Stop Holding Your Plates Hostage
You're NOT gonna eat that "last bite" and you know it.
Ahoy!!
Oh my lord. It’s Saturday. I was due to post last Thursday and y’all, I completely forgot. I’ve had ideas over the past two weeks and wanted to write to you but held off because it wasn’t time. And so, I’d like to make an announcement:
Our regularly scheduled programming is no more.
I will now post whenever I feel like it. Going forward, expect tasty little morsels of surprise landing in your inbox at random. Maybe once, maybe twice a week, maybe once a month. It could be a podcast or an essay or a review or a Q&A. We’re gonna keep it loose and we’re gonna love it.
Okay, now on with the show.
It’s 11:30pm. The kitchen closed at 10 and you finished your meal an hour ago. Your server has been by several times, at respectful intervals and politely asked if they can clear your plate. And you have, for the last 45 minutes, refused to allow it.
Why?
Because you’re, “still working.”
Guys… GUYS???!!!
I bet you’re actually not.
Listen, I get it. You’re drinking and chatting and nibbling. But be honest, at a certain point, half an hour ago, the nibbling stopped. And while that leftover charcuterie may look cute on your table, I’d like to remind you that the dishwasher is waiting to go home and can’t do so until the majority of plates and glasses have been washed.
So let it go.
LET.
IT.
GO.
Move onto to dessert. Get more wine. Clear space on the table to hold hands or rest elbows. Go to the bar next door. But for God’s sake, let that fish carcass go. You’re not gonna keep “picking” I PROMISE. Even better, take those last scraps of prosciutto TO GO!!!
Please just let your server clear your table!!!
I’d like to reiterate that, late at night, when you are the last few left in a restaurant (please refer to this essay for elaboration), you’re holding all employees hostage by staying. Please have the most mercy on the hardest working back of house and arguably most important member of any F&B team, the dishwasher.
LET.
THEM.
GO.
HOME.
Okay, that’s all.
