A We Story

The other day, I was in Magianno’s for lunch. It’s a chain of restaurants in about half of the lower 48. When the waitress arrived at my table, I asked what the specials were. She replied, in part, with: “Today I have … and I have … and I have ….” Then I asked where the men’s room was. Her reply: “My restrooms are upstairs and to the left.”

This gets me to the kernel of all this: what’s with this use of the first person (either singular or plural) by waiters at restaurants? With this waitress, she implied she was an owner/manager/chef. Then there is the use of “we.” It’s pretty common to go somewhere and have a waiter ask:

“How are we doing?”
“What do we want to drink?”
“Are we ready to order?”
“What are we having?

Should I invite the person to sit with us to be part of the group? Should I say something like: “I don’t know about you, but we are having … ?” How about: “What’s this ‘we” crap?”