Omnivore - More on those restaurant brats
What are we supposed to do about squalling drinkers?
- http://tinyurl.com/6nmsh7l
Recently, I wrote a brief post about a request by Grant Central Pizza that parents restrain their misbehaving or bawling children in the dining room. The post provoked a lot of discussion. Thinking it over, it occurred to me that I have a similar complaint:
I don’t drink alcohol, but a lot of people do.
That’s fine with me, but I’m sick of sitting down at a restaurant table for a leisurely meal and then hearing some asshole at a nearby table start speaking louder and louder as the booze courses through his veins and causes his already subnormal IQ to drop below simian level. I’m not talking about drunks. I’m talking about chemically-extroverted people who won’t shut up. Let’s call these jerks “the kids,” because they act like kids.
In addition to laughing explosively and cracking stupid jokes, the kids are often given to running back and forth to the restrooms, causing delays for others. Recently, without so much as eye contact, one invaded my table to give me his card. I’ve seen these kids often be rude to servers, refusing to eat what they ordered, sending it back to the kitchen for no reason other than to impress companions with their supposedly fine discernment. They text while eating, talk on the phone and have the table manners of chimpanzees.