Reaching your tipping point

We hadn't made reservations, but it was a midweek lunch, so it didn't really seem necessary. And it wasn't. When we walked in the front door, they told us it would be just a few minutes. This particular restaurant is an interactive experience so part of the charm is that you sit at a table with strangers. I have eaten at restaurants like this many times over the years, in many different countries, and have always had fun. My party of three, and two other parties of two, were led away moments later. As we wove our way through the restaurant like a snake sliding through the water, I turned around and noticed that two of our party had already disappeared. I don't know where they went, but they weren't with us anymore. In all my years going to, and working in restaurants, I had never seen anyone disappear on the way to a table — on their way away from a table, yes, but that's another story.

It was my birthday, and when your birthday falls exactly equidistant between two closely positioned major holidays you learn to make allowances. People are going to be busy, as well as the places you might want to go to. Either that or they're closed; to expect otherwise is foolish. It has been the same every year. However, one thing is certain, my birthday is not actually on a holiday. So, it was weird that we were given holiday menus when we sat down — extremely expensive holiday menus. Forty-eight dollars was the least expensive item, and that was for lunch! And that didn't include the suspicious “living wage” charge, the required “health insurance charge,” the sales tax nor the tip, altogether another 35% in added charges on top of that, meaning that we were looking at nearly $65 for the cheapest item. And we were already on the hook for $20 in parking and $9 in bridge toll.

The host didn't roll her eyes, but it sure felt like she did.

When I had looked up the menus online, I had not seen a holiday menu. And I had looked on one of those aforementioned holidays. On a sidenote, when did restaurants stop putting prices on their online menus? In many cases, you now have to dig through several online pages and/or go to their to-go menu to get an actual price. Not good service if you ask me.

I asked about the other menu. “What are you looking for?” asked the host.

“Don't you have another menu?”

“Is there something else you're interested in?”

It was a strangely evasive answer. But sometimes in the res