“This is the first time I’ve met a woman who doesn’t dish up for other people.”

As much as Japan likes boozing it up, when most people are going out for drinks they don’t head for a bar. That’s because Japan enjoys having some palate-pleasing food along with its buzz-bestowing beverages, and so the most common venue for drinking parties is an izakaya pub or restaurant that also has an extensive array of alcoholic drinks.

The food at Japanese drinking parties is almost always served family style, and because of Japanese society’s emphasis on deferential respect, often a few people at the table will dish up portions for everyone else. If a boss and/or managers are out drinking with the staff, for example, one of the junior employees will usually handle the serving duties. Likewise, it’s common for younger people to dish up for older people, and, stemming from traditional gender roles, it’s not uncommon for women to serve men.

However, these aren’t set-in-stone rules, especially at parties that aren’t work-related. That didn’t stop a guy who Japanese Twitter user @girl_mendoi encountered from thinking she should be happy to fix him a plate, however, but thankfully she had a perfect comeback ready to go.

At a recent drinking party, the communal salad bowl had been placed in front of the man sitting next to @girl_mendoi. Even though he was the closest person to it, he couldn’t believe @girl_mendoi hadn’t sprung into action in his stead. “This is the first time I’ve met a woman who doesn’t dish up for other people,” he told her, but rather than complying with his insulting implied request, @girl_mendoi asked, with masterful surface-level non-confrontational innocence:

“Oh, really? So does Mommy always dish up for you?”

Having just been succinctly called an immature momma’s boy with no experience with women, it was apparently clear that the man was no match for @girl_mendoi in a battle of cutting wit. So how did he respond? By getting up right then and there and going home.

▼ Parting must have been such sweet sweetness.

@girl_mendoi’s tale of verbal victory has won her dozens of “Good job!” comments from applauding Twitter users, who also responded with:

“Now THAT’S a comeback!”
“He probably cried to Mommy when he got home.”
“’I’m telling Mommy!’”

In all fairness, family-style dining in Japan can be a little awkward, as it’s generally considered poor manners to take food for yourself, especially if everyone else at the table hasn’t already gotten a portion of that particular dish. In that sense, it’s similar to how pouring your own beer, wine, or sake is considered a faux pas in Japanese etiquette, and the basic idea of “dish up for other people before stuffing your own face” is, at its core, a conscientious one.

That said, getting up on your high horse about someone else not serving you, especially when the salad bowl is right in front of you, is a pretty rude move. If you’re hungry and hankering for something that’s within arm’s reach, the suave thing to do is to grab the tongs and dish for everyone else right away, then give yourself a portion too, and hopefully that’s a technique Mommy will teach her impatient son.

Source: Twitter/@girl_mendoi via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Pakutaso
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he generally tries to dish up for other people, almost invariably drops food all over the table, and then apologizes to everyone.</em?