- Messages
- 4,235
^Great anecdote.
The place you went for lunch wasn't called the "Dream Cafe", was it?
The place you went for lunch wasn't called the "Dream Cafe", was it?
Odd Things Seen Daily By Me
- Thread starter Thruth
- Start date
- Messages
- 22,330
^Great anecdote.
The place you went for lunch wasn't called the "Dream Cafe", was it?
I would never eat in a place that would serve Seinfeld or
Leitmotif
Leitmotif
Eating his po boy w/oyster,petrosyan caviar,& gold
- Messages
- 4,621
Pig Floyds^Great anecdote.
The place you went for lunch wasn't called the "Dream Cafe", was it?
- Messages
- 22,011
Why do people keep calling me boss? I thought it was at first service staff. Or Filipinos. But now it happens in Uber, when people open the door for me, give up their seat, etc.
- Messages
- 22,011
Grown (ugly) men in cafes who have Japanese anime girls as their laptop's background image.
I liked Sailor Moon when I became a teen but you'd think you'd grow out of that stuff and return to the real world. Who lusts for prepubescent cartoons anyway?
I liked Sailor Moon when I became a teen but you'd think you'd grow out of that stuff and return to the real world. Who lusts for prepubescent cartoons anyway?
- Messages
- 22,011
Homeless people who are sleeping on a sewer grate and spontaneously get up to use the closest bus shelter as a urinal. Never crossed their minds to use the bus shelter for sleeping and urinate on the sewer grate?
Petite Asian women in semi transparent pencil skirts running.
Petite Asian women in semi transparent pencil skirts running.
- Messages
- 22,011
People who listen blindly to machines.
I was with two coworkers who were driving and navigating in the front with the aid of GPS. They kept listening to the obviously inaccurate instructions spit out by the device. At one point a detour was proposed when real life conditions suggested staying the course moving from one highway to a connecting one. Both of them likened the instructional speech to that of their spouse and said obeying it is the best way to go about life.
It's a bloody machine. Isn't there an obligation on human beings to synthesise and process what the machine says? Doesn't the final responsibility rest with the person?
These sound like the types who would listen to their mobile's assistant (Siri, Google, Cortana, etc) find a spot on their calendar and suggest buying tickets to the cinema.
I was with two coworkers who were driving and navigating in the front with the aid of GPS. They kept listening to the obviously inaccurate instructions spit out by the device. At one point a detour was proposed when real life conditions suggested staying the course moving from one highway to a connecting one. Both of them likened the instructional speech to that of their spouse and said obeying it is the best way to go about life.
It's a bloody machine. Isn't there an obligation on human beings to synthesise and process what the machine says? Doesn't the final responsibility rest with the person?
These sound like the types who would listen to their mobile's assistant (Siri, Google, Cortana, etc) find a spot on their calendar and suggest buying tickets to the cinema.
Rain Man
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 708
Sewage is comparatively warm -- the water in a toilet bowl is often room temperature -- and the off-gassing effluvia creates additional heat, which rises when the ambient temperature drops. As a result, the vents blow warm -- if awful -- air in the winter, and the iron manhole covers can actually collect heat.
I recommend every man try curling up over a storm drain on a crisp night sometime. It's an experience.
- Messages
- 22,011
I don't see this daily but I find some Chinese folks have a strange sense of what's acceptable attire in the financial district.
A man was wearing long shorts stretching below his knee. He had a black knee length wool overcoat on and a scarf. It was -5c outside.
Employees in office attire wearing surgical masks. This was indoors in the tallest office tower in Canada with an underground retail area that rivals small suburban malls. What would one do if one of these people showed up in your meeting?
A man was wearing long shorts stretching below his knee. He had a black knee length wool overcoat on and a scarf. It was -5c outside.
Employees in office attire wearing surgical masks. This was indoors in the tallest office tower in Canada with an underground retail area that rivals small suburban malls. What would one do if one of these people showed up in your meeting?
- Messages
- 22,330
Are the mask-wearers AZN? Or is it cross-cultural.
- Messages
- 22,011
They're all Chinese. And no, not Filipino, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, etc.
LelandJ
Chicken Testicle Enthusiast
- Messages
- 6,002
Probably just used to having to wear it all the time to breathe in Beijing.
