culture: table for one
I admit that I’ve felt like this more than few times when I go out to eat alone. Many restaurants are fine with it, some are politely snippy, while a few are downright mean replete with awkward pauses, eye rolls and sighs…
Thankfully, I go places now that welcome me as a regular (or a burgeoning regular) and are happy to let me sit wherever I choose, bar or a table, but still not a booth. “Those are reserved for larger parties.” Which would be fine, except I only ask when a place is near empty and not busy. Then again, in the places that aren’t so friendly, all I get is, “Would you like to dine at the bar?” after I tell them the number in my party and hear “Just one/Only one/Dining alone tonight?”
Dear Restaurants: That. Is. Not. Cool.
I understand that it may be about profit and efficiency, but don’t make someone a pariah because they chose to eat on their own that day and would rather experience your table service than be served by a–certainly well-trained, but still primarily a–bartender. And y’all know I love me some bartenders, but I’d rather they were focused on making me and my fellow drinkers awesome cocktails than worrying about the timing between courses and dealing with the standard food complaints that may arise.
In my search for an image for this post, I came across the following short film, “Table for One” and while it happens to tie in well to my post, it’s also a nice watch for all of us for whom it may have been that kind of day.
Still this morning’s comic gave me a chuckle, the film gave me some self-reflection, and with what’s going on in our own country right now, I sorely needed both.
