The human connection is nice.
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For me when a new acquaintance (like a server) feels comfortable to initiate appropriate touch (my shoulder, upper arm, upper back), I feel accepted and welcomed. However, I do feel touch is a polarizing issue and in general is best avoided in professional life. My work even has online required annual trainings essentially advising employees to avoid it, so I never initiate contact. But I love it when an appreciative person offers me a hug (tends to usually be an elderly person or a child).
This is its own long and nuanced subject, which may be off topic.
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A classic takedown of a mediocre restaurant by Grace Dent - summarising many annoying features in one review.
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She had me at “argy-bargy” and “fisticuffs” in the 2nd sentence. 
And her last sentence: “There wasn’t a fight in the restaurant, but my purse took a battering.”
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Yes, I love the Grace Dent reviews. And she never got her cocktails.
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She’s had some good takedowns lately.
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Regarding server interaction:
- Telling me their name? Don’t care.
- Touching me? Get in the sea.
- Asking me what I have planned for the rest of the day? Get tae fuck.
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Excellent. She has a podcast called “Comfort Eating” which I want to listen to, but every time I try, she groans as someone describes food in a way that feels uncomfortable for this listener. It doesn’t help that people will also eat into the microphone, and that just makes me feel sick and rageful. I guess some people get off on those kinds of noises, but why can’t it be a talk about food podcast without those creepy sounds? Like Off Menu?
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Oh. Thanks for warning me about the sound effects on that podcast - I was thinking of trying it. Now I might have to avoid. I’m ok with a few ‘mmm mmm’ from Nigella with her ‘wink wink’ persona but I’m not sure Grace Dent fits that sort of act.
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Welcome to my saga di bruschetta.
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Gimlet’s a big offender, at least in ze fatherland.
As for bruschetta, I’ve simply (okay, sorta kinda) accepted that it’s been anglicized in its pronunciation.
Still struggling with panini being considered a singular here… but I might as well be yelling at clouds.
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A beloved long-gone tapas place used to serve an (amazing) “uni panini.” Which, first, it was only one sandwich, and also there’s a Spanish word for sea urchin (and sandwich, I think).
The data shows that panini is singular.
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The data has been corrupted.
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OMG Latin plurals in the US. Do not get me started. Not without a gimlet in hand.
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Or Greek. For starters, the plural of “octopus” is “octopuses” (or “octopodes”).
Octopodia is the plural of octopodi in Greek.
The letter S is not used to make words plural in Greek.
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I see what you did there!
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After three years of Greek, I know you don’t add an ‘s’. But I was not pluralizing “octopodi”.
