[lbo-talk] On a Social History of the Restaurant

[Wojtek S]

James: "In the USSR, though communal eating was favoured, it was said
that waiters in restaurants were famously rude, feeling that their
servile status was a throwback to the days of privilege."

[WS:]  This was true of virtually all service workers, not just
waiters.  My own take on it is that services had a very low status
(and wages) in socialist economies, so the workers compensated that by
going on power trips with customers.

Wojtek