"This is not a lost art because most people don't do this. This is something that my parents taught me to do. A story I remember shows how little this art of 'asking for what you want' goes. My cousin was spending the weekend with us. She wanted to have dessert following her meal. But because she wouldn't ask if she could have dessert (she was 16 years old and spent many weekends with us since age 8), we left [the restaurant] without getting dessert. My mother and I didn't want dessert, so my dad decided he was not going to buy it. He even asked my cousin if she wanted dessert; she never gave him a real answer. Later, we ate dessert at home because my mom had made homemade chocolate syrup to pour on top of ice cream. My cousin, from that point on, learned that if she wanted dessert, she needed to ask for it!" 

~ Jaclyn in Catonsville Maryland