I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

How are you guys?

Thank you, sir!

Yes m’am.

Welcome ladies.

I’ve written about this before. But it bears repeating.

I continue to coach my staff to use non gendered language. My day of yes m’am and no sir are gone.

After years of hating the term “folks” I’m a convert.

AnytIme I hear it I make a note to mention it to the team.

It’s not easy to change a thing that has been ingrained in a lot of us since birth.

But I try.

So try.

Hi folks. How are you doing tonight?

I was reminded of this because my old host had written a note to remind my new host about it.

It takes a little effort but even you can change.

Our chef has released a new cookbook. It’s truly beautiful.

Tonight a woman comes up to ask if a specific dish is in the book.

I assure her that it is.

She then asks if it would be okay to take a photo of the recipe.

Seriously.

I say no.

If you want the recipe you have to buy the book.

She is offended that I won’t let her take a photo.

But I stand my ground.

She does not buy the book.

A woman calls around 6:00 to let us know that she had originally started with 5 people, called and dropped to 4 and now wants go back to 5.

The host explains that unfortunately we don’t have a table that will hold 5 people available. We’d closed our patio tonight and inside was jammed.

They insist that they can squish because one of them is a kid. I tell the host that we’ll let them squish but they can’t move and they can’t add a chair.

They arrive.

Are seated.

And the host finds me to let me know their child is an adult woman. Who I find out later is old enough to drink.

Seriously.

You can’t make this shit up!

We got a mediocre review last week.

Their complaint?

A table of 8 had to share one salt shaker.

No.

Seriously.

That was her complaint.

PS. Chef’s food does not need salt.