Fries Red White
I’ve been reading a lot of notalwaysright.com over the past few days. It reminded me of the following experience I had while working at a fast food restaurant when I was 17 years old. The conversation took place in German.
- Me
How can I serve you?
- Customer
I’ll have fries red white.
- Me
Do you mean mayonnaise and ketchup, madam?
- Customer
No, I mean those red and white condiments that people always have with fries.
This looks sarcastic on paper, but trust me: it wasn’t.- Me
I’m sorry, we don’t have any white condiments other than mayonnaise. Could I get you mayonnaise and curry sauce, perhaps?
- Customer
No, not mayonnaise and whatever else you said! Fries red white!
I figured I’d just take a gamble and I gave her fries with mayonnaise and ketchup.
- Customer
There, was that so hard?
For the record, no other German customer has ever ordered their fries red, white or in any other color; all other Germans ordered fries with a condiment, such as mayonnaise or ketchup.
Heh.
Actually for some reason a lot of ppl do order “Pommes rot-weiß” if they want mayonnaise and ketchup. Maybe because it’s shorter? No clue. But normal ppl do know what the colour code stands for and would have simply answered your question with a “Yes”.
April 21, 2010 @ 17:46Permalink
Melantrys
I assumed she wouldn’t have said it if it weren’t used at least somewhere in Germany. I do wonder about the ignorance though. This was a woman in her 30s or 40s.
April 21, 2010 @ 21:50Permalink
Frans