Posted on 07/24/2014 2:14:42 PM PDT by Swordmaker
This recount, found on The Meta Picture, tells the story of one restaurant’s quest to find out why they kept getting bad reviews despite serving the same number of customers on a daily basis.
It took a look into their past to discover exactly what has changed in the last ten years – and their findings tell more about how we as a country have changed – possibly, for the worse.
Now, although this particular instance may or may not be true, it tells a story that is all too common today in America.
We are so engrossed in ourselves and in our technology that we lose sight of the importance of the relationships we have and the importance of experiencing things rather than recording them.
Sometimes we just need to put the phone away and get back to the basics.
That's a tough balance to wire walk. It's an expected modern amenity these days and now it seems a penalty to service. It also impacts seat and table turnover which is important to the restaurant's bottom line. That still has no effect on the selfies and plate photography delaying eating the food which allows the food to cool.
A tastefully lettered sign saying "Please, Chef ___ requests that you enjoy the Food and the Ambience, not your Cellphone, during your meal at Chez _____. Thank you." at each table may work better.
I wish groups I hung out in played that. Full disclosure: I own no portable computing/ communication devices, so I’d always eat free.
Taking pics of your food in a restaurant is:
Something about him just isn't right... can't put my finger on it...
Driving through our small town last week I stopped at a red light. When the light turned green I started to go when a young girl about 19 or so walked right in front of me all the while looking down at her phone. I slammed on the brakes and yelled at her. “Put the stupid phone away and pay attention to where you are walking!” She gave me a two word reply I’m sure you can guess.
You gotta understand the process. It’s not just taking a pic, first they have to take the phone out of their pocket because they always put it away even though they intend to mess with it every 10 seconds. And then they take a couple of pics to find the best one. Then it goes up on social media with some comment. Then they check other people’s recent activity hoping to get comments on their picture, which of course they then reply to. 3 minutes is actually pretty quick.
I have never taken a photo with my phone and wouldn’t know how. Really.
Seriously? Are you kidding?
No, with how many people have become totally obsessed it is not. They are people with no manners (typical in the last 3o years); combine with a mini-computer and voila, you have your wasted time.
Very interesting. I have lately been driving more slowly and more warily due to the dramatic increase of people crossing over into my lane or failing to yield. If in a left turn lane, I stop a full car length back from the white line, due to people turning sloppily, often with phone in hand. One gal who almost ran me down came into a traffic circle doing about 50, and was lucky not to overturn. As she passed by, I saw her lower the phone, kind of shrug, and put the phone back to ear while continuing only a little slower.
I hope it’s a passing phase. We really can’t tolerate such slovenliness!
When I worked in downtown Boston walking the sidewalks was a nightmare. Half the people are not looking where they are going. I saw some dingbat plow into a blind man who was using a cane the the edge of buildings for guidance. It got so bad I’d sounds off with a “ dead ahead! “ if one of these idiots was swerving all over the sidewalk.
Most of the offenders were young women. Just outside the shop I worked was one of the busiest streets in boston. The street comes to an intersection with tons of people crossing in each direction. If you stood outside the shop you could easily see inside the cars and see the drivers. So many were texting o dead ng something on their phone. They’d come flying up the street, head down, and finally slam on their breaks.
Again, usually young women but not always.
Obviously, they need to put the menu on an app.
At a five star restaurant, they have to pose their food just right! and find the exact exposure. . . flash or no flash, HDR?, turn the plate so the broccoli shows its best profile. . . Oops, there's a shadow on the loaded mashed potatoes. Do it all several times because you won't come here again.
lol
Put up a No Gun sign.
Then say that often, guns are disguised as phones, therefore, no phones.
Cops are doing it. Must be true.
Yep, and post it to their Facebook page. And get the customers to text their menu selections to the kitchen so the waiters don't have to ask, and can spend their time taking group pictures on the customers' cellphones. Unless this is the sort of restaurant that only thinks of, well, food...
I ask to be seated elsewhere if there is a baby or a toddler in the table next to me. The reason is that some parents don’t seem to notice if their children misbehave. At one restaraunt, an 18 month child screamed the entire time. Parents just ignored the kid and the looks coming from the other tables.
While the before / after effects of cell phone technology for restaurant ordering are interesting, why haven’t restaurants taken advantange of the technology?
More specifically, since this is 2014, why don’t restaurants have web accounts for patrons so that they can decide what they want before they arrive at the restaurant, their orders automatically placed when GPS indicates that they have stepped inside the restaurant? I think that it would be convenient to simply edit minor changes to menu items that I have previously placed and click OK.
As a side note concerning old versus new concerning business transactions, please consider the following. With all due respect to freepers who still write checks at the cash register, I really tighten up when I see somebody ahead of me in a cashier line taking the time to write a check. Is it my just my imagination, or is everybody in the line, including cashier, rolling their eyes like I am because the check-writing patrion is wasting everybody’s time carefully recording the details of a check in a check register?
People like that are going to get themselves killed someday. Geez you have to watch traffic.
What has amused the heck out of me since cell phones became ubiquitous, is seeing a couple out on a date. They often ignore each other, talking or texting or whatever it is they do on their phones.
But hey! Maybe they are communicating with each other that way, it is easier than speech! Really, how can they talk the way they spell with their testing language?
Everyone loves these stories about self absorbed people on smart phones and how they are ruining the world.
Will have to see; but guessing this one will turn out to be false and made up.
For example; I have never witnessed someone taking a picture of their food; although I know it happens sometimes. This article says 26 of 45 people spend 3 minutes taking pictures of their food. I call BS on that point alone.
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