Having a meal at a restaurant is one of life's best pleasures as the pros cook food you would never have at home, all served right to your table.
But often customers feel inclined to put in certain requests - and one chef has revealed what the experts can't stand to hear. While they may seem harmless, asking for a dish to be prepared a different way or requesting something they don't offer can be deemed as offensive to cooks who craft the menu.
According to TV chef Joe Hurd from Lifetime's Chef Academy, there is one inquiry that makes his "heart sink" and it usually occurs right before closing at 10pm. Speaking to The Mirror, he explained how asking for a late night table is the last thing kitchen staff want - but he will still always accommodate the request.
He said: "Usually at this point in the evening service, we tend to be breaking down our sections, turning off grills, wrapping, labelling, and cleaning. Something as simple to the customer as a post-theatre steak can mean turning a whole cleaned-down kitchen around and prolonging a shift by a couple of hours.
"Of course, we will do it for you, but it does make your heart sink."
Another question that Joe finds particularly "demoralising" is when customers ask for ketchup or mayonnaise to drown their dish with. "I am all for condiments and sauces, and to a degree, I think all restaurants should keep these handy," he added.
"However, it's so demoralising to see your hard work drowned in a commercially-produced household product."
Another comment that irks the expert is "can I have this cooked a bit more please?" He explained: "I'd always like to think that we cook meat, fish, vegetables, etc to a high exacting standard, and how it arrives on the customer's plate is how we would cook it for ourselves."
"It's usually no problem to get something cooked a bit more, but it's never going to go down well with a chef."
And when it comes to asking a chef to make something that's not on the menu, it's probably not a good idea either. "There is this bizarre kind of assumption that if a restaurant is good, it should be able to make you anything," he added.
"As chefs, we plan and order to meet our very exacting/tight gross profit margins. It's not usual to keep extra ingredients that aren’t part of a menu, of course, and I think kitchens should always try and accommodate if possible.
"When I worked at Little Sardegna, we never had carbonara on the menu but if someone asked for it, we could probably make it. If they asked for pad thai or paella then that would be a different story," he said.
This comes after a top hairdresser shared the "wince-inducing" comments their clients make that they wish they would avoid. He told how he never wants a client to say "we can always change it back" at hair appointments, ahead of making a change.
"This is a phrase clients say often that makes me wince," he admitted. "You should never go in with this as your starting idea or as a caveat. If you're unsure, maybe it's the right colour but certainly the wrong time."
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