Whenever foreigners go out to eat in Hungary, it's almost guaranteed that at some stage the topic will turn to what is widely seen as a woeful lack of restaurant service culture in this country. Indeed, so bad is the situation that you often hear Hungarians grousing about how slow and surly Hungarian pincérek are compared to their colleagues out west. So what a surprise to finally discover that it's actually foreigners who are responsible for the problem, at least partly. No, really.

Earlier today Caboodle.hu published a brief story about a shortage of qualified waiters and cooks in Hungary due to surging demand from abroad. Apparently, many young "catering" professionals are being offered jobs in places like England and Ireland even before they finish their studies.

While we won't dispute that this out-migration may be taking place, and may be putting a burden on domestic restaurateurs looking for high-quality staff, it still strikes us as a pretty weak excuse for the local lack of friendly and competent waiters. Remember, 99% of the super-cheerful and energetic servers you will find in a place like New York have never set foot in a "catering" college, and generally are just aspiring actors, or otherwise "non-professional" waiters who have somehow figured out how to act like professionals. In short, behind every waiter who doesn't care about the patrons he or she is serving is a restaurant manager or owner who doesn't care, either.

Meanwhile, like all pieces of bad news, this one does have a bright side, as it suggests that there are plenty of gracious and efficient, English-speaking Hungarian waiters out there. It's just that you may have to go eat in London or Dublin to get a chance to be served by them.