When you see someone busy reading

[merhawk]

When you see someone busy reading in your restaurant do you

Comments

[smolder]

That's karmic backlash for continuing to eat at Rubio's, which has been made of fail for about 4 years now.

[merhawk]

I have no idea what you are referring to.

[missysedai]

Back when I was a server, I had an older fella come in every evening with a book. He would drink tea and eat buttered toast half the night, and read his book. (It turned out that tea and toast were about all he could keep down during his chemo treatments.)

Servers that bugged him about his reading material got a tongue lashing and no tip. Servers that just kept his tea filled and checked in to see if he wanted more toast got a nice tip, and on Fridays, they'd be given the book he was reading. I was usually asked to take Ira, because the other girls were afraid of him, and pissed that "perky and invasive" didn't work on him. They could not understand the simple "I'm busy, don't pester me" signal a book conveys.

I have a whole pile of "hard-boiled detective" books from that job. I miss Ira.

[merhawk]

Reading is generally a key indicator that the person wants to be left alone.

This manager isn't as bad as the patron who lifted up the book I was reading at Hobbee's a while back to "see what I was reading".

Grr. Argh.

Do not touch. Leave alone.

[chrisrw109]

The important omitted detail is: What book were you finishing?

[merhawk]

Butcher, natch.

I took a 30 minute break later at work to finish the book. Turns out it wouldn't have mattered even if she hadn't bothered me, but it was close.

*tight hug* You've been missed, Chris. Stop being so much of a stranger!

[merhawk]

Heh. You keep telling yourself that, darlin'.