Dining out with me is an experience. Because when I go to a restaurant, I go with a game plan: to enjoy the most delicious meal it offers, hopefully at the lowest price. Once presented with a menu, I cannot engage in conversation until I make my choice, because I’m too distracted by the options in front of me. Some people are daunted by five- or six-page menus; I view them as a challenge. If I know ahead of time where I’ll be dining that evening, I look up the menu online for a head start and then ruminate on it all day. I ask servers for their opinions. I search for coupons. I calculate in my head whether the $15 chicken dish is really a better deal than the $20 seafood one, taking into account the fact that I make chicken at home all the time but I can’t easily re-create almond-encrusted halibut in my own kitchen.
I ask and listen to what others are ordering so I can weigh my choice against theirs. On more than one occasion, I’ve tracked down a server to change my order. And if my meal doesn’t live up to the high, high standards I’ve set for it, I think of it not just as a misstep by the chef, but as a personal failure: I didn’t order correctly. I should’ve gotten the halibut. I can think of one person I might compare my restaurant behavior to: Sally from When Harry Met Sally. She tailored every order; she added things, held things, and got things on the side. Like I am, Sally was a restaurant maximizer.
Maximizers and Satisficers
In the 1950s, a psychologist named Herbert Simon started taking a closer look at the way people make choices. The prevailing theory, espoused in economic models, was that people are rational decision makers. Like diners at a buffet, they examine all options before them, assess the costs and benefits of those options, and make a rational selection that maximizes value. Simon, however, thought this theory was flawed; it didn’t take into account the fact that—sorry to say, folks—human rationality is limited. It’s not possible to know everything about every option or to evaluate every possible outcome.
