Grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, red onions. To me, it's a delicious combination of toppings on a pizza. I've ordered this pizza a handful of times from a few different places.

Once, the person taking my order apologized, "Red onions? Sorry. We don't have those; we only have the purple kind."

In transactions like these, each side has a need. The person working for the restaurant needs to take the order properly so it can be entered into the kitchen queue. The patron needs to communicate the elements of the order so he can eat what he wants to eat.

While one can learn many lessons at a restaurant, it is not a classroom. The customers are there to eat, not to educate, and certainly not to condescend.

After half a beat, I replied, "Then the purple kind, please. That'll be great. Thank you."