It's a tricky concept

[pookalamouche]

Hi guys!

Whoo! First post on SC!


Little bit of background for you;

I work in a very small pub in England where on Sunday lunchtimes we cook roast dinners in addition to our reugular menu. The problem is as we have a very small kitchen and as these roasts are very popular, and usually run out by 1pm

Enter SC; a fat, ugly, balding, middle-aged bloke with severe bodily odour and a general trouble causing demenour.

He walks up to the bar with his wife

ME: Hello *smile at both of them*
SC: One pint of Bitter and a glass of red
ME: (through gritted teeth) No problem *HATE being treated like a vending machine*
ME: Anything else?
SC: One roast beef and one roast lamb
ME: I'm afraid we're out of roast dinners *hand over the menu* would you like to choose something else?
SC: Ok, 2 roast lambs then
ME: I'm afraid we're completely out of roast dinners today
SC: *pause while looks at menu*
SC: Did you say maybe?
ME: (repeating) We're COMPLETELY out of roast dinners today
SC: Ok, 2 scampi and chips
ME: No problem, thats £##.## please
SC: *hands over money*
ME: Thank you very much and thats £#.## change

SC: *goes to table*
SC: *watches roast dinner go to table next door who ordered 10 mins before he arrived*

SC: *comes back to bar* Are there any roasts left?
ME: No, I'm afraid we're COMPLETELY out of roast dinners today
SC: And no roast lambs?
ME: We have no vegetables left to go with the lamb sir
SC: So no roasts then?
ME: No.



Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!! !


why do they insist on torturing me?

[Becks]

I think that the technically CORRECT answer would have been "We're SOLD OUT of roast dinners" instead of "We're OUT of roast dinners."

Just saying.

[Food Lady]

I agree with Becky, but of course we all know the correct phrasing is often hard to come by on the fly.

[cheese]

Whats wrong with "out of roast dinners"? What would you take that to mean instead? Maybe its a British thing, but it means exactly the same thing to me and obviously the OP

[MadMike]

Whats wrong with "out of roast dinners"? What would you take that to mean instead? Maybe its a British thing, but it means exactly the same thing to me and obviously the OP

I think the point was that the OP had told the customer that there were no more, and then shortly after that, one came out of the kitchen for another customer, who had ordered it before they ran out. Technically, they were not "out of roast dinners", as there was one left, even though it was for another customer. While I didn't see where the customer said it, no doubt they were thinking, "I thought they said they were out! I just saw one come out."

Saying they were "sold out" might have avoided any issues.

Or maybe not. We all know how customers can be.

[AFpheonix]

I don't think any phrasing would have phased him, to be honest.

[powerboy]

Whats wrong with "out of roast dinners"? What would you take that to mean instead? Maybe its a British thing, but it means exactly the same thing to me and obviously the OP

To me, it means, that they are out of the particular item. You could have said, that they were sold out, of the roast