I was in a restaurant the other day. It wasn\u2019t one of those silver diners I grew up with, the kind with a long row of stools on one side, a line of booths on the other and a tray of Rolaids, not mints, next to the toothpicks near the cash register. This one just had tables, no counter. A sign by the door said, \u201cPlease wait to be seated.\u201d It might as well have said, \u201cStop right there; we\u2019ll decide if, and where you\u2019ll sit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, no one was in sight, so I stood there like a dope, doing as the stop sign instructed. Eventually, a sleepy, 20-something hostess staggered over with a pile of menus under her arm. It looked like she\u2019d had a rough night. But, my analysis was off the mark, as it often is. She didn\u2019t have a rough night; she looked a little ragged because she had to get up early. NOON! As she explained after telling me I could sit anywhere.<\/p>\n
That got my \u201cold-coot-tell-them-how-to-run-their-business mouth wagging. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you write, seat yourself, on the other side of the sign and turn it around when people can pick their own seat?\u201d She didn\u2019t know. Or care. Why should she? Not working for ten dollars an hour on a job where she has to get up at the \u201ccrack of dawn\u201d.<\/p>\n
Things didn\u2019t get any better when another, 20-something employee, came to my \u201cself-selected\u201d table to take the order. He looked a little sleepy too, but he was able to get the \u201cpiece-meal\u201d ordering process going. Which is one of the reasons I don\u2019t really like dining in a \u201ctable\u201d restaurant. They make you order in stages, starting with a beverage. When the waiter brought my ice tea he pulled out his order pad and said,<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat can I start you with? Appetizers? Soup? Salad?\u201d Start? I don\u2019t want to start. I want one stop shopping. \u201cNone of that start stuff,\u201d I said, and got the first of several eye rolls. \u201cI want it all at once: soup, salad, burger and desert. And don\u2019t bother telling me what the special is, how it\u2019s prepared and the ingredients in the special sauce the chef drizzles over it.\u201d I don\u2019t like to eat in sequence. I want the salad and appetizer right there next to the soup and entr\u00e9e. A little salad, a sip of soup, a nibble of shrimp cocktail and a bite from the entr\u00e9e plate. All four items, taking their turn, like wrestlers in a tag team match.<\/p>\n
This is starting to sound a little too cranky. Even to me. I need to go on record; I\u2019m not cranky in restaurants. Pretty pleasant, if I have to say so myself. It\u2019s just my analysis of the restaurant process that makes me sound that way. If you like sitting at a table and going through the process, good for you. You\u2019ll see me at the bar, like I do when I go to the Cellar Restaurant, a beverage, salad, appetizer and the entr\u00e9e right there in front of me. No waitress has to suffer my presence. Just the bartender, but I\u2019m a big tipper. I sometimes even leave a whole dollar (when I don\u2019t have any change). He\u2019s got nothing to complain about. But, he never says, \u201cCome again soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Send you comments, complaints to mlessler7@gmail.com.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was in a restaurant the other day. It wasn\u2019t one of those silver diners I grew up with, the kind with a long row…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n