What Do You Find Annoying in Dining Companions?

[SobaAddict70]

hurts just to think about it...

Soba

[KateW]

Does anyone else derive secret pleasure from taking extremely picky eaters out to places where you know they'll hate everything?

Now that you mention it, I'd love to take a food snob to Ruby Tuesday or (insert other restaurant chain here).

[Lawdawg]

Okay, I'll admit it, I have been the anoying dining companion.

I had some good friends in Alaska who are vegetarians (of the non-militant variety) and we were at a food establishment with "communal tables". They had invited some of their vegetarian friends to join us.

Now, my friends are not militant and do not care if I eat meat while out with them, so I did. I ordered a steak. on the rare side of medium rare.

I'm sure the other vegetarians thought I was the most annoying table companion ever. I didn't think about it till later, but they were probably not thrilled to see me carving up a hunk of meat that was still mooing.

Oh, and double dipping is wrong. wrong. wrong. If I want your saliva in my mouth, I'll let you know ahead of time. Maybe just the way I was raised, but I wouldn't even think of double dipping (unless I'm home alone, in which case all bets are off).

[browniebaker]

More peevers:

Those who eat a lot faster than everyone else and sit there gawking.

Those who eat a lot slower and make everyone else have wait for them.

Agree:

Double-dipping is rude and diusgusting.

[Pyewacket]

Good God! Your dining companions make my occasional ones look like absolute hyenas!

I have an acquaintence who, no matter what she orders, dumps ketchup all over her food! Visuals matter to me a lot-it looked like a massacre.

How about parents who bring their lovely toddlers, but refuse to clean up after them, leaving it all for the poor server. I don't mind the babies at all--love them, in fact--but tolerating dining in such a mess is beyond my understanding.

While I enjoy tasting other dishes from time to time, I have to take issue with constant sharing of everything on the table. I enjoy ordering so that my meal is cohesive and has a pleasant flow of taste and texture from one course to another. I hate, I mean HATE, the constant passing of plates around the table and only ending up with a smidgen of half a dozen dishes that don't go together. Invariably, by the time all this passing is done, my meal is tepid and beginning to congeal---YUCK! Order what you want to eat--if you want something else, order another entree or come back again; how hard is that?

[tommy]

Order what you want to eat--if you want something else, order another entree or come back again; how hard is that?

can't you just say "no" when someone asks if you'll pass your plate across the table?

[Squeat Mungry]

Those who eat a lot slower and make everyone else have wait for them.

I'll admit to being an unusually slow eater. However, when I'm out dining and notice the rest of the party has finished, I'll simply stop and put my utensils in the "take-it-away" position. In places with well-trained waitstaff, this usually suffices. In other places, however, I have to signal and inform the waiter that I'm done. If it's really good, I'll ask to have it boxed for take-out. If I'm still hungry, I'll grab a snack later.

Cheers,

Squeat

[cmling]

People who put salt on their food before they have even tasted it.

[sherribabee]

People who put salt on their food before they have even tasted it.

What about french fries?

[tommy]

People who put salt on their food before they have even tasted it.

that doesn't bother me really. what bothers me is people who put salt on their food before tasting it and then saying "this is too salty". but, i've never ever seen that happen.

[Squeat Mungry]

When I receive my sunny-side up eggs, the salt goes on immediately. I know what sunny-side up eggs taste like, and I know they need salt. Im not going to waste any on a test bite.

Cheers,

Squeat

[cmling]

I agree about the eggs, but am not so sure about the french fries, as these are - in my experience at least - often salted in the kitchen before they are served.

But I really meant *serious* dishes at excellent restaurants...

Sorry for not being clear.

Charley

[malarkey]

Does anyone else derive secret pleasure from taking extremely picky eaters out to places where you know they'll hate everything?

LOL Sherri I've dined with someone like that and oh my god. She sent back her spaghetti to the kitchen because it had black pepper on it. She said she doesn't eat pepper. salt, but NO pepper, ever.

I had visions of Big Night going through my head when that dish went back to the kitchen.

[malarkey]

ok, here's one.

the other night I had dinner with my class project partner. We're merrily eating away and at the bottom of her salad she finds a hair. Literally she had a small leaf of lettuce left, she'd eaten the whole salad. She picks up the hair, looks at it, puts it back in the bowl and then proceeds to attempt to spear the last remaining leaf of lettuce in an attempt to eat it. It slides across the bottom of the bowl, ending up on top of the hair. At this point she gives up on that last piece of lettuce.

So, she tells me she's going to ask the waitress about the hair, and asks me what I do in that kind of circumstance. well I can tell you that when I pick the hair out, you can be damn sure I'm not going to put it back in!!! (I didn't say this though) I just told her that in reality I just let it go. Unless its something horrid like a bandaid or something truly gross I just don't care.

She shows it to the waitress, saying "well I was going to finish my salad but then I found this hair..." The waitress apologized profusely. After the waitress leaves, she says "I just like to see how they react".

hmmmm.

[malarkey]

man, this thread has revealed all kinds of peeves I have. The story about the guy who acted like the spring rolls were dog doo set this one off:

Having one picky eater amongst a group of people. So, the MAJORITY of us are normal eaters, and one is abnormal. WE have to accomodate THIS PERSON and go somewhere THEY like. FORGET what we like!! arghggghhhh!!!

So, we miss out on a chance to have a fabulous meal. This is most definitely a HUGE peeve of mine.

[Pan]

Time to drop the picky eater from the group.

[sherribabee]

Time to drop the picky eater from the group.

Yeah.

Either that or simply go where you want to go, and if the picky person doesn't like it...just say, "whatevah, I do what I want!"

