One of my personal pet peeves is the arrival of the waiter halfway through to ask "how are things here." It's just a pointless ritual, and annoys the crap out of me. I rarely have complaints, or additional requests, and I'll catch their eye if I do.

So this ritual isn't there to annoy you. Sorry that it does. Waiters do because it saves the restaurant money and because not doing so can cost them money.

Huh? How so?

Let me explain. My apologies in advance if you already know this. Checking on your table is called a food check and usually happens a few minutes after your food is delivered. It's to make sure you got everything your ordered, the meat is cooked to your liking, all you sides are there, the stuff you are allergic to isn't on there, etc...

Why?

Here's two example scenarios:

1. The wait staff does a food check and finds a problem which they can fix. If they did not fix it, odds are you won't come back. If you don't come back, the restaurant loses future revenue plus gets bad word of mouth that further reduces revenue. An unfixed problem meal means lower waiter tips too.

2. The waiter doesn't do a food check. Unscrupulous guests will eat almost all their meal and then complain to the manager. The manager often will give the meal away. Because the waiter didn't do a food check, some restaurants will take the cost of the meal out of the waiter's tips.

There's a even worst scenario with food allergies and lack of food checks where people can go the hospital. Hopefully it now makes sense why the ritual is there.

I kind of understand that, and its specifically that its a "ritual" that annoys me. I find I appreciate wait staff who keep it to a minimum.

Having lived in countries where they never do this proactively I can tell you be careful what you wish for.