10 Things You NEVER Do In A Restaurant

Since I had a bad day at work today, and I am a bit angry, i decided to blog about it instead of punshing a wall in. From a person who has worked inr restaurants for a long time, I made a list of the things that a person should never EVER do in a restaurant.

1. when you walk into a restaurant, be nice to the hostess, because she most of the time does not care about you, and does not want to put up with you being picky on where or with who you want to sit with. Just go where they tell you to sit, and don't question it.
2. try as much as you can to not make custome orders for yourself, because then, there is a good chance that it will not turn out how you want it, and then there goes the waiter's tip just because you had to change up the order.
3. always be patient. If the food is taking longer than expercted, do not complain, always keep in mind that it is not really our intention to keep your food waiting, we just want to give you the food so we don't have to worry about you anymore.
4. don't be rude to the employee, such as cut them off, or insult them, or give them a hard face, because they are going to want to do bad things to your food. remember that this is our job, and we know how to do it much better than you do, so let us do our job, and do not think that you can do it better
5. always keep in mind the fact that you are in a public place, and so what you have to do in private, actually in private. We don't want to see you sucking face with your significant other while we try to hand you the plate, and do not scratch, pick, or touch yourself in places in your body where we do not want to see it. people please, remember there is always a bathroom nearby
6. if you are in a large group, and you have already paid your check and everything is ready to go, don't just sit there and take up space. the table that you are sitting in can be used by another potential customer that is ready to pay, instead of a person that has already paid and is not allowing the server to get another table. when you are done, get off your butt and leave, we really don't want you there anymore.
7. never assume anything. that's the huge mistake many people make, thinking that the people there are paid to be a customer's slave, that's not rue. If you want another refill of water, do not assume that we see it and we will automatically do it, no way. please, call it to our attention and we'll do it for you. do not assume that we will wait on you hand in foot, because honestly, we won't
8. do not ever enter a restaurant less than 15 minutes before it closes. trust me, you will not be welcomed and you will not get good service. we are really tired, we want to go home, and we have to start everything over again the next day. you are more wanted to be kicked out if you are picky and expect us to want you there. we're human too, and we have other things to do, like get a good night's sleep, so we want to get home as soon as we can, and the last thing we want is a customer coming in when we are about to close.
9. if you have children and you take them out to a restaurant, always make sure that they know how to behave themselves, or if not, that you can control them. seriously, there is nothing more annoying than having a screaming baby making a mess. please, if you had a child to raise, teach them to not act like that in a restaurant. not only does it make the employee uncomfortable, it also makes the cusomter's around you very uneasy.
10. I can't emphisis this enough, NEVER EVER leave the server less than 15% of the tip. try to be considerate, and remember that we really need the money and we try to give you the best service we can just so we can get a portion of the bill. understand that it is very frusterating to only get a $2 tip on a bill that comes up to be $150. we believe that we deserve a minimum of 15% of the buill because we are actually working very hard, and just like everyone else, we really need that money.

So next time you go to a restaurant, and you follow my tips, realise that it will turn out a better dinning experience for you and definately for us.

Karen

G Rated?

Over the weekend, i was surffing youtube and google just to kill time, and i saw this website that told you all the "unchild-like" things that are shown in children programs, and that caught my eye. i was amazing to see how many subliminal messages that companies like Disney, Nickolodian, and Cartoon Network show. I'm sure that children see it as innocent, but when they get older, will or how much will it effect them in the long run?

I read that in a Disney animated movie, "The Rescuers," it showed a bare, naked woman on 2 slids of film. It was just shocking to say the least. How can we not notice things liek that when we are little? Did it effect us? How much did it effect us? Another shocker was in the film "Who Framed Rodger Rabbit," the very sexy and almost "porn-like" character, Jessica Rabbit, had a Basic Instinct moment in the movie when she gets off a taxi and very unlady-like spreads her legs.

Not only are children films showing adult contents, they are also giving out subliminal messages. Such as in Aladdin, which just so happens to be one of my favorite Disney Classics, Aladden originally saids at one point, "good teenagers, take off your clothes" instead of "good kitty, take off and go." I was left in awe, because i never heard it or even thought that it would say that. Ironically enough, Aladden had a worse saying that sparked controversy, not only to children and parents, but also to Arab-Americans. In the opening song "Arabian Nights," how the song was originally written was "where they would chop off your ear, if they don't like your face, it's barberic, but hey, it's home, " but because of the controvercy and the threat of the movie never making it to theaters, Disney re-wrote the song to say "where the heat is blassing, and in your face, it's barberic, but hey, it's home."

The question that was just left in my head was if Disney leaves messages so X- rated on purpose, or if it just happens intentionally? i believe that whatever makes money, will, and sometimes controvercy will improve a movie instead of break it down. it helped previous movies like "Clockwork Orange," but Disney is no Clockwork Orange.

Who knows what else we enjoyed as children have subliminal messages that we can only be aware when it's too late. Maybe people won't want to let their children see movies such as Aladden or The Rescuers, but that would jsut be stealing a child's imagination.

Only the future knows what Micky Mouse will pull out of his porn, adult, controvercial hat for the next generation.

