The check

Today, for about what feels like the one-hundredth time, I accidently walked out of a cafe yet again without paying. I had just gotten out the door and started walking toward the metro stop when I realized. I let out a gasp that was followed by me frantically turning around and running back into the café. A worker who did not even seem to notice greeted me, and I then paid for my coffee, and returned to the metro stop. This is a situation that has happened to me more times than I would like to admit and, although I always realize and return to the café/restaurant to pay for what I consumed very shortly after I walk out, it brings a cultural difference between the United States and Spain to the surface. That cultural difference is the service. In the United States, the waiters in café’s, restaurants, etc. greet you and seat you right when you walk in, they usually bring you water right away and ask if you would like anything else to drink, and then when they bring you those drinks, they take your order, and then bring you your food as soon as they can. In addition to this, as you are eating your food, they check in with you usually 1 to 3 times asking how you are doing and if you need/would like anything else. They then bring you your check when you appear to be finished eating. In Spain, the service is very different. Usually I have to approach a waiter in the restaurants and ask them where I should sit, and usually it takes them a long time to come up to me and ask me what I would like to drink/eat. They then do not bring the check to you automatically, but instead, they wait until you ask them for it. This difference has taken a lot of getting used to, and at first it was frustrating to just want to order my food, or to just want to order the check, and have to wait until I can get someone’s attention. Apparently, I am still not used to it completely after all this time, because I still leave café’s without paying by accident because nobody bothers me for the check! I believe that this ties back into the food culture in Spain and the pace of life of Spain. In Spain, people, in general, are not in as much of a rush as people in America, and they take their time to complete most of their tasks, including eating. They also place a lot of importance on food, and they consider meals more than just times to eat, but instead times to socialize with other people and enjoy the company of others.