The international gesture of asking for the bill is out of date – like many things I love about restaurants
Some boys are taught by their fathers how to skim stones or bowl cricket balls. Mine taught me a far more important life skill: how to politely summon the bill in a restaurant from a distance. A hand raised. An eye caught across the dining room. The flourish of an invisible pen, writing a cheque in the air. Job done.
Or at least it was once an important skill. Recently, I raised my hand and scribbled in the air at the delightful twentysomething who had been serving us. And I realised what a ludicrous gesture this now was. Sure, they understood, but God knows how. It’s likely they’ve never written a cheque. We have not yet come up with an internationally recognised gesture for putting your pin number into a card reader, or holding your phone against it. But the cheque-scribbling thing is definitely out of date. This makes me sad. I loved doing the whole invisible cheque-writing thing. It felt suave.
