Dining Alone

R.a.n.t. of week 09/22/13

It's time for din-din and the cupboard is bare. Sure, you could just run out to go grocery shopping, then come home and prepare a mediocre dinner. But who has time for all that? Okay, maybe everyone beyond me, but by the time I get home from work it's about 5:30 or 6:00. Usually, I'm very tired and making dinner is not something I'd rather do when I'm tired. So what's a guy to do? Eating out is the obvious next option. If you are like me, eating fast food won't do the trick. Everything seems to be made with Grade F meat (Mostly circus animals with some filler). So something above fast food is the place to be. For most people, it's not a problem, but for someone like me who has a healthy dose of social anxiety, it's not always easy. I just feel kind of funny dining along, even though many friends and family tell me there is nothing wrong with it. (Oh my gosh, Jeff was dining alone last night! Not that there is anything wrong with that). So what are the pros and cons when it come to dining alone? Yes, I forced myself to think of a few pros and cons for when I have to dine alone.

Deciding Alone:
Pro - No committee meeting, long debates or haggling over where to go.
Con - No one to bounce ides off of. No influx of immediate suggestions. I'm a person who is very unoriginal when it comes to thinking of somewhere to eat. Can't even count the number of times I've heard one of my sisters tell me about a new place they've tried and I just scratch my head trying to figure out where they hear about some of the restaurants they've been too. Usually, I'll just resort to going somewhere I've been many times before. As hinted at, I get very anxious about finding a new place and entering, not knowing what to expect.

Sitting Alone:
Pro - A good time to be one with your thoughts, or Iphone.
Con - I always feel like I'm being looked at and judged. "He's dining alone, he must have no friends", "I feel bad for him, he's got no wife or girlfriend", "How sad is that, how pitiful, he's such a nobody". Okay, maybe unrealistic thoughts, but in my own mind I hear those slung in my direction. I told you, I have social anxiety and that's part of it.

Waiting Alone:
Pro - No having to wait for others to finish eating? When I'm done, I can just leave. (Once my bill is paid).
Con - Sitting alone and waiting as my bill is brought to me and/or processed. By the time my food has been consumed, I'm just about done with my thoughts. Mostly because I generally bring a notebook along with me to take notes in, especially when my thoughts are centred towards what I'm going to be writing or r.a.n.t.ing about next.

Example:
This past week I made plans with one of my friends to visit another friend who just started a job in a restaurant. As always, (I say always, I mean in this case), plans fell through. Instead of deciding to not go, because it was something I was looking forward to, I opted to go outside my comfort zone and 'just do it'. Confidentially, it kind of helped I was hoping to have a bad experience so I would have an awesome r.a.n.t. tale to tell, but it didn't quite turn out that way. Certainly, no horror story. And I can't say it wasn't worth writing home about, because after all, I just finished writing about it. So it can be done! I can dine alone. I'm just not very happy with it.

Dave & Busted

R.a.n.t. of week 12/30/12

This past weekend, I was invited by a friend to an eatery I've heard others describe as an "Adult Chuck E. Cheese". I had never been to this place so figured I'd give it a whirl, mostly because my children were with me and they would likely enjoy the games the establishment provided. As we arrived, I saw another friend who had arrived about thirty minutes before us. As luck would have it, the booth next to him was open so the waitress gave us that one. So how did the encounter go? Well, it's the topic of this weeks r.a.n.t., so probably not as well as I would have liked it to. Later on at home, I took the opportunity to fill out a survey to express what I thought of the place. One of the questions asked about the attentiveness of our server. Following are the actual comments I left.
"I had to ask for straws for our drinks. Then I had to ask for cutlery for our food. Is there a charge for drink refills? I have no idea because we were never asked if we needed another drink."

I'm a master of passive aggressive behaviour so my first attempt at trying to gain forks and knives was when the waitress walked past and I grabbed a handful of mashed potatoes and began eating them from my fingers. That didn't seem to catch her notice so I ended up flagging her down and asking for the utensils. Connie told me she thought it was odd I was doing that and I replied, "I just thought that was the 'thing' here." She laughed but finally gave the utensils for the six of us. "I won't make you eat with your fingers any more." she replied.

Additionally, the food was not something I'd write home about. But it was perfect to write a blog about. I ordered a chicken plate which came with mashed potatoes. I did like the coating on the chicken, but it was served lukewarm. Also the mashed potatoes were prepared gazpacho style. I also stole a French-fry from my friends plate when he made the mistake of stepping away for a bit while the food was just about to be served (so his food was really cold by the time he received it). Needless to say, the fry was likely sitting under a heat lamp in the back for a while.

Continuing with the survey I filled out later, it asked for additional comments on how happy I was with my visit. Once again, my actual response is included.
"Had 6 people in my 'party' but had to pay an 18% gratuity. This was gratuity even AFTER simple game cards were purchased, not just food items. Then found out another table complained about the gratuity and had it waived. How unfair!!!"

When I received my bill, I was shocked to find I had to pay an 18% gratuity fee for a party of 8 or more. I can only assume this was because I stopped to say hi to my friend on the way in. Suddenly he was a part of 'my' party, despite us not even talking during the entire course of our meal. I had my own table of company to keep. After I paid the bill I was informed he had his bill taken care of because he was outraged by the added gratuity and the fact it was for game cards which could have easily been purchased at a kiosk. Some dinner deal I received.

One of the last questions the survey asked was, what could have made my visit more pleasurable.
"Not be charged an 18% gratuity for an inattentive waitress.
Not be charged an 18% gratuity for cold food.
Not be charged an 18% gratuity for a party of only 6."

On top of everything else, the price of the games confused me. The game cards are full of 'credits' which do not equal the amount of monies put on the card. Each game has a cost averaging between 5.2 and 9.9 credits. Yes, those are decimal points. This confounded me and made it difficult to figure out exactly how much I was really spending on each game.

Okay, I realize you are probably saying, 'Jeffrey you complain to much. If you dislike the place so much, don't visit it again.' Point taken, I think I can manage that.