The Place Doesn’t Sound Very Positive, Despite Its Name: Open Letter To Restaurateurs –and Specifi

THE PLACE DOESN’T SOUND VERY POSITIVE, DESPITE ITS NAME: Open Letter to Restaurateurs –and specifically to the owners of Positive Pie in Montpelier, Vermont.

I never “give orders” to waitstaff or treat them as if they were servants. I always say, “When you get a moment, may I please have a refill?” I can’t be any more polite or easy to serve. There’s nothing else I can do to signal that I’m friendly and won’t cause a problem.

Here’s the part where I get really candid because I have nothing left to lose: How dare your staff treat me like I’m some piece of shit interrupting their day? What’s wrong with your management, your business vision, and your standards?

I realize you’ve probably never had a letter like this. You’re likely to see this letter as coming from an asshole customer, because that’s the standard response in business today even when customers are reasonable.

But I’m not alone. Most people won’t tell you candidly what your service is like because they don’t want to cause a fuss. But I’m one of millions of Americans who are fed up with this shitty, rude service that’s taken over our culture in the past six years.

I have to say, I basically never have this experience in Knoxville, where people are almost always pleasant and helpful, and if they’re not it’s obviously because they’re busy and they’re generally apologetic. Maybe it’s a blue-state thing?

Example: I was having lunch at the Chop House in West Knoxville a while back, and had ordered the prime rib sandwich. It came medium, not medium rare, but it was juicy, not dried out, and basically fine. (I order medium rare because I’m pretty much fine with anything from rare to medium). So I noted the difference but didn’t even think of sending it back, which I will do only in extreme circumstances. But a couple of minutes later the manager showed up with another one that was actually medium rare, apologized and said the server had noticed that my prime rib was overdone and put in for a replacement. Now that’s service, but this is just a nice but not particularly expensive West Knoxville eatery. Maybe that’s just southern hospitality culture, or maybe people here are just in a better general mood than people in Bernie Sanders’ home state.