Just eat it?

By Nadia Correnti, food writer

Men are from Mars and women are from Venus, and that doesn’t just apply to relationship foibles. I’ve noticed lately that we also have very different attitudes when it comes to dining out.

Take complaining, for example. If something’s not right with my meal, I don’t see why I shouldn’t speak up and have the problem sorted. My husband, on the other hand, would prefer to suffer in silence, eating steak so overcooked you could play air hockey with it, or chicken so underdone you’d swear it was themed for Think Pink month.

We were eating out with another couple recently and when our meals arrived, mine was so oversalted I could barely eat it. Considering we’d waited a good 40 minutes for our meal to arrive, I was starving, and rather peeved that the only edible part of my meal was the garnish. “You’re not going to cause a scene, are you?” my husband asked, looking slightly panicked, as if I might leap out of my chair and hurl the plate across the restaurant in a fit of rage. (Which, for the record, I’ve never done.)

Then there was the time we were having breakfast at our favourite café, and I was given a water glass with a lipstick stain on it. When I politely asked for a replacement, he shook his head at me with a look that said “troublemaker”. “So you’d drink from a dirty glass?” I challenged him. “Just drink from the other side!” he said, rolling his eyes.

My friend Fiona has the same issue with her fiancé. He hates it when she complains about her food not being right, or not arriving in a timely manner, and can’t understand why it’s that big a deal. Well, why is speaking up such a big deal?

As long as you speak to staff politely and your request is legitimate and reasonable, I don’t see the problem. It is a problem if you sit there, eat your entire meal, then claim it’s unsatisfactory and demand a reduction on the bill. Or badmouth the restaurant to anyone who’ll listen when you didn’t even give them a chance to fix things.

Do you complain? If so, what for? Do you also give praise when praise is due?