Home @ 01 Feb 2007 12:48 pm by Christina Waters
O’Mei entrepreneur, Roger Grigsby, shared this gem with me. He overhead a former waiter approach a table about a month ago and actually ask the patrons, “You guys hangin’ in there OK?.” A true indication of just how genericized ordinary language has become.
I am about to give up my crusade to ban “you guys” from public communications, especially since I attended a lecture last week at Cowell College and heard the distinguished guest speaker begin his remarks with, “How are you guys tonight?”
Even ruder was the family I observed dining at Avanti two weeks ago, who allowed their “darling” 3-year-old to scream, bang spoons, wriggle down the chairs and over the table, and finally fling a full glass of something viscous — milk perhaps — across the chairs, floor and wall behind the table. It took two patient, hard-working servers the next five minutes — on their hands and knees — to clean up the mess. But the damage to everybody else’s dining experience had been done. A word to parents — (see my illustration above, created for a story I did a few years back about banning unruly youngsters from nice dining rooms) - leave the young ones at home until they can be controlled. A restaurant is NOT an extension of your private dining room. Others have paid money to enjoy their dinner.
On children in restaurants, my first job in Santa Cruz was working at the now defunct Pontiac Grill. Coming from NYC where ones dining manners were supposed to be, at the least, orderly, I was…surprised by the youngsters who were encouraged by parents to express themselves all over the large glass windows with the entire contents of the catsup and mustard bottles. Add to that the allowed screaming and tears when the condiments ran out.
Pontiac Grill was no Avanti. But still, bad behavior is not acceptable.
Is change possible?
Are there any nice restaurants in Santa Cruz that have not got an obscenely high noise level? I love the food at Cafe Cruz, but I would also like to converse with my dinner companions without getting a sore throat from shouting. Either it’s general noise or “music?”
Are there no more acoustical engineers? I have had
friends tell me they have the same problem…and we
are seniors. I guess we did not go to enough rock
concerts when we were young! Any one else out there
care about this problem?
Love your website,
Donna
I agree about the noise levels. Had dinner the other night at Aqua Bleu and the piped in music (rock) created a jangly commotion that only detracted from the dining experience. Maybe it’s supposed to keep diners from lingering, or else boost the wait staff and bartenders’ energy.