To most people, Oxford an academic place full of the smell of books. But if you are living for several years, you can see although it’s still a quite academic place, to some extent it has changed to more commercial one. Every summer there are lots of students come from different parts of the worlds to here to take summer course (mostly language), and streets are full of tourists. If you walk in city center at lunch on a weekday, you will find English is only one of the languages that around your ears, more are other European languages or Indian, Chinese or Japanese.
Working in a fast food restaurant in oxford city center is a great chance to see a minimized world. Actually there is time when the whole dining area is full of people but only a few are British. It’s fascinating to see how people from different countries behave and eat in a fast food restaurant.
British:
I always heard that English society has different classes, and this become very obvious in a fast food restaurant. You can tell from their dresses, the way they talk, and whether they put trays after meals or not. Sometimes you will go absolutely mental when some kids or teenagers pour drink on the floors or have some ketchup flights. It takes a long time to clean afterwards. Once some boys were locked and asked to clean up their mess, otherwise manager will call the police. I wish I was there to see how much they were embarrassed.
Of course, there are also polite people around. One noticeable difference of British customers is that they always say “please” after each order.
“What meal would you like?”
“Double Whopper, please!”
“Drinks?”
“Coke, please!”
“Eat in or take away?”
“Eat in, please”
Spanish and Italian
I don’t why Spanish and Italian customers are so similar. They usually come in a group of three or four, mostly students. Knowing that they are here to study English, I sometimes have to guess their orders. Once a boy came in and order a “Burger King”, I almost asked manager to give him our franchise contract. :)
They talk a lot when having meals, and noticeably loud. I have been to Spain so I know that it’s their culture that people talk relatively loud, but sometimes they become a spotlight here, because English people tend to eat quietly except those boys with tattoos and caps. However, they talk and joke happily and laugh a lot.
When they finish, trays are normally remained on the table. I guess they don’t have a custom of cleaning trays by themselves in their countries, so it’s understandable.
Chinese:
Students are the majority, sometimes students with their parents. I was often asked in Chinese when they took orders.
There is an interesting similarity among all Chinese customers – chicken wing is their favourite menu. Other staffs there asked me why Chinese people like chicken wings so much. To be honest, I don’t know, but I like chicken wings too. Guess just the cultural thing.
Chinese customers also leave trays on the tables after meals. Once a Chinese boy asked me do English people clean their trays by themselves, I answered yes, and he cleaned it carefully. Good boy! (I will explain why it matters so much about whether customers clean their trays or not later)
Japanese:
It’s rarely to see any single Japanese customer, they always come in a group. That makes a lot senses! I sometimes talked to them in Japanese and they were very surprised. About the trays thing, take a look at a photo I took in a McDonald in Japan, I don’t need to explain anymore.
Muslim:
It’s necessary to be careful when taking orders with Muslims. Any burgers with bacon are not suitable, bean burger or vegetable burger is their favourites, just like chicken wings to Chinese customers. So sometimes it takes more time to take order from them. However, it’s cultural thing, I totally understand.
# The tray issue
Clean trays after eating or not makes a big difference to staffs working in dining area. When I am in charge of dining, I know it’s my duty to keep the room clean. But imagine when a table of 10 people leave without cleaning their trays with them, it’s a lot work to do afterwards. Beside, it’s England here, people do clean their trays and they are expected to do so. Although it’s understandable for those from countries like Spain, Italy or China not to clean their trays, but I am still very appreciated if they can do so. When in England, do as the English do.
I am not sure whether it’s appreciate to write this post, but please don’t take it racially, it’s just cultural difference in a small world (or a small restaurant), as the way I see it.
Tonight is the election of new