Tea at Trianon: Restaurant Service

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Restaurant Service

Is it getting worse? According to Bon Appétit Magazine:

When people complain about restaurants, it usually has nothing to do with the quality of the fritto misto. It's about the service. And these days, with more and more casual spots--think cash only, no reservations--becoming destinations, a service crisis is just around the corner. (Often, if you get a mere "hello" when you walk in, you're doing pretty well.) The surly server is nothing new--ever been to a diner?--but no matter how grumpy his or her delivery, at least you get your order quickly and without judgment. But now, when people will spend hours in line to try a much-tweeted taco, some too-cool-for-school restaurants have started believing their own hype and think that the basic rules of hospitality don't apply to them. Instead of an attitude of "We're so grateful you chose to spend your hard-earned money at our establishment," it's "You should be grateful you even got a table." (Read entire article.)

May said...: A friend who worked as a manager in a number of restaurants once told me that not only are the waitstaff often on drugs, but they will often take capricious objection to customers and even deliberately tamper with the food to make them ill or just to be able to laugh at them behind their backs. All this made me feel like never darkening the door of a restaurant again.; October 18, 2012 at 3:23:00 PM EDT