You want your food hot? Well that’s just insane...

My parents, aunt and grandmother went out for a meal yesterday. They went to a restaurant that my parents have loved for a long time. This morning my mother told me they would not be going back there again. Apparently all the nice staff don’t work there anymore and my mum thinks they have a new owner. The waitress was a girl that barely spoke any Dutch (which is weird if you live in Holland) and was lacking somewhat of a brain. My grandmother ordered a dish with baked potatoes and apparently it was very hard to explain to the girl that she didn’t want them cold but hot... Very annoying if you ask me. Who serves any food but salad cold anyways?

Anyways this inspired the following.
Behold the differences between pubs/restaurants in Ireland and Holland.

Now before I tell you why, what and how, a little background story.

My last job in Holland before I moved to Ireland was in a cafe-restaurant. I don’t think ill ever work with a crowd that was that insane, caring and involved. My boss was a definite one of a kind. She taught me everything I know about the industry. She is also the reason I can never go out for a proper meal without cursing and commenting at everything. Thank you for that ;D.

Few things I learned were:
- Never put your fingers in a glass (in Ireland they stick their fingers in the glass every chance they get)
- always, ALWAYS walk around with a tray (in Ireland you just walk to the table 4 times to serve the drinks)
- always, ALWAYS grab the glass at the bottom and not the top otherwise (as my boss used to say) you might as well stick your fingers in that persons mouth. Makes for a lovely picture in your head doesn’t it? (Since I’ve been here I had probably every bartenders fingers in my mouth)..
- Never let any part of the beer tap touch the beer in the glass (in Ireland does always touch, because they want to create the mini layer of foam).
- Rinse glasses before you pour beer (everything in Ireland goes into the dishwasher...) Yes that is true, cold beer, warm glass. Yuuummm
- Smile, smile and smile godammnit. This is very important for tips!! (In Ireland people don’t really tip, so why smile?).

I think I can go on for a little while longer but I think most of these are bar rules and not necessarily the rules that I learned. There are some other differences but those are just culture differences?

For example:
- Greet the costumer when they walk in. (Here you get a “Hi” when you’re at the bar).
- The waitress comes to you (nope, here you have to walk to the bar, sometimes even to order your food).
- In Holland during the summer times you can sit outside almost everywhere. (Once again in Ireland this is not the case, such a shame).

These are a few differences that popped up in my head today. Every time I’m out I think of something else again.

Anyhows, enjoy your weekend and those lovely fingers!!