u/Careless-Being-4427

Why are people like this?

I worked a double today with a 20 minute break because a couple came in 10 minutes before we close lunch and they were the slowest eaters I’ve ever witnessed. This woman was eating her salad one leaf at a time, I swear. They were an “active” table the entire time we were closed. Servers were showing up for dinner shift and I was still there. The only reason I got a break at all was that my manager saw me about to crash out and told me I could come back for dinner later than usual.

I just cannot, for the life of me, imagine sitting down at an almost empty restaurant 10 minutes before closing time and ordering a 4 course meal. Let alone staying there for two hours past closing time.

Then at dinner, my last table was closed out for a full hour before they left. Just sitting there, chatting, in an empty restaurant with nothing to eat or drink. At one point my SA decided to just stand nearby and stare at them for twenty minutes until they finally left.

I will never understand.

I don’t recall ever hearing this usage before of the word “may.” I’ve heard three different people use it this way in the past month or so and it’s really jarring to me. For context, I work in a restaurant and I’ve specifically heard coworkers use “may you…” leading to asking for a favor. All 3 people are in their 20s.

Two questions: first, is this a familiar usage to you? Do you use it yourself / hear others use it this way?

Second, why is it so jarring? “Can” “could” “would” and even “might” sound ok in place of “may,” and the intent is certainly clear.

I’m just so puzzled. I don’t normally get worked up about language changing and adapting, in fact it’s one of my favorite things. But I’m totally hung up on this “may.”

Had a table of six women at brunch today. They were fine, pretty normal service. They split the check 5 ways, distributing the birthday girl’s tab among them. Each tipped 18%. Fine, normal.

On the back of each credit card slip was two drawings of Hello Kitty.

I repeat: each of them drew Hello Kitty, twice, on the back of their credit card slip.

I wish I’d had the presence of mind to take pictures, I apologize for not doing that.

That’s all.