Rant on Parents and their Kids

[Racket_Man]

now if I could just do a through-the phone-slap for the parents (meaning slapping the parents) who think it is REAL cute and fun to have their 5 or 6 or 7 year old call and "attempt" to make a large pizza order. when I start to ask some of the standard questions like "WHat kind of crust do you want???" the kids get flustered or clam up. sometimes I can get the order by listening to the "prompting" goin on in the background, most times I can not

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Cook came out to complain that a little kid didn't have the ability to know rare from anything else and to just make me eat it.

What.
The.
Fuck?

Seriously? It is NOT the cook's job to dictate how we want our food. Not to sound like an elitist prick or a SC myself, but the cooks job is to cook the food that is ordered.

That's sort of why we call them..."cooks".

Why the hell do people nowadays do that?

[Canarr]

Yeah, well... in most cases, I, too, would doubt a five-year-old's ability to accurately identify different preparation grades of meat.

We all know that kids imitate things they hear from grownups. If I heard from a kid that young, "That's too burned, I want it rare!" - then I, too, would assume, she's just heard dad say that somewhere else and is merely imitating it.

[AccountingDrone]

What.
The.
Fuck?

Seriously? It is NOT the cook's job to dictate how we want our food. Not to sound like an elitist prick or a SC myself, but the cooks job is to cook the food that is ordered.

That's sort of why we call them..."cooks".

Why the hell do people nowadays do that?

This was back in the 60s, kids stayed home and shut up ... except for those of us that got to travel

Yeah, well... in most cases, I, too, would doubt a five-year-old's ability to accurately identify different preparation grades of meat.

We all know that kids imitate things they hear from grownups. If I heard from a kid that young, "That's too burned, I want it rare!" - then I, too, would assume, she's just heard dad say that somewhere else and is merely imitating it.

I bet if your kid was used to getting rare, like daddy, and not well like mommy they would recognize rare from well too.

See, we actually ate roasts and steaks at home, not just ground beef. Sunday dinner was more often than not a properly made London Broil which when properly done can give you servings anywhere from rare to well depending on where the portion is carven from.

[actually staying at my grandparents house, saturday tended to be leg of lamb, sunday tended to be either a london broil or a whole roast chicken, friday was usually fish thanks to the catholics in the area I don't actually remember hamburgers and hot dogs as anything other than picnic foods as we would occasionally go to Letchworth State Park and use the picnic pavillions that had the charcoal grills mounted just outside. ]

[Canarr]

I bet if your kid was used to getting rare, like daddy, and not well like mommy they would recognize rare from well too.

Probably; I'm not saying a kid that age *couldn't* correctly tell medium from rare. I'm just saying that, as a waiter or chef, that wouldn't be my first conclusion in such a case. My first conclusion would be, as said above: the kid heard daddy say that in some other restaurant, and is now trying to be a grown-up by imitating him. And the parents think it's so cute, they're just playing along (see the topic of this thread...). So, the meat is fine, but they want me to waste it just because they think their kid's antics are cute.

Therefore, IMO, it would've been your father's (or mother's) place to say: "Listen, man: my daughter(?) knows her meat. If she says it's not to her liking, then that's the way it is. So, please, remake it." Upon which I, as a chef or waiter, would've replied: "Absolutely, sir. Sorry for the inconvenience, I'll be back as soon as possible with the correct steak."

[Jester]

Parent awwe-s and fawns over the kid(s) and gushes how cute/smart/silly their little darling is
I'm still lost
Parent gets pissy with me for not understanding their kid

Not shockingly, for this one I am going to that font of wisdom, George Carlin:

"Listen, there are a couple of things about kids you have to remember. First of all, they're not all cute. In fact, if you look at 'em real close, most of them are rather unpleasant looking. And a lot of them don't smell too good either. The little ones in particular seem to have a kind of urine and sour-milk combination that I don't care for at all. Stay with me on this folks, the sooner you face it the better off your going to be.

Second, premise: not all chidren are smart and clever. Got that? Kids are like any other group of people: a few winners, a whole lot of losers! This country is filled with loser kids who simply...aren't...going anywhere!"

As for a kid ordering meat rare, if I were the waiter and I had that happen, I would make damn sure with the parents that the kid did, in fact, want the meat rare. And once this was confirmed, I would make damn sure that the cook realized that, yes, that kid's meal should be cooked rare. Or, if it was not a kid's meal, I would not even mention to the cook that the rare meat was for a kid.

For a server or a cook to just assume that they should cook the meat other than it was ordered without first checking with the child's parents it the height of arrogance and presumptuousness, and the depth of customer service.

[Canarr]

For a server or a cook to just assume that they should cook the meat other than it was ordered without first checking with the child's parents it the height of arrogance and presumptuousness, and the depth of customer service.
[/FONT]

Good point, yeah; I hadn't considered it from that angle. To me, the story sounded like the chef believing the meat had been cooked according to the order, and just didn't believe the kid's claim to the contrary.

But, yeah: if a rare steak is ordered for the child, and the waiter or chef just arbitrarily decide to change that - wrong.

[Mikkel]

For a server or a cook to just assume that they should cook the meat other than it was ordered without first checking with the child's parents it the height of arrogance and presumptuousness, and the depth of customer service.
[/FONT]

Plus if the steak is rare, it isn't difficult to recook it as medium. No one can make a medium steak rare.

[Jester]

Some people would argue that a well done medium steak is quite rare, but at that point we're just getting into word play and brain fucking.

[jedimaster91]

I've been ordering for myself since I was three. Possibly younger. But I could actually read the menu and I knew what I wanted.

[Catwoman2965]

In this same vein, how about the families who get up to order, and always seem to be IN FRONT of me in line, and no one has a clue what they want, the parent is trying to figure it out, and the kid is not paying attention. First of all, figure out what widdle pwecious wants BEFORE you get in line, and then order for them. It will save a lot of time and aggrevation on teh part of the rest of us!

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I ran into similar issues at Subway when I worked there. Some kids were very polite and could order competently, others were like the ones you complain about here.

A problem I encountered a lot was simply not being able to hear them. Kids have high voices. I have a giant OVEN behind me making a lot of noise.

I don't mind the parents translating if they are nice about it.

What I DO mind are people like a guy who came in with FOUR kids, told them to order, promptly disappeared to go use the bathroom and then got pissed at me when he came back because I hadn't made the food yet.

I hadn't made it yet for two reasons:

1) His kids weren't ordering concisely
2) They were arguing over what they should get

[XCashier]

Not shockingly, for this one I am going to that font of wisdom, George Carlin:

"Listen, there are a couple of things about kids you have to remember. First of all, they're not all cute. In fact, if you look at 'em real close, most of them are rather unpleasant looking. And a lot of them don't smell too good either. The little ones in particular seem to have a kind of urine and sour-milk combination that I don't care for at all. Stay with me on this folks, the sooner you face it the better off your going to be.

Second, premise: not all chidren are smart and clever. Got that? Kids are like any other group of people: a few winners, a whole lot of losers! This country is filled with loser kids who simply...aren't...going anywhere!"

Words of wisdom from Mr. Conductor himself!

[Crime Scene Scarf]

I have trouble with my hearing, so anybody who doesn't pronounce words clearly, covers their mouth while they speak, or won't look me in the face as they speak is likely to be misheard.

Which is why I struggle so much when children try to order. The worst part is that I don't think it is in any way cute. S/he's a child. Ordering something. Badly. And probably feeling upset because they had to repeat themselves so many times, or wasn't at all understood.

[Seraph]

Words of wisdom from Mr. Conductor himself!

/jawdrop I never realized that was him.