I like eating out, especially with my friends. There was this day my friends and I went to a restaurant for lunch, we had great but funny time. This happened a few years back while we were travelling in the United States. We had a rental van and had been on the road a number of hours on this particular day when we decided to stop for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Once we were seated, one of the waiters came over to our table to take our orders for soft drinks (or soda, as the Americans would call it). One of my friends, Seyi, ordered Mountain Dew. The waiter asked in his funny Chinese accent, “Moun dew?” to which Seyi replied, ”No.” Though they were saying the same thing, the waiter’s accent was really funny and strange. Seyi didn’t understand what the gentleman was saying, and he did not understand her either. Seyi eventually gave up and said, “I want Fanta, abi Coke, mineral, abi softdrinks or what do they call it?” Elaine, who was also on the table, helped her out and said “soda”.The waiter said, “Right, I’ll go get you a soda”. He came back with a Sprite but Seyi, who wanted Mountain Dew, was too frustrated with trying to explain to the man and just took the drink.

Now, here’s the point I’m trying to make. Unlike most waiters and waitresses in Nigeria, this waiter had a great attitude. Many of his peers in Nigeria under the same circumstances would have been upset at Seyi. Not this waiter. He recognised and lived out the popular saying that, “The customer is king!”  The avarage waiter or waitress in Nigeria finds it so very difficult to behave nicely to customers. They usually are so unfriendly that one is tempted to think that an unfriendly disposition is almost a must-have for them to qualify for employment.  Many times, I wonder if theseThe way many of them carry on, you would never believe they applied for those jobs themselves.

One other thing. Eateries in Nigeria generally need to look into the state of cleanliness of their restrooms (toilets). The odour from the average restroom in a Nigerian eatery is so shocking it can actually throw you off-balance if you walk gingerly into a restroom unprepared for the kind of stench that assaults your nostrils! Not to talk of the water-logged floors with strips of toilet paper all over most of these floors.

Well, here’s hoping that the days are not far away when it will be commonplace to walk into a restaurant in Nigeria and routinely find hospitable staff, good and clean surroundings, such that after your meal or snacks, you are not in a hurry to leave. Such is the warmth, the welcome, the hospitality.  I love places like that.

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