Category: Guests

I wrote this post a couple of restaurants ago, but I held off posting it for months and months, not sure when, if ever, I would. But I took some time this evening to read back through my archives of private essays. This is a story that I still think about, still wonder about. I…

Summer is a funny time in my city. On the one hand, for the next two-and-a-half months, at some desk in some office in every glass-and-concrete box in my city, someone is frantic to get “it” all done before their five-day vacation, even though they will bring a BlackBerry, cell phone, and laptop stowed in…

Guests like to bring in the craziest things for their parties. Sometimes they tell me they are bringing these assorted trinkets, balloons, foodstuffs, flowers and such. Sometimes they don’t. Usually, the more stuff they bring in, the less attractive the whole event becomes. I speak not only of my experience in my restaurant, but of…

She is pacing the foyer, glancing every other second at her watch. Her expression is grim, the tight lines around her mouth are incredibly pronounced. She is pissed. Who, I wonder, is going to bear her wrath when they walk through that front door? Is she meeting a friend who is chronically late by segments…

“RG, are you off your break, yet?” asked one of the hosts. My break? You mean the two gulps of my Emergen-C spiked water and a handful of fries shoved into my mouth as I brought special menus for a private event to the podium and took the back way through the kitchen–that break? “Sure.…

I was raised to be mindful, to be mannered among strangers. I was raised to defer, when appropriate, and to engage those around me, as appropriate. I was raised to understand restraint and to fully appreciate an act of civility, as well as how to behave with gentility–especially when others do not. I was taught…

Ah, the cater out. Kind of like a carryout order, only bigger and certain to bring out the bravado in everyone. “Call Judy the minute you get in. She says it’s urgent,” read the sticky note placed smack in the middle of my computer monitor. Lovely. First thing? On a slightly chilly Monday? Judy is…

“I just looked at your private event information online. You’re joking, right?” asked the young woman who didn’t sound like she was laughing. “I’m sorry?” I responded, not sure what supposed punch line she thought I had uttered. “The room fee. You’re joking. As much money as you will make off of me, you’ll ding…

Scene: Gal, by herself. Manager is off for second day (because she just worked seven days straight). This is a job that three people–full-time–could do. There are two of us. We are that busy. We are more than that busy. On this day, as I worked from two computers and frantically input event information for…

Audience participation time! Read on. “Hello. Is this the private events office?” Yes, it is. “I want to book a private room for 30 people in April.” Great! What date in April? “Easter.” Hmm. How flexible are you with your time? I have an early brunch and a later dinner already booked. “Any time is…