Hello.
-Hi, table for two, please.
-Sure, and your name.
-Michelle
-Great. And do you and your guest have your vaccination cards?
-Hmmm well first..Can you tell us who our server will be?
-Um, looks like Brad will be your server tonight.
-Great. Can you show us Brad's vaccination card?
-Um...
-And also, can you provide me with proof that Brad is not a carrier of HIV,
Hepatitis A or B, or any other communicable diseases? Same for you and the kitchen staff.
-Um...
-Also, we would prefer not to be served by someone who is on or uses recreational drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, meth, fentanyl, etc, so if you could provide us with Brad's most recent tox screen, that would be great. Matter of fact, imma need to see all of your employees medical history.
-Um... Let me get the manager for you.
-That would be great, thanks. Make sure they have their vax card and medical records please.
Here’s the thing, nobody needs restaurants. And other places. But they need us. Start standing your ground.
Ha ha
::puts on critical thinking cap::
Restaurant = you get food + a rented chair and table, for money
In general, chefs are unknown and invisible, and change frequently
Food is handled by multiple people before you see it
Tables are "wiped clean" with a damp rag CRAWLING with bacteria
Menus are also CRAWLING with more bacteria than the restroom floor (no exaggeration: the latter at least gets mopped with ammonia occasionally)
If you ordered fish, it can be any of a number of different species that you didn't order or never even heard of
You hand your CREDIT CARD NUMBER AND SIGNATURE to total stranger who works nights and earns less than minimum wage, who disappears from view with them for a time
You trust the kitchen is clean and no one is shedding into your food, touching it after fingering their disgusting moist muzzle soaked with germs and sweat, dropping rolls on the floor and putting them back in the basket, etc. (I've actually seen that move)
For this experience you burn gas + time driving to and from + significant risk to physical body in traffic + overpay by 4-10x or more for the food
Just saying, they have to up their game to qualify to have us as customers :)
Go to better restaurants or don't go out.
Don't kid yourself, Max. Same stuff happens in the "better restaurants."
Source: worked in one of the top privately owned steakhouses in St. Louis, where power players frequently flew in from Chicago and KC for 10 pm dinner and then flew home.
I worked in a fancy older restaurant in high school doing dishes. The type where old people have their anniversaries, when prom dates back when proms were dates, people celebrated big events, etc...
Potatoes, veg, etc was served family style. The old lady owner would mix the food from the serving bowls of guests leaving back into the heating trays in the kitchen.
It was disgusting.