You never ever say Fräulein. It is disrespectful. 100 years ago it was a normal term to refer to an unmarried woman, but today it is rude, almost insulting. Please don’t use that word, ever. It’s Frau Müller for a woman and Herr Müller for a man, regardless of age and marital status.
If you want the waiter’s attention, make eye contact, and give a nod or a subtle hand gesture. If they are obviously busy then wait.
Here we treat waiters mostly as equals. Imagine it as if an acquaintance or a neighbour was serving you - that’s much closer to how you should treat them.
I was told explicitly not to yell “Fraulein, ich möchte mehr wasser bitte!” across the restaurant during my german class’ essen section.
You never ever say Fräulein. It is disrespectful. 100 years ago it was a normal term to refer to an unmarried woman, but today it is rude, almost insulting. Please don’t use that word, ever. It’s Frau Müller for a woman and Herr Müller for a man, regardless of age and marital status.
If you want the waiter’s attention, make eye contact, and give a nod or a subtle hand gesture. If they are obviously busy then wait.
Here we treat waiters mostly as equals. Imagine it as if an acquaintance or a neighbour was serving you - that’s much closer to how you should treat them.
Frau Müller
And Herr Müller
Got it!
(Images provided by The Society For Hogan’s Heroes Was A Good Show, or the SFHHWAGS for short, copyright Bing Crosby Productions)