to have pointed out a spelling mistake in a menu?

[freckledleopard]

First off, I really don't think I was being unreasonable, but would like others' opinions please.

I went for drinks last night in a cafe I'd not been to before. The various food options were written on a blackboard above the tills. One of the options described sausages and "gravey". I didn't say anything initially - ordered my drink, thanked the server and went to my seat. Later in the evening, when ordering again, whilst waiting for my wine, I spoke to the same assistant and said, with a bit of a smile, "Sorry, I just wanted to point out that "gravy" is not spelled with an "e" in it". I smiled again to reiterate I was being friendly and added, "I just notice these things!" (which is true. I'm a lawyer and a pedant.)

The woman's demeanour immediately changed at this point. She said "well, I didn't write it, but I'll be sure to tell my dyslexic colleague that she spelled it wrong" (she really did emphasise the word dyslexic). Again, I smiled (awkwardly now) and repeated that I had a job that made me notice spelling errors. Again, she repeated that she would be sure to tell her "dyslexic colleague that she couldn't spell 'gravy'".

I paid for my drink and walked away blushing, feeling really pissed off. Frankly, if you're going to have a dyslexic colleague write the menus, surely it would be common sense to double check the spelling? Further, I always point out spelling and grammar mistakes on public signs and leaflets (and have been known to tweet companies whose packaging contains errors) so that the relevant people can correct them.

I'm still pissed off today (and yes, I appreciate it's a first world problem). But AIBU to think the assistant was rude, abrupt and should perhaps have graciously accepted what I said, maybe made a joke of it, rather than having a go at me?

NigellasDealer - I just laughed out loud at, 'annoy passing pedants'.

Right as an ex cafe/restaurant owner.

Completely fine to point out mistakes on menu. But to be really helpful, email/twitter/facebook is best so that the owner sees it.

If it is the blackboard, well, hey, its all up for grabs in my opinion.

Once one of my best waitresses spelt trifle 'triffle' on the blackboard and A board. It became a bit of a ' thing', and all my customers asked for triffle.

Just depends on the relationship you have with your customers.

But if any of my waitresses had tried to make my customers feel uncomfortable about pointing it out, I would have had their asses.

fucking fantastic.

Luckily I lived above the establishment and swept in like an avenging, yet, charming fury.

.

I don't blame you for being cheesed off with the rude assistant she should have be grateful to you for pointing out the spelling mistakes.It sounds like she not only has chips on the menu but on her shoulder also.

Is this thread a wind up?

You are wrong. waitress should not have been grateful. The owner should, or the manager in charge that night.

However, she should not have been so bloody rude. Sacking offence in my book.

People have quoted me but not used my name so I cannot be 100% sure that they have aimed their replies at me.

If they have, my reasons for saying the waitress should have apologised for the error written on the menu board is;
It's a cafe. She works in hospitality/customer service and the organisation she works for have made a mistake that her customer has noticed. Therefore it is polite and in her own interests to say 'Yes sorry, that's a mistake I'll have it corrected'. It doesn't mean she is personally in the wrong, it means the establishment she works for have made an error that the customer has encountered, that has affected the customer service of that establishment. I have worked in customer service myself, in restaurants, in retail, if a customer is dissatisfied,whether it is actually personally my fault or not, I will apologise on behalf of that business. It's what you do.

Errors in spelling in any customer service environment annoy me and give me reasons to mistrust-if they do not care enough to ensure that their menu is accurate and spelt correctly then I do not trust that they care enough about their customers-they are assuming detail does not matter. If that is wrong of me to some people then so be it-to me it matters.
I do agree that the OP's occupation is irrelevant-she could be unemployed, a student, a solicitor or a chauffeur, whatever-I work in an industry that does not even require GCSEs. No matter-I'm a customer and I feel It's poor service for a customer service environment to have misspelt menus, it puts people off,makes the environment look unprofessional and uncaring. It might be that people do not know how to spell but they can check. I'm poor at Mathematics, but I use a calculator, I ask people to confirm if I have to do a sum, so that I know that I have it correct. Telling the customer that someone is dyslexic has no bearing on the customer pointing out that the menu has an error on it, it should have been checked.

You see, now you are just being annoying.

Yes it would be great if everyone spelt things perfectly.

It is fallacious to assume that an occasional mispelling means everyone is spitting in your food and cutting mould off your fish.

don't be silly.

I don't agree it's fallacious. Obviously one mistake doesn't automatically equate to poor food and service. However, if one uses a website analogy, I'd order from a website with all its text correctly spelled, instead of one with spelling mistakes. The first inspires confidence, the second suggests a shoddy or inept attitude.

