This really great comic deserves more than just a few comments on the correct spelling of pizza names! It touches a super interesting topic - I've for a long time been amazed (and overwhelmed, I have to admit) by the wide choice often offered to customers in the US, and by the funny effects it creates when American companies like Starbucks through company policy push that kind of customer service down on unsuspecting customers in countries where this isn't the norm nor expected. ("No, just give me the normal one. Yes, I mean, there has to be a standard one that everyone takes.") There's also a good book written by Takeo Doi on his experiences about that topic as a Japanese in the US. Coming from a country where customer service is understood as "making the choices FOR the customer, so he doesn't have to worry about the details himself", you can imagine what kind of situations he gets into when coming to a country that's famous for the possibility to always "have it your way". I kinda understand both sides, but it's always fun to compare them and, well, laugh about it. :)
Great point. This is why I love to travel - you learn that little things you take for granted, like the freedom to choose between a thousand peanut butters, are not universal, but cultural. And neither way is good or bad. We might improve a lot of things we do at home by observing the way others do it.
Ahaha If I were him, I'd just say "yes" to whatever the next option would be, as long as it resulted in the kind of pizza he wanted. Although if he was asked to repeat the order to confirm it...
I'm surprised the waiter gave you options to add or subtract toppings at all. My experience ordering pizza in Italy was that if it wasn't explicitly on the menu, it wasn't happening!
And God forbid you ask to split a pizza. We weren't that hungry, but the waiter we asked responded "it's not possible". We ended up getting two separate appetizers that together cost less than the pizza. But at least the waiter let us do it.
Ah, where a meal is not just food - but an event.
ReplyDelete*Quattro stagioni :)
ReplyDeleteChe palle! My bad
DeleteI think it's "quattro staggioni".
ReplyDeleteCavoli! You're right!
DeleteQuattro stagioni, with only one g :)
DeleteThis really great comic deserves more than just a few comments on the correct spelling of pizza names! It touches a super interesting topic - I've for a long time been amazed (and overwhelmed, I have to admit) by the wide choice often offered to customers in the US, and by the funny effects it creates when American companies like Starbucks through company policy push that kind of customer service down on unsuspecting customers in countries where this isn't the norm nor expected. ("No, just give me the normal one. Yes, I mean, there has to be a standard one that everyone takes.") There's also a good book written by Takeo Doi on his experiences about that topic as a Japanese in the US. Coming from a country where customer service is understood as "making the choices FOR the customer, so he doesn't have to worry about the details himself", you can imagine what kind of situations he gets into when coming to a country that's famous for the possibility to always "have it your way". I kinda understand both sides, but it's always fun to compare them and, well, laugh about it. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat point. This is why I love to travel - you learn that little things you take for granted, like the freedom to choose between a thousand peanut butters, are not universal, but cultural. And neither way is good or bad. We might improve a lot of things we do at home by observing the way others do it.
DeleteAhaha
ReplyDeleteIf I were him, I'd just say "yes" to whatever the next option would be, as long as it resulted in the kind of pizza he wanted. Although if he was asked to repeat the order to confirm it...
I'm surprised the waiter gave you options to add or subtract toppings at all. My experience ordering pizza in Italy was that if it wasn't explicitly on the menu, it wasn't happening!
ReplyDeleteAnd God forbid you ask to split a pizza. We weren't that hungry, but the waiter we asked responded "it's not possible". We ended up getting two separate appetizers that together cost less than the pizza. But at least the waiter let us do it.