How The Other Half Lives

Last Friday night, my boss and I took a client out to dinner after a meeting. I just had to write about this dining experience.

My boss and I left the client’s first and was going to get a table at the restaurant. Our client had a few things to do and she was going to meet us there about 15 minutes later. We pull up to the restaurant to see that they have complimentary valet parking. Hey, it’s raining pretty hard, so complimentary or not, valet parking is a great idea! The best part was the valet opened my door and held an umbrella over my head from the car to under the canopy so I didn’t get wet. Yeah, I sure did like that kind of treatment.

When we walked in, they asked my boss his name for their “customer record”. From that point on, everyone that came to the table from the captain to our server called him by name. “Mr. X, is everything all right?” “Mr. X, would you like another drink?” It was awesome.

As the maitre'd showed us to our table, the table was all set nice and fancy, with white folded napkins on each place setting. As the maitre'd held my chair for me, he offered a black napkin in place of the white napkin on the table. I had black pants on, and he said that way I wouldn’t get white lint on my pants from the white napkin! Hey, the restaurants I’m used to going to, the napkins are in the bag with my sandwich. I was impressed.

The price of the food in this place was out of this world and everything was extra. Even the water offered for the table was brought out in a big bottle and we got charged for it. At least we had the choice of sparkling water or flat water. You want bread with your meal? Extra. A salad? Add another $10. Just crazy.

As our server brought our bill, she asked for our valet stubs. That way, we wouldn’t have to wait for our vehicles; they would be outside when we were ready. By the time we finished up, our vehicles were indeed up front with the heat on. Again, pretty dang nice touch.

This was just a little glimpse for me as to how the other half lives. The food was really good, but did it compare to the turkey and stuffing we made for dinner last night? Not exactly. The service and atmosphere was great but did it compare to sitting in my jammies in my own house? Nah. It was a nice place to visit, but I sure couldn’t afford to live there.