If you eat out regularly in New York, you've noticed a different reception, an altered mood: extreme solicitousness tinged with outright desperation.
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And as soon as the economy straightens out, they'll be as rude as they were before. Stay home and cook. Let the arrogant flounder.
stopped for an italian beef in n.w. suburb of chi town last night, and thought the two workers behind the counter were coming over the top and going to hug me. it's turning into a food love fest.
It's like this at restaurants all over the country. Personally, I'm loving it. The only ones that bother me are the ones with the hawkers outside trying to get you to come in. THat's a little TOO desperate. I was in Vegas a couple weeks back and there was a Brazilian steakhouse in the Planet Hollywood that had some woman do everything short of tackle me trying to get me to go in.
Course, I'd probably be trying things like that too if I only had 2 tables seated (was easy to count--it's an open air steakhouse)
If she had offered a happy ending for dessert you should have taken up the offer.
You shouldn't have to threaten bankruptcy to exercise common courtesy. That kind of courtesy is transparent and fake.
I got this kind of overly-friendly treatment at Home Depot a month ago. Every worker approached ME instead of the other way around. It was eerie. When I got home, I did a mental count of the number of shoppers that I saw in the store: 5 and 2 little kids.
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NYTimes.com | FRANK BRUNI | February 4, 2009 12:04 PM