Monday, October 20, 2008

Restaurant Ethics

Several guidelines for restaurant-going:

(1) Always take the less advantageous chair (i.e. the one with the worse view, back to heavy traffic, etc.).

(2) Ask the person you're with whether they're ready to order before proceeding to order yourself.

(3) Interrupt your conversation when the server approaches your table.

(4) Thank the server for everything, including water refills.

(5) Never ask for a different table once you're already seated.

(6) Wait until after you've ordered to use the bathroom.

(7) Never ask what someone at another table is eating.

(8) Order a coffee for dessert at the very least, so your companion feels comfortable getting something if they're so inclined.

(9) Never leave a restaurant once you've already been seated.

(10) If you're paying for another person, never suggest that they get the cheapest thing on the menu.

(11) Assume that you're splitting the bill, unless otherwise discussed.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Theory #5: Max Weber

"The powerful personality does not manifest itself by trying to give everything a 'personal touch' at every possible opportunity.  The generation which is now growing up should, above all, again become used to the thought that 'being a personality' is something that cannot be deliberately striven for and that there is only one way by which it can (perhaps!) be achieved: namely, the whole-hearted devotion to a "task" whatever it (and its derivative 'demands of the hour') may be.  It is poor taste to mix personal questions with specialized factual analyses."