Does anyone else have this? I always feel anxious when having to order something at a restaurant, or any eating place. McDonald's is one example. It's normally noisy in there, there's never any queue really, just a bunch of people pratically gathered near the order bit, and I've got to keep my eyes peeled for someone to yell, ''can I help?'' Because I'm quite deaf, I've got to really concentrate because people are so impatient in fast food restaurants, whether they're customers or workers, so often if I miss a worker yell, ''can I help?'', other people behind me get snappy with me and tell me to come on, or the worker yells, ''CAN I HELP???'' even louder and I just feel stupid after.
Then when I order, I always get tongue-tied, no matter how much I practice before going in. I always babble, like, ''uh...er....um...ca-can I have a...erm....plain cheese-burger, and....and....um....chips....and a small coke and....and....erm....a mcflurry, please?'' And I don't say it like some people who are indecisive might, I say it in a nervous way, like I'm trying to blurt it all out in a rush rather than take my time asking. I seem to get more nervous when I'm ordering from a woman than I do a man (don't know why). Then they usually ask for the money before they give me my order, and I give them the money, which makes me anxious too because I always forget what it comes too (since I usually slightly alter my order each time), and then after I get my order I forget that I have paid and I stand there waiting to be asked for the money.
Also in other restaurants I get anxious too, like when I go for an Indian meal or a Chinese meal with my family and there's a lot of us around a big table, I hate ordering then. I sit there getting butterflies in my tummy and going all sweaty, and constantly reading out in my mind what I am ordering from the menu, but I still have trouble verbalising it when he asks me for my order (and no, I do not have speech delays otherwise). And I always get embarrassed saying my order, especially when the waiter is standing right at the other end of the table and I've got to kind of shout across. My voice tends to go all funny, and I feel that people like my brother laughs at me. But if I get someone else to order, I then feel I am patronizing myself, and then people like my brother criticises and says, ''haven't you got a tongue in your head?''
Does anyone else have these anxieties when ordering food in restaurants?
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Female