I encountered a light-hearted example of communication failure last weekend while having breakfast at Laurelthirst, where many of the breakfasts are numbered and available in two forms – two-egg scrambles or three-egg omelets – and several options for sides. A couple sat at the next table and the waiter was taking their order:
Woman: “I’d like the #6, please, as a scramble, with a biscuit, and hash browns.”
Man: “I’ll have the same thing, except a #5.”
I understand what he was saying---also a scramble, also with a biscuit, and also with hash browns. Yet to say you want the same thing as the #6, except you want a #5, is like saying, “My wife drives a Malibu. I drive the same car, except it’s a Taurus.” Both may be sedans, both may be automatics, both may have a CD player and power locks and fold-down seating and scores of other similarities --- but they’re not the same car.
I suspect the waiter would side with me on this clarification, as I saw him write “2” next to the #6 order, then scratch it out when he realized that it wasn’t the same thing at all.
Did the gentleman placing the order succeed in simplifying his order? He probably saved a few seconds, so if that’s a measure of success, perhaps. But to me, it still seems like a strange way to order the #5.
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