Melissa Kite Melissa Kite

The impossibility of ordering the right-sized salad

People have lost the art of listening

issue 15 November 2014

People don’t listen. It’s a relatively new thing. People used to listen, to varying degrees. You had your good listeners and you had your bad listeners. Now people just don’t listen at all.

I was in the pizza joint in Balham with the builder boyfriend. The waitress was standing at the table with her pad, the builder and I told her which pizza we wanted and then I said, ‘Oh, and can we have one mixed salad and one rocket salad.’

‘One small salad and one large salad,’ she said.

I looked back down at the menu. ‘No. Sorry,’ I said, ‘I mean, can we have one mixed salad, and one rocket salad. Both small.’

‘One small salad and one large salad,’ she said. The builder and I gritted our teeth. He had a go. ‘We don’t want different sizes. We want one of each kind. In the small size.’

‘Yes,’ she said, writing something down.

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