customers from all over the world

Working as a waitress in a restaurant you learn a lot about the eating habits, table manners and also the character of people from all over the world. Today I would like to give you a general idea of how people from different nationalities behave in a restaurant. To do so, I will have to make some generalizations. So please don't get me wrong, I know that there are always exceptions and that you can't say that all the people from one country are the same. Still, I have made some observations over the past year, which I would like to share with you.

Let me start with my absolute (non-) favourites: the Italians. First of all: I love Italy and generally I have nothing against Italians. But...having them as customers in a restaurant is a different matter. The problem with the Italians is that we usuallly get them in huge groups, like 50 or even up to 100 of them. A couple of Italians, that's fine with me. Dozens of them - that can be a real pain!! Every other week we get in huge groups of Italian tourists, sometimes we get school classes (and believe me, dealing with twelve year olds is even worse). Italians aren't only the loudest of all but also the most annoying. There are usually two waiters responsible for a group of 50 people, and dealing with such a big group of Italians can really stress you out!! They constantly cry for "acqua, acqua" and "pane, pane", even when you are busy passing out dozens of hot dishes. They can't wait, if they want something they want it right on the spot. Once - I was busy carrying heavy stacks of dirty dishes - an old lady grabbed my arm tightly and yelled: "il bagno, il bagno??". One second later and two steps further toward the door another lady held on to me with exactly the same question...Yeah, I love them!! But don't think that the work is over once you got rid of them!! The Italians are the ones who leave the worst mess behind! I don't even think they have ever heard of the term 'table manners' before. When you come back to clean up, you could as well believe you are entering a battle field: bread, fries, napkins, tooth picks and cutlery cover the floor; table cloths are coloured with tomato sauce, wine stains and with whatever they had for dessert...it usually takes you twice as long to clean up the mess.

If they don't arrive in large hordes but in small numbers, as 'normal' customers, they can be quite acceptable. They tend to eat lots... I would have enough with what they have only for a starter. Usually it's Sauerkraut and sausages, Gulasch or Verhackertbrot. As a main dish they quite often go for the mixed grill and they pretty much always have bread with everything. Oh, and don't forget the espresso!

The Japanese are just about the opposite of the Italians. They are veeeeeery quiet, polite and friendly, and they keep smiling all the time. What a lovely people!!! And so easy to handle. They usually eat Gulasch or Bauernschmaus but don't eat more than half of the portion, cause they just can't fit it in. And they love black currant juice. There's only one strange thing about the Japanese. Whenever we have a group of about 20, the whole room fills with a 'special' smell. I really don't know what it is, and maybe I don't even want to know, but they do smell rather strange...

There's not really much I can tell you about the French. But one thing is true: communicating with French people is almost impossible. Most of them refuse to use any other language than their own and they just don't get that I don't understand them in their mother tongue. There's no point in telling them "I don't speak French". They just keep talking and talking...That's why I try to avoid taking their orders, cause I usually end up serving them things they didn't order :-)

I can't think of any other nation that is as friendly as the English. Almost every single sentence contains a "thank you", "oh, that's wonderful" or "how lovely". And they definitely know how to say hello and good bye (which is something the Austrians dread to do).

Then we have the Russians. Hmm...actually, sometimes they scare me a little. I don't really know why though, probably because they seem to be very serious people who don't laugh a lot And: usually they appear in groups of only men...But Russians are very generous customers, leaving lots of money. They spend quite a lot on alcohol, especially vodka and expensive wine. The other day we had some Russians who ordered two bottles of our finest wines, but only drank about a quarter of each. Me and my two workmates had a pretty good time after closing hour... good wine can't be wasted ;-)

Last but not least: the Germans. They still manage to crack me up by ordering "ne Apfelschorle" or even better "ne Weinschorle". And quite often you have to translate Erdäpfel, Topfenknödel and Eierschwammerl into 'proper German'. One more thing you have to know about Germans as a waitress: when they order water, they usually want sparkling water. So don't get them just tap water.

Generally, Germans are pretty friendly, unlike most of the Austrians. But that's a different story... Next time I'll write about the different types of Austrian customers. Some of them make me hit the roof...