Restaurant Rant No. 3: empty glasses

In pubs, cafes, and restaurants, I am learning to grab my glass/cup any time a waitperson comes near my table. They might think my cup/glass is empty, but that's just an illusion: there's usually at least one if not two sips left. And I had been husbanding (wifing?) that liquid and savoring its slow demise, so I was really looking forward to the last bit to drink down. Until some waiter/ess snatches the thing off the table without warning. At least they could ask if I was finished.

My glass on left, with two sips left

Last week, I even had a plate cleared while my fork was in my hand and there was a tiny scrap of food left to eat. Of course, I belong to the clean plate club, being raised to think that if I ate all my food, nobody would starve in China. So it's understandable that a waitperson might have thought I'd finished when most everybody else leaves food on their plate. Still, it's nice to be asked, and Never Never should dishes be cleared when food is still being chewed or cutlery is still in hand (even being waved around in gesticulation).

The English have an elegant way to signal when an eater is finished. Place your knife and fork together at 6 o'clock vertically on the plate. Whether there is food left or not, this means you're done eating. Now it's just a matter of teaching all our foreign EU wait staff to watch for that signal...