Eating out at a restaurant can be an absolutely divine experience. Great food, the perfect ambiance, that sinfully good dessert that you might regret later but who cares ... you know what I mean. Then there are times that eating out is utter disasterpiece theater.
It doesn't always take a major motion picture level screw-up to ruin a meal. Sometimes it's the little things that ruin a restaurant experience.
Reddit user Juaninazio asked:
What absolutely wrecks a meal for you at a restaurant?
And here's what we learned diners really want: keep the volume down, keep your kids in check, it would be lovely if the place wasn't sticky and basic hygiene is much appreciated. You'd be surprised how hard that combination is to find, apparently...
Not Here To Make New Friends
I wouldn't say it ruins the meal, but I don't like it when they have tables seated so close to each other that everyone can hear everyone else's conversations. Totally ruins the experience for me.
I hate places where they have long benches and tables about 2 feet from the next. I don't want to be almost sitting with another party of people. I hate it!
Forget Me Not
Being held hostage. I understand that working in a restaurant can be unpredictable, but I've been to a few places where it feels like the server straight up forgets you exist. The worst is when you are done and ready to leave, but they take another 15-20 minutes to return to your table just to give you the check, and then another 10 minutes to actually process your payment.
- Forman98
I waited tables for a few years. One time I straight up forgot I had a table. Got in my car and drove 20mins... Then it hit me. "Oh no!" I returned for my evening shift, and found out that they just left without paying (can't say I blame them).
- Coscojo
The Sink Is There For A Reason
GiphyMy wife's story: Goes to the restaurant, gets seated, gives her order, goes to the restroom to wash up. While in restroom someone in the stall is vomiting. The person comes out, obviously in server uniform, bypasses the sink and goes out the door. My wife turns to other person in the restroom, also obviously a server, and asks if vomiting person is a worker. The answer is yes. Wife finishes washing up goes out and sees vomiting person behind the bar, washing dishes and serving drinks.
Wife left after explaining to manager what happened.
Floor For Sure
Filthy floors. Like, crushed crackers, chunks of food, etc. Sure, maybe the table looks clean and wiped down, but if the floor is noticeably nasty that ruins it for me.
Same here. If the floors are dirty in areas visible to the customers (doesn't have to be perfect, but not disgusting) then what do you think that kitchen, where the floor isn't visible to customers, looks like?
Floor For Sure - The Rebuttal
As a manager at a high end restaurant I will say that if you have carpeted floors, most restaurants do, the vitriol from customers if you were to vacuum far outweighs the complaints of a dirty floor.
No kidding. Well after close one night, we were doing the last of our work while a table of campers continued to not take the repeated hints that we wanted them to finish up and roll out. So my manager had me vacuum the one small strip of carpet like we normally do at the very end of the night so that maybe they'd get it. Nope! One of the women came over to me and started scolding me for being rude.
Sorry lady, you're in the restaurant over an hour after we've closed and it's been longer than that since you finished your food, and everyone on the staff clearly wants to go home. It's not me that's being rude. We're not a bar, we closed at 9. Go somewhere else that's still open if you want to continue your social hour.
I can't imagine the reactions if you started vacuuming during service.
Sticky
When things are weirdly sticky. The tables, the chair, the menus, whatever. I worked as a waitress for a while and made a point to clean things really really well because it's such a pet peeve of mine.
Live Like The Locals
High strung people complaining about little things in a dive the locals love. Especially if it gets famous.
I get it if you're expecting fine dining; but if you're joining a giant line behind a bunch of drunks to grab the best whatever ever then get over it and do it like the locals do. Nobody wants to hear (or cares) about your issue with paper plates, or not getting enough mustard or whatever.
My Aunt and cousin were out visiting from out of town a few years back, and my wife and I took them to a local pizza joint around the corner that we frequent a lot. You know the type of place, owner knows you by name, will come up to the bar and have a beer with you, etc.
They proceeded to just dump all over every single thing about the joint. They're from San Francisco, and of course that was all we and everyone in earshot heard about the whole time we were there.
This was several years ago and I haven't seen them since and do not plan to.
My Own Fault
When the restaurant is too cold and I've forgotten to bring a sweater. To be clear, this is my own fault, I don't expect them to cater to my personal temperature preferences ... but it totally ruins a meal if I'm trying to eat while shivering.
Children - Or More Accurately - Their Parents
GiphyChildren running around, oblivious parents, and a wait staff that is too chicken to do anything about it.
So we were out for dinner with the family and the table behind us had two children aged around 5 or 6. These two kids were running up and down the restaurant screaming, the parents clearly didn't give a damn as they didn't even look up from their meals. The poor servers were having to dodge treading on these little crotch gremlins as they crawled from one persons table to another.
Anyway I'm sitting there tutting profusely and becoming more irritated by the minute and my older sister tells me to stop whining and kicks me under the table. Obviously I booted her back as hard as I could only to hear a scream come from under our table.
My sister hadn't kicked me at all. it was one of the crotch gremlins hiding under our table that had just taken the full force of my boot. Both sprogs scurried off back to mummy and daddy and didn't move from their table the rest of their meal.
Not at a restaurant, but I was at a brewery where some parents let their kids raise hell while they drank. One of them bumped into a guy and made him break his glass on a table where people were eating. Mom was making sure that the kid was okay while dad told the guy he should be careful where he's walking.
Everyone hated that couple with a burning passion and the victim got another beer on the house by a bartender. I think the couple either got asked to leave or left shortly after.
Screaming or misbehaving kids. I get that people with kids need to get out sometimes and that "kids will be kids", but sometimes the kid is just a total jerkbag who wasn't brought up right. A screaming infant gets a pass. A 5 or 6 year old kid yelling, freaking out or generally being a nuisance is a pain in the ass.
- BeachCop
Worst restaurant experience I ever had was delicious food but the table across from us decided to change their toddler's diaper on the booth. So it was full view and smell of poopy diaper. Disgusting.
Obnoxious And Loud
Went to a teppanyaki grill where you usually share the grill/table with one or two other parties. This big group of obnoxious loudmouth older men (one or two had a wife there but it was 80% men) got seated at the grill next to ours, facing us. They definitely pre-gamed before going to dinner and just generally acted incredibly classless the entire time—calling the waitress "beer lady", making comments about us and the diners at our table, and telling stories about how one of them got some gross nickname, all at top volume. If I was the owner I would have kicked them out. Such an awkward dinner trying to ignore those idiots.
- Pogs1717
Obnoxious, loud, or otherwise intrusive diners at other tables. No, I don't want to hear about that time you... uh, anything, and telling the story at 95 decibels doesn't make it any better.
A couple days ago me and my SO were at a restaurant for a quick dessert before they closed and we spotted this group of 60 year old men who looked like they came from a golf/yacht club. Anyways, they were drunk and they were loud but the biggest problem was what we heard out of their mouths.
We heard "handies and holies", "freshmen orientation" and a bunch of other sexual stuff that you'd expect out of drunk frat boys. They were SO obnoxious - they were a disaster. Just too much information all the way. Like no we don't need to hear about your nights in bed getting some for the whole restaurant to hear, so thank you for coming my TED talk.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.