Is it "douche-y" to say gracias to the server at a Mexican restaurant?

[NightWatcher]

I was just at the local yummy-spot drinking 2 fer 1's Dos Equis (woohoo) and eating my fav, the number 12 combo (a chili relleno, burrito and enchilada) and the tools at the booth next to me kep asking for things just so they could tell the cute little Seniorita "gracias". It struck me as a very petty, douche-y thing to do. They knew no other Spanish (else they would have been pissed at what she was saying about them to the other server).

So, is it douche-y to say "gracias" if that's all the Spanish that you speak?



PS. Is the number 12 combo a chili relleno, burrito, and enchilada at every Mexican restaurant? I'm beginning to think so.

[moriah]

1. Once, maybe not. Multiple times, especially if it's....

... dropping their fork so they can say "graci-ass" when the cute Seniorita bends over to pick it up, definitely.

[Deja Q]

2. Somebody with a graci-ass needs to take a bath with a big loofah sponge

[NightWatcher]

4. hey, that's my loofah

[OmahaBlueDog]

3. 1. Not if you can capably order in Spanish

2. Not if the little senorita is "cute" -- that falls under the "all's fair in Love" rules of land warfare

[Dramarama]

7. Hey, do you have a larger version of your sig?

[OmahaBlueDog]

9. Try this

The print is "Change" by Andy Thomas

www.andythomas.com and many fine art stores on the internet and elsewhere

[Dramarama]

13. Thanks a bunch!

[Dramarama]

5. And they say

"sure thing sweetie"
You can say muchismas gracias so you don't sound douchistical

[NightWatcher]

6. de nada

[KitchenWitch]

8. Si, si, señor.

[NightWatcher]

10. "uno mas cerveza, por favor" & "donde es el bano"

the extent of my Spanish. It served me well in Cozumel

[KitchenWitch]

12. Two very useful phrases.

In fact, I dare to say, you would not want "uno mas cerveza, por favor" without knowing how to say "¿Donde esta el baño?"

[Danger Mouse]

11. Only if you're Radio Lady.

[ceile]

33. ouch.

:rofl:

[mentalsolstice]

14. Here in the deep south

it's not douchy at all! It just sets up a relationship where you are open to practice/grow your Spanish language skills, and they are comfortable practicing their ESL skills with you.

We have good friends here who always ask us "how are you" in English, and we always reply in Spanish, after that the conversation evolves into Spanglish. No douchery involved, just a two-way-street for practicing language skills.

[Art_from_Ark]

15. It's not "douche-y"

as long as you don't pronounce it "grassy-ass"

[blogslut]

16. It's only douche-y

When it's said in a douche-y way. Sounds like those fellows were being asses.

[Richardo]

17. Dos Equis Amber? or Lager?

Me gusta mucho the Amber :9

As to the 'gracias' question, it's not douche-y to say Gracias if that's all you know, it IS douche-y to keep calling a server over just to cater to your whims.

[BikeWriter]

18. So, what sort of tip did they leave?

I'm a big dumb gringo and NEVER reveal I grok some Spanish expletives. I politely tip 5 bucks more than I should, and tell them the food was superb. When I come in my Margarita is usually waiting for me at my table.

[BikeWriter]

19. I jumped an asshat's butt at a Mexican spot in Colorado...

He was telling the waitress she spoke very poor English. She tried to explain she was Greek, married to a soldier, and he was in Vietnam. I leaned over and whispered in ass hat's ear and told him I was a close friend of her husband's and I'd shove my fist down his throat and rip his nuts out if he fucked with her again. He tipped her rather well when he left.

[cherish44]

20. Well in the scenario you described it was douchey

but it isn't always.

[DarkTirade]

21. No more than saying xie-xie at a chinese restaurant, I s'pose.

:shrug:

[geardaddy]

23. Bu ke qi

:D

bú kè qì

[DarkTirade]

29. ... gesuntite?

:P

[geardaddy]

31. lol

:P

[NewJeffCT]

27. I've usually found

that Chinese are happy when somebody tries to speak Chinese to them. Of course, if the server in a Chinese restaurant isn't Chinese, that's another story.

[DarkTirade]

30. Well, my sis-in-law speaks fluent Vietnamese and decent Japanese

so if I'm out with my brother's family, we've got a good portion of middle asian languages covered.

Actually I only know about 5 words in Chinese. And only 4 of them are things I'd say in public. :P I'd have to invite my half-sister who lives on the other side of the country along to get decent Mandarin. She isn't fluent, but she learned enough to get by.

[jmowreader]

22. If you have to know only one Spanish word...

"gracias" is much better than "chocho."

[redqueen]

24. No.

It's douchey to act like they were acting... but saying gracias is not douchey, even if you know no other Spanish. IMO.

[Fran Kubelik]

25. If it is, I am in trouble.

At the hole in the wall where I get burritos, the guys who cook the food don't speak English. I always shoot them a smile and a "gracias" after the guy at the counter hands me my food. :shrug:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. If I were in a Japanese restaurant, I would speak to the server in Japanese...

but it may be one of the many Japanese restaurants in the U.S. that is actually run by Koreans or Taiwanese, so if I got a blank look in return, I'd speak English.

If you speak Spanish well and you know that the server is FROM Mexico, as opposed to 4th-generation Latino who maybe speaks less Spanish than you do, by all means speak Spanish.

But to just just use gracias over and over does sound dorky. It reminds me of the people in Japan who think they're so clever because they've walked up to me and said the first sentence from their junior high school English textbook. (For a long time, it was
"This is a pen," or, as pronounced by a Japanese person who has forgotten everything but that sentence: "Jee-shee-za-pen.")

[KamaAina]

28. It's not douchey to say "gracias"

it is douchey to keep bugging the server. Methinks the douches were after more than just improving their conversational español, if you receive my drift.

edit: spelling

re-edit: copied tilde from KW; plus, it is extremely douchey to assume that the Spanish-speaker will actually be impressed by your saying "gracias." Besides, "mucha gracia" is more idiomatic, anyway. :P

[jobycom]

32. Depends on the person and how it's used (this is the standard answer to everything).

Some people make it sound condescending, some clueless, and some like a genuine demonstration of respect. Sometimes it depends on whether the server speaks English, too. If they are speaking unaccented or barely accented English, it strikes me as an insult. If they speak no English or little English, it seems like a respectful attempt to communicate.

[Mollis]

34. Usually, unless you know them.

My family frequently goes to a local Mexican restaurant...like 2 times a week at least. We know them by name, they know us by name. I'm pretty sure they don't mind when my family says it.

But by your description of what they were doing...then yes. Very douche-y.

[WildEyedLiberal]

35. It's douchey to harass the waitstaff

Which is what it sounds like was going on here.