Restaurant Etiquette 101: Know How To Order Food

Far too many times have I been at a variety of restaurants from fast food, to elegant dining and am always surprised when a grown adult can't figure out how to order off a menu.  It's not rocket science people, and most of the people I see doing this are far too old for any excuses.

I have witnessed way to many times people struggling while ordering food.  Not at new restaurants, but at places that have been around for some time now.  I guess I just don't understand what is so complicated.  It's not like all of us haven't had a Subway sub before, or a McDonald's burger, so why is this so hard?  Most of these places even have step by step ordering instructions posted so you know which order to go in too. So you think things would be simple, but no.

Fast food ordering is easy.  Most places just have a number coinciding with what you want.  So instead of having to use big words like "drink" and "french fries" you can instead just saw "give me a number 2".  How can people screw this up?  I have seen this happen.

I once watched a woman order a hamburger and told them that she didn't want anything on it.  These people behind the counter aren't mind readers, so they make it plain, just the way it was ordered.  She comes back up and complains that there is nothing but a burger to which they reply, that's how you order it.  So she orders again with them giving her step by step help with this complicated process.

At a sit down restaurant it's even easier.  Everything is on the menu, you just need to read it back to your server.  They even ask you questions as to how you want things prepared and give you options for sides.  Still, people struggle with this and then they get mad at their server.

So for the sake of everyone around you, just please know how to order your food.  When you don't know how to, it holds everything up.  And to the people who walk in with a list of things from your office, yes everyone in line hates you.