The rudest things you can do in a restaurant

Dining out is meant to be a fun and pleasant experience. We show up, we sit down, we order, we eat, we pay, and we leave. But even though that may sound like a rather straightforward experience, there are actually a lot of unspoken rules that you really should be playing by, especially at a fancier establishment.

If a restaurant closes at 11, that doesn’t mean that you can show up at 10:50 and expect the staff to be OK with it. The staff has most likely had a very long and hard day, and there’s a ton of cleanup to do before they can go home. Don’t make them stay late just so you can eat. 

Full restaurants operate like well-oiled machines, and when someone arrives very late for a reservation (or doesn’t show up at all), it throws a wrench into the works that can trickle down to everyone else booked for that table. If you’re going to be more than 10 minutes late, call the restaurant and let them know. 

If your steak is overcooked, it’s not the server’s fault. Be nice to your server, and they’ll be nice to you. This should be common sense, but people often forget. 

Someone has to pick those up, and it’s not pleasant. Also, please don’t blow your nose into the cloth napkin. That’s just gross. 

This is the simplest one of all. Be polite, and you’ll be treated well in response. 

If you take a bite or two of your food and don’t like it, politely tell the server (along with the reason you don’t like it), and they’ll bring it back to the kitchen, tell the chef, and have them fire up something new for you. If you eat half of your food before sending it back and expect it to be taken off of your bill without ordering anything else, then the staff will know you’re trying to con your way into a free meal. 

When you’re at a restaurant, put your phone on silent and leave it in your pocket. If you want to post a photo on Instagram, take a quick snap and wait until after the meal. Those texts and emails can wait until you get home. Spending the meal spaced out on your phone communicates to your companions — and the server — that you simply don’t care about them. 

The servers are there to do their job, not to be your personal servant. If you want your server’s attention, don’t shout their name from across the restaurant, don’t whistle at them, don’t try to get their attention while they’re waiting on another table, and never, ever touch them. Wait for them to walk by and catch their eye. 

A server’s time is precious, and time spent standing there waiting for you to make up your mind can be better spent in countless ways. If you don’t know what you want, ask your server to come back in a couple minutes; he or she won’t mind.