Posted on 07/06/2024 10:00:58 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
This month marks 11 years of working in New York's service industry. It's changed a lot.
As an Irish lad, I grew up on Cheers and in my first gig in New York, I found my solace at Molly Pitcher's Ale House—a popular joint where the regulars could have been characters on that show.
Now, Molly Pitcher's is no more, Cheers is no more, and the characters are no more.
In my first gig, a month in, I had learned that the bar corner seat was Rosie's, an 80-something iconic regular.
When Rosie entered, she imperiously claimed her throne and those already occupying it immediately yielded. No questions asked. I have no doubt that this unwritten rule wouldn't be respected today.
Nostalgia is a seductive liar, as George Ball once said, and hands up, it is customary for thirty-somethings to point out that their heyday was much better (it was). But I can't help but feel, having by now served thousands, that the public house is different, not for the better, and you, the customer, are in fact ruining the sacred space of the bar.
I simply wish to tell you, the patron, on behalf of all New York service industry employees: You. Look. Ridiculous.
Off the back of the pandemic dining protocols, change occurred. Everything has been done or is expected to be done for the patron.
This, coupled with mass phone addiction and its anti-social ramifications, has created a sick baby of over-reliance on the worker and over-convenience for the patron.
But we, the service industry employees, are not an app, a button you press, and shazam, it's done. We're people, treat us as such. The public house is just that: Public.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
My dear departed Dad owned a bar in a small New England town back in the 50s. Believe it or not, he would not allow unescorted women in the bar. "Woman alone in a bar is nothing but trouble!" Those were the days...
There’s a reason we don’t go out to eat or drink. For one, we don’t drink. Second, the cost and tip for a single drink would feed the family all day with good home cooking that you know what’s in it and no one coughed or spit in it and I don’t need a sign telling me to wash my potty hands.
Same strangers in the US.
Bought it at a five and dime?
I really felt his pain though, when he mentioned a gal who showed him a picture of a pink drink on her phone, and said, can you make this? That kind of behavior would make me go crazy.
Well, they eat pretty good...Make good burgers and stews...
Also, nice bearskin rugs, if that’s your thing...
Blasting ground critters is not on my to do list, but I don’t have a problem with people that want to do it legally...
Some people do and some people don’t...It’s all well and good...
When I taught my son about deer hunting, I told him to harvest the first LEGAL deer he sees...Don’t hunt for big antlers...You can’t eat antlers...
It has been many years since I came across a big buck drinking water from a strip mine I was fishing. It was a magnificent animal with a full rack. That said, deer are pests in an urban environment...
The bartender had several legitimate complaints about patrons who seemed to ignore his work situation and make unreasonable demands, like fancy drinks when very busy. If I'm walking in a bar or restaurant and see the staff carrying drinks or food I get out of their way instead of the reverse because they are working and I'm not, and I'm always careful to say please and thank you.
I've seen many younger people act like they think the staff are their private butlers. Many people seem to think it's just entitlement, but I think it's privilege: most of the college educated from more expensive schools have never worked a real job in their lives, especially a service job. They have no idea what it's like to work at a busy bar or restaurant.
When in high school I used to live up a dirt road from a lawyer who taught at an Ivy League law school & I attended a public high school with his daughter. When I came home from college one summer, I went to fill up with gas downtown and she was the cashier at the gas station earning extra cash. That scenario is hard to imagine today.
I have lived right near the Great Smoky Mountains Nat’l Park for 75 years (except for military service time)
I’ve watched wildlife my whole life...
I live in central Illinois. My guess is the top wildlife predators in Illinois are coyotes. On very rare occasions there are mountain lion and bear sightings.
I’ve seen that behavior too - would drive me bonkers. There was a trend a while back where some “influencer” had a custom coffee drink made at Starbucks and it started a trend of overly complex drinks.
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