I spent all of last december plus the beginning of january in Roseville, CA (greater Sacramento area) and i had seen my share of american retail clerks and waiters.

Initially i was really surprised by the tone of the retail clerks. Walking into a grocery store and being greeted by a clerk with the words "Hello, how are you doing today" really confused me. I later found it amusing, how the clerks generally got confused if i actually replied with something meaningful and then asked them how they were doing. Hehe, i actually got two or three of them stunned and staring at me, as if i was from another planet.

The waiters however bothered me more then retail clerks did. In california, as you walk into a restaurant, a waiter usually intercepts you, makes an introduction and tells you that they have a table for you and that they will take you to the table. Then they take you to the table. After you sit down, they tell you that they will be your waiter and that if you need anything, you should call them. They tell you that they will bring the menus. They walk away and come back bringing the menus. Heh, this is really ridiculous. As they bring the menus, they tell you that they will walk away for a minute, give you time to decide and then come back. And it goes on and on like this thruought the meal, they keep coming back to the table, asking if you need stuff, or they just stop by and ask if you are OK.

I could hardly believe it the first time it happened to me, i remember, it was at a Red Robin, and after the experience i really gave it a lot of thought.And yers, i figured it out. Heh, the next time i went there i astonished the waitress by telling her that she’ll get her tip if she just leaves me a-fucking-lone. Anyway, for somebody from Slovenia all of that is just too much. I mean we’re not used to being bothered by waiters and clerks.

I must say however, that i really admired the acting. These people sounded as if waiting my table was the greatest thing they could be doing and as if they were really happy about doing it.

Well, as an epilogue, the day i came back from CA, i walked into a Dan in Noc convenience store in Ljubljana, to buy some cigarettes. The clerk looked at me from the other side of the counter, clearly bothered by the fact that i was standing there, being a customer. She said "What". I simply the named a brand of cigarettes. She pulled a pack from under the counter and literally threw it at me. She didn’t bother telling me what i had to pay, she just assumed i knew what they costed. I did, of course. I gave her the money, and before walking away i said bye. She didn’t say anything back. It made me feel like home and i smiled.