Seems like the pickier the eater, the more self-centered s/he is.

[hannnah]

In this case, I think it's a maturity issue - he hasn't grown out of the "I only eat x" stage. I'm not sure I ever had one of those, but I know they exist.

And, I'll have to admit, I threw the restaurant choices out to the group knowing full well he'd either have to order something decent, or sit and pout - neither of the menus was conducive to burgerage.

[Varmint]

How about parents who bring their lovely toddlers, but refuse to clean up after them, leaving it all for the poor server. I don't mind the babies at all--love them, in fact--but tolerating dining in such a mess is beyond my understanding.

I'm with you on that one. What's funny is that I can't possibly count the number of times I'm down on my knees under the table, picking up the 137 pieces of food, when the server tells me that I don't have to do that. Even when they're not disingenuous, I respond by telling them that their job is to take care of our food needs, not to pick up our kids' mess. They're always grateful. Even worse is when parents don't clean up the high chairs (because the restaurants sure as hell ain't going to do a good job with it).

[tirgoddess]

When I "dine" with small children (usually my neices and nephews), I always clean up after them, just out of courtesy. I am grateful to be able to eat in places with them and for the extra service that is sometimes required with small kids. Family restaurants do not give one license to be a pig.

[pbrooks]

I'm big into sharing and thank goodness, most foodie people are accomodating in sharing what they get (more tastes for everyone!).

My husband and I share dishes whenever we eat out. We usually eat half and then trade plates, which suits us just fine but sometimes seems to mortify our dining companions. Are we being tacky? Does anyone have any etiquette tips for us?

[FistFullaRoux]

I have to admit, my wife is the picky eater. I love her more than life herself, but I've been forced to change my dietary habits, at home at least.

No fish (fresh or canned), no mushrooms, no chicken on the bone or with skin, no eggs in recognizable form (as part of a recipe or sauce is OK, fried rice is not), no hot dogs (I go to a lot of ball games now), no peanut butter, very little chocolate (?!?!), no unpeeled shellfish (and then only peeled shrimp), and no "colored pasta". There are lots of others, but those are the major ones I have to work around. And she is, truth be told, a big girl. She's scheduled for gastric bypass surgery at the beginning of next year. I still don't know how she did it.

She also says I overseason food, and her dad once accused me of putting red pepper in his hamburger helper, because it was making his eyes water while it was cooking. In his house. When I was simply spending time with my then fiancee - I would never think of doing that. I never even touched the pot. He still said it burned his stomach and gave me hell about it for weeks. I guess he thought the big goofy Cajun traveled around with a container of pepper, waiting to poison some unexpecting person with a weak stomach. This same man is now taking a teaspoonful of tumeric a day on the advice of his doctor. But the Colonel's original recipe is fine for him.

I can count on her ordering one of two things at a restaurant. Fettucine Alfredo with chicken, or very basic chicken soup, with no vegetables exept rice. It limits the places we can go...

[MichaelB]

As I read all the comments here, I realized that I may just have unknowingly become my wifes nightmare dining companion. Mind, I only do the following when (1) we are alone and (2) dining at very high end joints.

I pick apart every aspect of the experience. The room, the flowers, the table setting, the china, the silver, the crystal, the linens, the service, the menu, the presentation, the preparation. At least half the time, I don't even say anything. She can just tell from my face that I am doing it and that I have found yet another thing that I find to be wrong. It never occurred to me that she might find this annoying. Maybe I'll ask her.

I get really bad when seated with one particular friend. She notices as much or more as I notice. She and I were once seated next to each other at one of the nation's legendary fine dining establishments. The evening was full of nods, pointed glances, raised eyebrows, toe taps, hand touches.

I can't help it . . . I am critical.

[Tam]

In this case, I think it's a maturity issue - he hasn't grown out of the "I only eat x" stage.  I'm not sure I ever had one of those, but I know they exist.

I have a friend that I have known for years. He has, in my opinion, an extremely limited palate. He will only consume steak (well-done) and raw carrots and raw celery. He smokes (no alcohol) and has very bad asthma, allergies and ezcema (sp?). He does not think that his health is affected by his diet. Hmm... yet I would label him very intelligent. Might have to rethink that.

[mags]

The worst dining companion I ever had was a blind date, about 12 years ago. He showed up 40 minutes late, looking like the "before" picture in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy -- pants too long and dragging on the ground, tie up under one ear, shirt half untucked...not Love's Young Dream, but he had been very funny on the phone, so who cares.

Without looking at the menu, he ordered a burger with "the works," carefully instructing the server that he wanted pretty much everything the kitchen had lying around to be piled on top of his burger. When it arrived, it was about six inches thick, piled with cheese and onions and mushrooms and bacon and guacamole and salsa and god only knows what else. He took an enormous bite, and -- with his mouth full -- started enthusing wildly about the burger. "MMMMM! MMMMM! THIS IS THE BEST BURGER IN THE WORLD!!!" Little bits of semi-chewed mushroom and guacamole went flying across the table at my white silk blouse. Then he shoved this enormous, dripping hunk of stuff under my nose, and commanded me to take a bite. Too dumbstruck to do anything else, I took a tiny nibble and said "Mmm, delicious."

THEN he picked the burger up, and went over to several tables of -- I assume -- perfect strangers, shoving it in their faces and telling them it was the best burger in the world and they just had to try it, "Here, take a bite, yeah, get some of that bacon in there, isn't that great? Here, you try some."

I wanted to fall through the floor.

My memory is that he finished this performance by slinging a meaty arm around the waitress, bellowing to the restaurant that she was the best waitress in the world, and then saying "And how about them boobies, hunh?"

But I may just be embellishing.