Interesting.... is it just me or is there a trend in responses here?

Those who work with language professionally, as editors, university teachers, linguists etc. and who might be expected to be the most sensitive to errors are actually highly aware of how sensitive 'correcting' mistakes can be and advise against doing it.

absolutely, struggling, as an English Language teacher, (and now a proofreader/editor) I can be v pedantic but know how undermining it can be. In an English lesson for example, you do not correct every error/mistake if you want to build fluency and confidence, and even if you do some kind of correction exercise then peer marking is a more tactful move.
just 'pointing out mistakes' is not helpful.

I can't abide errors like this. To my mind, there is no excuse for misspelling a simple, everyday word. It's sloppy and lazy. Not pedantic at all to expect better.

Nigellas - I'm in the polar opposite camp to you. I loathed it when DD would bring back homework or stories she'd written where the spelling and grammar wasn't corrected. I'm of the view that there's no point in fluency if what's being written isn't accurate.

oh well school teaching is a bit different from English language teaching - what used to be known as 'TEFL' where if you corrected every error then nobody would ever speak.

freckled

When they are little and first learning to write the key is to give them the joy and confidence to do so. That can be lost if there's a gazillion green pen marks all over it. Dds teacher told me that if it made phonetic sense they wouldn't always correct it as they would learn how to spell it but learning to actually write and enjoy it overrode the spelling at first.

I agree with OP!
I also notice these things.

I think that anything that reflects on a business, like sloppy spelling mistakes, really would put me off that business. Sloppy in how they fron their business, sloppy in how they serve the customer.

OP what did your friends make of it all at the time?

I was only there with one friend, who was sitting at the table whilst I got the drinks. I didn't mention it to my friend.

There's such a lot of ignorance on this thread, regarding all manner of things- the history of spelling, how people process the written word and how a dyslexic people seem to be "lazy"

There's no point in trying to discuss these issues with people who have such little knowledge of the facts.

On honeymoon in the West of Ireland, many years ago, my Mum and Dad went for lunch. The sign outside said "tick soup". My Dad asked if there were real ticks in the soup…..it didn't go down well.

OH! Oh righto, then this puts a new complexion on things for me.

In the scenario in my head, I've assumed you're sitting at the table with several (Toast mohair and Whistles jacquard bedecked lawyer-type) chums all having a merry old time and the waitress is standing at your table. Your 'helpful' comment has the audience of the assembled group who are all staring at her expectantly as she struggles to retort.

For me, this is a VERY DIFFERENT circumstance to you standing alone at the bar/tills, almost absentmindedly musing to the assistant, with no-one else in earshot, and is actually less worthy of the outrage you've copped on this thread.

This is entirely my misunderstanding, as now on reading your OP the correct scenario while not exactly obvious, is more clear. I've made an ass out of me.

Nigellas - agreed! I'm a professional writer who used to be a professional editor, so it was my job to correct other people's mistakes. I've learned through the years that you cannot possibly employ too much tact in the way that you do this. Writing - even workaday writing- is an intensely personal thing. It's someone's 'voice'. Criticising it (even when you have been asked and paid to do so, as I used to be) is like criticising someone's appearance. You have to be ever so careful. In all my years, I've met only three or four authors who really enjoyed being edited!! I certainly don't, though I do recognise that it is a tremendously helpful process nonetheless . It is like sprouts - unpleasant, but good for you!

I think there's also a very intense attention on here to errors of spelling and basic punctuation, as if they are some heinous cultural crime that is destroying the English language, one misplaced apostrophe at a time. I find this quite odd. A rather cynical part of me wonders if people feel affirmed by the fact that they have noticed the error, as if their attention to it is some hallmark of their superior education and intelligence. I have never felt that my ability to spot someone else's mistake made me more knowledgeable or better than them, or was a sign of the person's lack of intellect. In fact, I've seen howling errors by some of the brightest academics in the country. Does that make them stupid or call their research into question? Of course not!!

In fact, when editing, errors of spelling and grammar were the least of my worries, because they are very easy to correct, and rarely interfere with the writer's basic ability to communicate. Poor syntax is a much greater 'enemy' in my view, because it can lead to real misunderstanding and lack of clarity, which can have disastrous consequences - think about a poorly worded medical guidance document, and the legal cases that can result. The times when I have sat, head in hands, worrying away at a document for hours have all been over syntax, never punctuation or spelling.

And, of course, some of the greatest writers are those who have made up words, and been creative with spelling and punctuation!!

Well done! You can spell gravy correctly. Next step, work on your social skills.

She didn't tell the owner, though. Someone upthread suggested that might have been a politer/more appropriate response. Which it would.