Service With a Snark
Saturday I went out to dinner with a guy I've recently met. Like many big-bellied brethren, booths aren't always my buddy. So I asked the hostess for a table (of which there were several empty two-tops within eyesight ) & the hostess cheerfully & hastily leads us to a booth. Though I've never been a waiter, I've always felt for people who wait tables... to the point where a server would have to be egregiously bad in order for me to consider not leaving a tip. I feel for people who have to put up with demanding customers all day long (unless they piss me off) because, well, people suck. Still, though, I think one of the basic tenets of being a waitperson is knowing the difference between a table & a booth.
I look at the booth & I can tell it's not going to be one that will fit me comfortably. So I renew my request to the hostess, whose response is to say nothing but give me a quizzical, "dog-headed" tilt. I don't remember, verbatim, what my response was, but the message was something along the lines of: "By table, I don't mean seat me anywhere that has a table-like surface, but I mean 'table' as in table and chairs."
I hope my food wasn't spat in.
Perhaps I should have been less sarcastic, but then again, I never thought I'd have to explain such distinction to a hostess.
The rest of the meal, & evening for that matter, was quite good.