Published by Swiss James on 30 Apr 2008 at 12:01 pm
Storming out of restaurants
Yesterday, I stormed out of a restaurant without paying. It was very exciting, I might do it again.
The new terminal at the airport has been open for a while but for the first month they were just ticking over by running 50 flights per day to make sure everything was OK- (I don’t know why, it’s not like there’s ever a problem when a new terminal opens is it?)
It was only yesterday that the full flock of airlines arrived, trebling the traffic at Terminal 2, and making my lunch arrive with the speed of the internet in 1996.
I should explain, my choices for lunch are thus:
- Canteen at work- fish bones covered in a greasy dust, dishwater soup, cold vegetables. (It was fun for the first 13 months)
- Packet of Jaffa Cakes and a swig of tea (again)
- Walk to the new terminal in the blazing sunshine and enjoy one of the many great restaurants
So that’s how I came to be in an airport restaurant with incompetent staff used to serving 3 passengers per day, now facing ２００ hungry customers.
They brought one dish after 20 minutes after we ordered, and one more after half an hour. But after 45 minutes (and multiple complaints) of sitting around watching everyone else get their orders, the drinks, the rice, the meat etc. still hadn’t yet arrived so I stood up, ranted for a bit in broken Chinese, and walked out.
Obviously I can never go back to the airport again, and it’s fish dust for lunch today, but damn it felt good at the time.
My remaining lunch option
James if I had a penny for every time I have lost my rag and stormed out of a restaurant, I’d be lying on a beach in Marbella right now. Surely you should have gone to terminal one where it’s a ghost town now!
I’m flying out of T2 tomorrow. I guess I’ll pack a breakfast before I leave home ….
I thought you’d give me loads of stress for it- what happens to people who storm out of Charlie Chan’s? Actually- don’t answer that..
James - When I was about 10, we were eating at Hua Qiao Hotel in Guanghou and had asked for the bill about 3 times. The restaurant was empty except for us and there were about 3 waitresses chatting amongst themselves. My dad (the owner of Charlie Chans) stood up and announced to my mum and brother and myself that we were leaving. So you see, even people in glass houses sometimes throw rocks.
Oh, and people who storm out of Charlie Chans without paying usually end up being “number 32″ (sweet and sour pork) the next day.
As a Cantonese person, who basically eats anything, I have to step here and say “Congee in a Can is gross”
I’d rather eat 48 kuai niu rou mien at Chalon than Congee in a Can.
As another Cantonese, I’d have to say ANY congee that isn’t done the Cantonese way is gross and the same pretty much goes for soup. In the north their idea of soup is boiled water with some tomato thrown in and maybe some egg.
But I like Chalon!
我爱中国 - earlier this year when I was in Harbin, they served us “soup” made from the water they boiled the dumplings in. I kid you not. A damn shame. Makes me want to go home right now and “bo tong”
T - Yewwwwww! That sounds almost as tasty as congee in a can! A simple rule: if it hasn’t been slowing simmering for several hours, it isn’t soup!
James, if the police catch up with you, it’ll be a bullet to the back of the head in the local football stadium…
You go girl!
Good on ya! The sad part is, they’ll have no clue that anything was wrong in the first place.