Restaurants who bend over backward to ask "Does anyone in the party have any food allergies or restrictions we should know about?"
I'm irritated by this for a couple of reasons:
1) I really don't like ratings/money-getting tactics that are so thinly disguised as genuine concern and care for the customer, like a local real estate developer who noted that "we did our research and determined that we could better serve the community by converting this new housing complex to rental apartments rather than selling them as condos" (as they'd originally planned. Better "serve the community" (by offering luxury rentals) or "not lose tons of money on our investment"?
2) Are we, as a people, SO unable to take responsibility for our own well-being that we need a waiter to remind us of our dietary restrictions? What's next, 'Is anyone here on a blood thinner called warfarin? Because if so, I'll let the chef know to pick out the spinach for you." I can MAYbe see this as a good practice at a place that catered to kids or families with kids because, well, I'd imagine that sometimes parent's brains can get a little fried after a long day, and this could be a helpful memory jogger ("Oh crap- I almost forgot that Lexi will go into anaphylaxis if she eats soy..."). That being said, I should clarify that I'm referring to this practice in restaurants that in no way cater to kids.
3) This just seems like the kind of activity that will someday lead to a human being muttering the words, "Well Hank, he said 'warfarin' how was I to know he was talking about my coumadin?!?" (while trying to harness the blood flow from a paper cut)
4) But mostly I'm irritated by this practice because lately I've seen a lot of restaurants that people are calling "good" doing this. As if it's some sort of indicator of "whoa- hold on to your seat, this food is going to be fantastic because this is a fancy, progressive, cutting edge type of place!" and you're starting to buy into that idea because the decor is classy and the people are attractive (for DC at least) and the music makes you happy....and then the actual food is A-OK. I don't say "bad" because, well, its not really bad food, just not good enough to merit a popular buzz and or jacked up prices.
I suppose if that's all that is bothering me this week, I'm doing pretty well.
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5 comments:
Gina, I'm just going to say this for your own good...
hahaha
Love a good rant! It sort of falls into the same line as someone who wants to stop a conversation with you and uses...'you're busy, I'll let you go'
if i was busy i'd let you know, if you're busy, say it
oh look i have my own issues.
and i just had a patient a couple days ago that spent the entire f*&%ing day whining about how we all needed to fix her immediatly because she had no time, but would argue with any time of suggestion...it's exhuasting dealing with people who won't take control of their own lives and your eateries there are just catering to that....and hey, i'm a parent of a kid w/ an allergy and we most often ask...so we know which chinese places we can order from and we know we can't do chic filet....and if a mistake happens, it happens...
oh, look at that, i had more of an opinion then i thought when i started writing!
Ah, I think you are starting to understand my being 'particular' now.
Veneers for quality, eeww. Almost as much as 'I haven't done any work for your class all semester because I'm lazy but can I still pass by giving you extra work to grade so I can dig myself out of a hole?"
What I am afraid of is that folks don't know what 'quality' and 'good' really is anymore, likely reside from the get-a-trophy-just-for-being-there mentality. I realize that 'quality' and 'good' are subjective constructs. But people, please.
My new bumpersticker: "Personal responsibility: Look Into It"
[...for the record, I do not mean the above in a (shudder) Libertarian kind of way.]
Are you considering naming your daughter Lexi?
woah hah-- love the rants!!
HI larious! These marketing techniques were perhaps designed by less expereienced PR professionals? Because experienced market research/ packaging people STUDY their clientele enough to know which new options they'd LIKE and which they'd be off- put by, right? Hey Hey here's my Brainstorm: I bet if you wrote a letter to the company (ok, if you had G'pa Bill write a letter, and he signed it "Retired Colonel," maybe you'd get a coupon for $5 or $10 off? I guess it depends on how ambitious the company is! Yeah maybe we are going further and further into sleepwalking as we purchase, hmm.
Has anyone bought chocolate covered raisins recently? They advertise themselves as practically improving one's health more than anything else...It's like NOT buying them is a health risk. You'd all be proud to know how well I take care of myself ;)
OK sorry I'm so loopy, but clearly I needed this outlet. Thank you for hosting this conversation G ;)!
(I left that last comment guys. The sign- in process has changed slightly since I last checked...
-- Anne)
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