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July 08, 2003
Waiting for a seat
Over at Cogito, ergo doleo, Jivha is getting his knickers in a twist about restaurant seating. For the second time today, he has triggered a distant memory. Many long years ago (early 1989) I was in Hong Kong and some very good friends took us to the "in" restaurant for dinner. If you are not familiar with Chinese culture - they take eating very seriously and follow their favourite chefs from job to job. Some Chinese can quote the pedigree (in employment terms) the way Americans talk about their favourite basketballer (or baseballer) teams and career. This restaurant was (at that point in time) the number one restaurant in all of Hong Kong. We arrived "early" and it was picked but one of the party was personally known to the manager so we were invited in to stand around this table and watch the people eat (when they left, we got the table). Other less fortunates had to wait in the street for a couple of hours or more. The locals who were with us took this as normal but I was incredibly embarrassed at the pressure we were putting on this table full of people to eat and run. The explanation was that it encouraged through-put and it also avoided waiting in the cold but I couldn't enjoy the meal and sure enough about half way through it happened to us ....
Normally when I raise this people look at me strangely (well they tend to do that anyway) but when I read Jivha's comments I realised that I was not alone. Mind you he has more intestinal fortitude because my attitude is to hurry up and get out whereas his plan is organized defiance - good luck Jivha!
Posted by Ozguru at July 8, 2003 10:07 PM
Comments
Posted by: jivha at July 8, 2003 10:07 PM
