> Do you think the way you order food at a restaurant says something about your personality? Can it tell you at least a little bit about someone if food is ordered with "I'd like . . . " or "I'll have . . . " or "Bring me . . . " or "Could I get . . . "? Because I think so. I don't know quite what it would say, though. I try to say "I'd like" because it sounds more polite and less demanding. My sister, on the other hand, always orders with "I'll have", which sounds a bit to me like she's commanding the waitress around. Any thoughts?

The main thing it occurs to me to say is the difference between asking for something and instructing the staff to bring you something.

The first implicitly puts the waiter in authority by giving them the (at least theoretical) ability to say "No, you can't have that". Things like "I'll have..." or "I'd like..." imply that the customer has authority. You are right that this form is ordering the waiter around, but I don't personally see this as being overly rude; after all these people are here to serve the customer. "Bring me..." is perhaps a lttle imperious, though.

I don't suggest that either of these approaches is in any way better, but having just been posting on the vaguaries of authority, it occured to me that it aslo applies here.

winter"I can't remember how I tend to order, but I do make a point of thanking the staff, if the service is better than atrocious"mute