On 09/07/15 20:49, Mike Barnes wrote:
DerbyBorn wrote:
A nice thing about a holiday is being served properly even in an
inexpensive restaurant. Why do we put up with having to queue at the bar
with our table number in the UK?

Ha! It sounds like you haven't been to one of those places in Italy
where you have to pay the cashier without the benefit of a menu or the
ability to see or point to what you want, then take the receipt to
another counter where the food is displayed so that you can place your
order and hand over the receipt. They're a nightmare for anyone without
reasonably good Italian.

Ah yes, I am Italy at the moment. I feel a rant coming on...

Italian motorway services are the worst. Autogrill, the very name
invites despair. (They are all 'Autogrill' in my experiance, even the
ones with a different name on the sign are so indistinguishable that
they must be just a cunning branding plan to make it look like there is
a competitor.) When I have spent several hours in a hot buzzing tin box,
I like to take a break, I don't want to be channelled through a
turnstile with no way out without going right round the shop. I would
like to sit down somewhere quiet away from the traffic noise, not queue
to pay (for some [IT] values of queue), queue to order, and find a perch
amid some buzzing horde. If there is more than a cafe I expect it to be
open when I want, not filled to bursting for two hours around noon and
closed for the rest of the day.