Editorial Note: In April, I took a month off in Medellin. For me, this meant an interesting and diverting month. For you, this means 30 days of posts about my vacation. I’ll try to make them somewhat amusing.
One of the little cultural differences between the U.S. and Colombia has to do with how the waiters in restaurants behave. In the U.S., they’re … proactive. They come by periodically with their “How’s everything? Fine? Good.” checkins, and after the dishes are cleared, the check appears.
It’s not like that here.
Here, the waiters leave you alone until you indicate that you want something. (I’m informed that in some Latin American countries, an unprompted presentation of the check is considered almost unforgivably brusque.) This is fine, but may cause two problems if you’re not prepared for it:
First, if you do want something, you’ll be waiting a very long time for it if you don’t get your waiter’s attention. Want another drink? To see the dessert menu? The check? Well, they’re not going to appear on their own, and no one’s going to ask you if you need anything. This isn’t rudeness, it’s just a different notion of politeness.
Second, if you look around the restaurant, and you see a waiter looking in your direction (and for obvious reasons, they’re always keeping an eye on the diners), you might feel an impulse to make eye contact and acknowledge him. This will likely be interpreted as an indication that you want something … if you don’t, this can be awkward.
