Ordering food

[Rakkasan]

When I order food in a restaurant in the US, the waitress asks for my order I tell her I want the marinated ribeye, rare (no horns no hide) baked potato with butter only, vegetable and 1000 island dressing on the salad. She writes this down and moves on to the next person. Simple.

 

In China even if the menu has each item numbered, the item (#53) is pointed out to the waitress and then a five minute discussion takes place before moving on to the next person where this lengthy debate takes place again and again and again all around the table. Of course when the food comes something is almost always screwed up.

 

What is all the talk about? It seems almost like the Chinese equivalent of "When Harry Met Sally" meets "Groundhog Day".

Edited May 18, 2007 by Rakkasan (see edit history)