Going out to eat or drink in a restaurant is something that many of us would have loved to do more often because; who wants to cook when somebody is ready to do it? Eating out comes with its own share of potential problems, however. What if the waiter or waitress serving you decides to go the malicious way and…yes, introduce her/his spittle into your soup bowl? You know how bad it already is that you see someone across the street in the act of spitting. Now imagine that the spittle has to be included in your expensive soup by a malicious waitress. Not to say I have ever known a waiter to have spat into my food – I wouldn’t. I would need to be privy to her movements between the kitchen and wherever it is that I’m seated. So, how then do you ensure that the waiter does not develop the urge? First is to accept with humility that you are under her mercy and are helpless at that. Avoid doing the things that have been known to make waiters crave spitting into your food; that is to say, behave. Behaving your self means not casually tapping/groping her butt while you place your order, or making unsolicited observations about the shape of her hips. It means looking into her eyes, not her cleavage while you ask for the menu. But not all waiters will want to mess up your food. It is not part of their Catering School training. Some bad apples should not soil the entire reputation of this otherwise noble calling. I have not had much cause to worry about the possibility of a malicious waiter, but a recent restaurant experience has opened my eyes to the possibility of a worse scenario. The dinner to which I had been invited was taking its time to mature, so I inevitably strayed off, if only to “murder some time”. My straying led me to the office of the Asian manager, whose gait behind his workstation reminded me of a pilot before a cockpit and its intricate web of knobs and buttons. So engrossed and rooted was the man before his Samsung flat screen monitor, he ushered me in without actually bothering to look up at me. Turns out that he had far better things to do with his eyes; monitoring the Closed Circuit TV Surveillance System (CCTV). Basically, he was keeping an eye on virtually the entire restaurant’s operations, with the cameras zooming the different dining sections and service points in and out for his scrutiny. We all understand the need for CCTV outside the door or in corridors or in supermarkets, but inside a restaurant? Isn’t this…
