Addendum.

When I cashed out the bill for the table next to them on the patio -- the only free tables were on the patio, people usually don't eat out there super-late, but one or two did then because it was so busy inside because of graduation -- I asked the (college-aged) (Asian-American) girl if she had heard what was going on at that "tea service" table.

And, she seemed non-plussed, and was like, "Well, at least you now have that story."

I also texted that incident the next day to my one (half Thai) professor friend, and it set her off, since tea at a (Thai) restaurant really just is a cup of tea with a teabag, she said, not some big elaborate colonial production like you'd get at (Chinese) restaurant that's trying to please the (British). Like, she just automatically hated those people, for their cluelessness and their entitlement.

As for me, I'm increasingly recognizing that it's a really bad sign when someone tries to order something without even looking at the menu, since it's like they have something in their head and want it without seeing if it corresponds to anything that we can offer them, but they also don't necessarily also have the basic ability to describe whatever little f*cked-up demand thing is lodged in their heads and they're envisioning.

("A tea service.")

When someone sets off down that path in the future -- like asking for a pot of tea and we don't have pots of tea -- I'm going to have to stop right away and describe what we do have and what I will bring out to them if they order it, so I don't get trapped in that stupid f*cking off-menu loop where people want us to bend over backwards for what is essentially a labor-intensive demand that they pay like five bucks for, in some stupid little them-up-there-and-us-down-there bossgame that they have going on in their head ("We want...", with the royal "we"!), where they want to waltz in and push people around while paying no money for essentially bullsh*t.

I also also realized that in these types of situation, that my eldercare personnel training kicks in and I tend to automatically engage with such customers like early-stage dementia patients, where I speak in short declarative sentences establishing the situation and then asking them for a delimited next-step response ("I don't know what a tea service is. Can you please tell me what you specifically need?").

Like, these types of people are so stuck-up, that they probably sense that they're being treated like a dementia patient, and that doesn't help anything at all.