Quote:
Originally Posted by quill
As much as I wnted to let this go I just could not. Boomer your quote
"People waiting in those lines are not considered in the least by those squatters. But also, they never even remotely consider the server who is trying to make a living while a bunch of clueless, rude, self-important weenies sit around at the table long after they are finished and keep that table from turning."
After having lived in Europe for over 15 years of my life I find the American attitude to eating out extremely strange. In Europe if you have a table it is yours for the evening, there is no expectation from the restaurant or server that you will be leaving any time soon. And in fact one of the biggest complaints I used to hear from Americans was that they could not get served and service was slow. After living this for a while I cherished getting together and going out to dinner and talking and having a nice multi course meal. Instead of having my food thrown at me and having the check put on the table before I was done with my food. And we did tip on top of the fact that the tip is built into the bill over there. We have found the easy way to avoid waiting is to eat when the crowd is not. Been in restaurants in Sumpter when 7PM rolled around and we were the only ones there. Big difference and it is difficult to understand unless you have actually lived it, is that Europeans like to live life on another plane of existence. They seem to enjoy life more than we do. We run around with our hair on fire. I do not consider myself self important, clueless or rude. When I eat out with friends, I do it to enjoy their company and the meal. And again I tip well.
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Hi quill,
I love to have dinner like that. I am sure you are not clueless or rude. You are talking about a completely different attitude all around. And I bet you know when and where to find that kind of dining. And I guess in TV during the busy season,
when becomes the operative word in that one.(But the fact remains that the stuff I got into my little snit over happens all the time.)
You are so right about the European way of dining. Many years ago, I was crossing from England to NY on the QEII and in the cabin was a little booklet that gave Europeans a heads-up about our habits here. I remember reading it aloud and rolling on the floor laughing. I may still have that booklet stashed away somewhere. But I vaguely remember a line that said something about how we dash around from appointment to appointment, snatching hamburgers from stalls to wolf down on the run -- or some such wording. I loved it. And I knew it was true sometimes. But not of everybody and not all the time. It was a stereotyping, but still fun to read. .
I really do understand what you are saying here. And I agree that dining like that is lovely. That is not the kind of situation that I meant when I got started on the squatters. I like to look at things from different perspectives. Thank you for sharing your thoughts here.
And I knew when I was reading your post that you are a good tipper. I could just tell, even before I read the last sentence. So....Happy Dining!
Boomer