Karen

Heartbreak

Doesn't it suck when you see your ex with another person? I mean, you fool yourself to say that you're over your ex, but when you see them with their new significant other, it just kills you inside. I just experienced that. I mean, I was fortunate enough to not see them face to face or kissing or anything, but it still was not easy to see. I was lucky enough just to see it in a picture.

I mean, this was not just another ex boyfriend or anything, this was my ex fiance, it was someone very very special to me, and I saw him with his new girl. Keep in mind that he left me to go to this girl when we were going to get married, actually right in the middle of our wedding plans, he left me. So needless to say that I am not 100% over him and what he did to me.

A few people have told me that it may be for the better that me and him did not get married, but I was ready to get married, and I was ready to spend the rest of my life with this person and he just leaves me, of course it hurts seeing him with someone else.

Maybe I'm overreacting, I mean, 10 people can not be wrong. I don't think I will ever be 100% over him, he was my first and only fiance at this point. Hopefully one day, I'll stop suffering.

Karen

The Value of Love

Since we're talking about love and romance now, I remembered about an auction that I was once in when I became 18. It was a man auction. How women would bid on going on a date with a man of their choosing.

At first, I thought it was really cool and funny that women had the freedom to pay a dollar value of how much they feel they would want to pay to date a man. The bidding would go up until $850 and more depending on how much the women wanted to date the guy. I figured that the men were excited that women would pay so much money to go on a date with them.

It made me think of two things. First, it made me think of how much women are willing to pay for men to pay attention to them, and go on a date with them. I figured that it was really really nice to go on a date with a person that may not be a right guy or nice guy, but there is the intention of having a nice time, and enjoying yourself with another person. It's almost funny that people would pay a dollar amount to feel special with an attractive person.

The other thing that crossed my mind was the old saying that "Love Don't Cost A Thing"; it made me wonder if it was actually true or not. I mean, yeah I did like seeing men allow themselves to be bedded on, but it made me wonder if they were comfortable with that. I mean, as a woman, I wouldn't be comfortable having men pay for me to go on a date with them.

Who knows if it really works or not, a male auction, but I guess it's one of those things that you have to try it once to see if you like it or not. I plan to actually win a bid one day, and see if it's worth it or not, getting attention by my money rather than by my looks.

Karen

Halloween

This year was the first year that I went to Coconut Grove for Halloween. It was so much fun and I had a blast. The only thing that had my worried was the weather. I was wearing an outfit that was provocative, so I didn't want to be too cold. Another thing that got me worried was that I was wearing high heeled boots, and I knew that there was going to be a lot of walking to do, so I didn't want to walk too much, but little did I know, that I didn't have much of a chance to sit down as much as I wanted too.

There was music, and very entertaining customs. The costume that I kept on seeing throughout the night was a bumble bee outfit for the ladies and th Joker outfit for the guys. I took pictures of people that just had the most outrageous customs, like a guy that was wearing a Borat custom, and a couple that was dressed as Adam and Eve.

All in all, it was a good night, and I plan to relive it again next year, just with a different costume.

Karen

Not Even Dreaming

Today in class, iwe brought up a topic that I would like to expland my opinion on, and it was the topic of many American families during Dinner. I heard responses on how people act in a restaurant and how people behave at home, and how people behave on special occations with a bigger family.

When I was younger, both of my parents were very strick about how me and my sister should behave in a dinner table. Every night we would sit down at the table, and just chat about our day. This brings up my interest in the class discution we had today. A few people mentioned that they would watch TV while eatting dinner, and it would feel like a chore if there wasn't anything to do, or watch.

Now, even for me, it's rare that I do sit down in the dinner table with anybody else, and when I do sit down on the table, it is almost never a fresh cooked meal. Usually, I will just pop something into the microwave and call it dinner. I must confess that I do miss the old days when there was company at the dinner table everynight and people did convers with me about anything.

When it comes to sitting down and eatting at a restaurant, I would do that once a week when my family had a better income, but now, I try to keep that small tradition alive, even if it's with me and my mother one, or just me and my dad. I would behave at a restaurant when I was with my family, we would never sit around the TV, and we would still chat wit each other, along with enjoyingt he meal. When it comes to screaming babys nearby, we would never complain or mention anything to anyone around us, but nowadays, I see that to be different.

I work in a restaurant now, and I do see many people complain and fuss and bitch and moan over the smallest things. I now see that the family has broken down and when it comes to children, it has a major impact on them. I no longer see much nurturing and discepline when it comes to children. Most people just let them run around as the do nothing, which just reminds me that I would never act that way if I was around my parents at that age.

Times have changed, and I know and accept that, but I think the traditional breaking down of the family is just too much. I would love to see more families together acting like a nice community based on love and confidence, but that just doesn't seem to fly around here anymore, it's more like endagered species.

Karen

Tradition

I believe that the obvious answer to this age old question is that tradition is what people do over and over again, throughout the ages. In a way, that's very true, I think that tradition is just something a person grows up with, as being natural. What may be natural to me may not be natural to other people, like I'm used to hanging out with guys and going out with my group of guys friends on the weekend, other people just stay home and eat a nice dinner on the weekend.

I don't have much to say about tradition. I just think that it's something that people are always going to have and do throughout their lives. Whether it's with one self, family, or a group of people, traditions is something that everyone has and will continue until a person dies.

Karen