Eighteen years in New York City has allowed me to experience
an extremely wide variety of dining in so many different cultural environments.
Personally, I’ve always been interested with the distinctive changes in a
person’s value and behaviors based from the culture that surrounds them.
Just the other day I went downtown with my
dad, a couple of his co-works and a few interns to an expensive steakhouse
called Elway’s. As soon as I walked in, I noticed the red carpet below me and
to the right was a wall of wine that could have exceeded the value of my own
home. Before I had time to blink, the host grabbed our attention and began
walking us back to the private dining room in the back. The eight of us sat
down and got settled.
We sat at a
rectangular table with a soft white tablecloth and more silverware and glasses
than I could count on my fingers. To my left was a fancy circular glass bar
with one bartender dressed in all black accompanied by a sushi chef ready to
take orders. We all sat down; I sat to the left of my dad who was on the end and
to his right was his co-worker, Jamie. To my right was Steve, a junior annalist
who couldn’t have been more than twenty-five and four other guys about the same
age.
Everyone picked up a menu and began
to chat a little bit. I opened the menu and made it to the first line in the
top left corner of the page before my jaw dropped.
Appetizer’s ranged from twelve dollars to
forty-one dollars. Some of these plates ranged from something so simple as a
grilled artichoke to their Ultimate Hot Appetizer Platter including lamb chop
mini bites, coconut battered shrimp and New England style clams.
I took a break from the menu for a second and
looked around. These waiters and waitresses were no older than their early
twenties and they all played this act like they worked for the president.
I understand this was a nice restaurant but
it almost seemed that everyone around me, not just these waiters and
waitresses, were completely different people in another society. Of coarse I
notice the change in my dad; he always becomes serious and stern in nice
restaurants or when we get together for something important, and the tone of
his voice drops significantly. Listening to them dabble about annual reports, I
couldn’t help but loose interest in the conversation.
But what I noticed was
“how interested” these interns where in what
he had to say. My best guess was that it was the that chilled salad fork that
just simply intimidated them, and made this whole dinner feel more
important.
Aside from the three separate
forks on the right, there were additionally three knives for butter, steak and
your regular cutting needs on the left. Above my plate, there were two spoons
in between my water and my wine glass. It all became a little bit over whelming
when it was time to eat; I felt like I was just being judged from where I was
and I hated the feeling.
After
taking everything in, I ordered my appetizer and started to look through my
choices for dinner.
I settled for the
cheapest entrée at $45 before I even realized that sides came separately, even
French fries were an additional six dollars. After we all ordered, I was pretty
much shut out of the conversation so I sat there and jotted these notes with
just an awkward gaze in my eyes.
The
dinner was noticeably focused on more important things than food. It was used
as a point of interest to attract and raise the expectations of some of these
new employees.
Our food came out and
that’s when I wanted to leave. The food was great; that’s not what I mean but
for $45 I wanted a lot more. I wasn’t hear to get a job or even work up a
salary, I was in it for the meal and that was taken away from me in the three
minutes that it took me to finish it.
Everyone carried on and enjoyed their meal before we left
about an hour later. I got back to my house and started to gather all the notes
I awkwardly jotted down at dinner. I got on Google and loaded the ten most successful
tips for any business dinner and there it was. It was pretty evident to me that
restaurants are more than a simple way to feed yourself but regularly used as a
means of communication in a more specifically identified culture that a business
or any individual might be relying to portray.
We sat at a
rectangular table with a soft white tablecloth and more silverware and glasses
than I could count on my fingers. To my left was a fancy circular glass bar
with one bartender dressed in all black accompanied by a sushi chef ready to
take orders. We all sat down; I sat to the left of my dad who was on the end and
to his right was his co-worker, Jamie. To my right was Steve, a junior annalist
who couldn’t have been more than twenty-five and four other guys about the same
age. Everyone picked up a menu and began
to chat a little bit. I opened the menu and made it to the first line in the
top left corner of the page before my jaw dropped. Appetizer’s ranged from twelve dollars to
forty-one dollars. Some of these plates ranged from something so simple as a
grilled artichoke to their Ultimate Hot Appetizer Platter including lamb chop
mini bites, coconut battered shrimp and New England style clams. I took a break from the menu for a second and
looked around. These waiters and waitresses were no older than their early
twenties and they all played this act like they worked for the president. I understand this was a nice restaurant but
it almost seemed that everyone around me, not just these waiters and
waitresses, were completely different people in another society. Of coarse I
notice the change in my dad; he always becomes serious and stern in nice
restaurants or when we get together for something important, and the tone of
his voice drops significantly. Listening to them dabble about annual reports, I
couldn’t help but loose interest in the conversation. But what I noticed was “how interested” these interns where in what
he had to say. My best guess was that it was the that chilled salad fork that
just simply intimidated them, and made this whole dinner feel more
important. Aside from the three separate
forks on the right, there were additionally three knives for butter, steak and
your regular cutting needs on the left. Above my plate, there were two spoons
in between my water and my wine glass. It all became a little bit over whelming
when it was time to eat; I felt like I was just being judged from where I was
and I hated the feeling.
After
taking everything in, I ordered my appetizer and started to look through my
choices for dinner. I settled for the
cheapest entrée at $45 before I even realized that sides came separately, even
French fries were an additional six dollars. After we all ordered, I was pretty
much shut out of the conversation so I sat there and jotted these notes with
just an awkward gaze in my eyes. The
dinner was noticeably focused on more important things than food. It was used
as a point of interest to attract and raise the expectations of some of these
new employees. Our food came out and
that’s when I wanted to leave. The food was great; that’s not what I mean but
for $45 I wanted a lot more. I wasn’t hear to get a job or even work up a
salary, I was in it for the meal and that was taken away from me in the three
minutes that it took me to finish it. 
I agree with the politics point you brought in that some resaurant are used as a way of showing off the company's power and prestige to the employees. Sometimes it seems words and political actions are much more deadly and cunning than sword fights. not knowing with silverware to use or messing up other formal table manners at a dinner like this can make ou seem very incompetent and ignorant when really table manners have no reflection on how capable you are as a person.
ReplyDelete