A Victim of Semantics: Restaurant Jargon...

I was out with some friends last night, when I asked the waiter for a "side of onion rings" with my burger.

When the food arrived, I was expecting my burger to come with a basket of fresh, crispy, golden-friend onion rings. Instead, the waiter plopped down my food - with a side of RAW onions.

I said, "Excuse me, I had asked for a side of onion rings."

The waiter realized his mistake. "I'm sorry sir, I thought I heard you say just onions. Let me go and get you that side right away."

A few minutes later, as I'm digging into my burger, the waiter puts down a new basket - I smile until I look down and see only TWO fresh, crispy, golden-friend onion rings staring back at me.

TWO!

They sat there in the basket in all their negative-space glory, just utterly pitiful. Apparently, the waiter still didn't get that I wanted a basket.

My mouth was full so I couldn't call him back. My friends couldn't believe what was happening so all they could do was laugh hysterically at my expense.

I finally call the waiter back and explain to him that, "I'd like an ORDER of onion rings, please. NOT just rings for my burger.

"Oh! You wanted a SIDE ORDER of onion rings!"

"Yep, that's right."

"Man, you're being SOOO difficult," he said in his most sarcastic tone, and ran off to fetch me my fat-drenched, not-very-healthy-for-you SIDE ORDER!

By the time my SIDE ORDER of ONION RINGS came, my friends were fargone from laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. I had to laugh a bit too, for if I knew I had to be that specific, I would've written down my order and handed it to our waiter.

Oh, and here's the kicker - the waiter still charged me 99 cents for the TWO onion rings that came before, on top of everything else. What the heck!

But to still have a way to blog about this little food-fiasco? Absolutely priceless... ;)