- Messages
- 4,235
I don't know about China, but those masks are very common in Japan, especially during winter, when colds and flu are more prevalent.
People who have a cold or the flu wear the masks so as to lessen the chance that they will pass the cold or flu on to other people - so it's not used to avoid getting infected, it's used to avoid infecting other people.
- Messages
- 22,011
Pay phones.
Homeless people rummaging through them for change. That's not something from the 20th century. This is 2016. Maybe this bloke had a lobotomy and forgot most people use mobiles or if they need a pay phone, they use credit.
Some ethnic minority using a pay phone on the subway platform. The subway runs between every 2-5 minutes. What quality dialogue can you have with that? I thought these phones were reserved for emergencies.
Homeless people rummaging through them for change. That's not something from the 20th century. This is 2016. Maybe this bloke had a lobotomy and forgot most people use mobiles or if they need a pay phone, they use credit.
Some ethnic minority using a pay phone on the subway platform. The subway runs between every 2-5 minutes. What quality dialogue can you have with that? I thought these phones were reserved for emergencies.
- Messages
- 9,148
I'm saddened to report that in this city, certainly the part where I live, there appears to be an epidemic of handicapped women.
They are Chinese, well dressed - in that tacky nouveau riche asian way - around 40 years old and always driving new shiny black Mercedes or BMW 4WD.
I base this observation on the fact they occupy all the designated handicapped parking spots at the library, govt offices, supermarket and elsewhere.
They are Chinese, well dressed - in that tacky nouveau riche asian way - around 40 years old and always driving new shiny black Mercedes or BMW 4WD.
I base this observation on the fact they occupy all the designated handicapped parking spots at the library, govt offices, supermarket and elsewhere.
- Messages
- 22,011
Ripped jeans.
Something I thought was over in my preteen years is coming back amongst teens. Why is it logical to purposely mangle your own garments? I've been trying to mend and save rips in my trousers.
Anyway I saw a woman with sporting jeans so ripped I think fabric was in minority compared to exposed skin. What kind of message does it send to her kids when they see mother?
Something I thought was over in my preteen years is coming back amongst teens. Why is it logical to purposely mangle your own garments? I've been trying to mend and save rips in my trousers.
Anyway I saw a woman with sporting jeans so ripped I think fabric was in minority compared to exposed skin. What kind of message does it send to her kids when they see mother?
Rain Man
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 708
LelandJ
Chicken Testicle Enthusiast
- Messages
- 6,002
See this everywhere in NYC now, really hate it.
- Messages
- 22,011
How do you know someone's homeless? Milling outside buildings and entranceways and bending over to pick up leftover cigarette butts.
- Messages
- 9,148
Ripped jeans/jeggings is one trend I didn't think would revive in such a mainstream way so quickly.
The strange thing is it rarely looks good on anyone.
One rule you can always use: if it doesn't look all that great on a photoshopped professional model in a glossy magazine - it probably won't look good on you.
The strange thing is it rarely looks good on anyone.
One rule you can always use: if it doesn't look all that great on a photoshopped professional model in a glossy magazine - it probably won't look good on you.
- Messages
- 22,011
Women in heels walking the city. If you can afford the time, being behind a seasoned veteran is worth it. They walk around all grates, tip toe past puddles and generally take the most flat and least obstructed path on city sidewalks.
- Messages
- 22,011
In my walk to work the past few months, I've noticed on occasion fresh pigeon remains. It's usually a leg with some flesh hanging on it and maybe a feather attached. There's a trail of pigeon parts but never the whole pigeon.
Today's the second or third time I've seen it. I keep thinking there's a crippled pigeon hopping around these scenes.
Today's the second or third time I've seen it. I keep thinking there's a crippled pigeon hopping around these scenes.
LelandJ
Chicken Testicle Enthusiast
- Messages
- 6,002
There's an organic diner I frequent where I order the same hamburger every time and noticed my usual 33% tip got downgraded to somewhere under 19% according to their new math:
- Messages
- 9,148
The whole American thing of tipping - I still don't accept it.
You buy a $15 hamburger why do you sling them another $5?
Here a $15 hamburger is $15
You buy a $15 hamburger why do you sling them another $5?
Here a $15 hamburger is $15
LKP
Troll Treasurer
- Messages
- 4,981
- Messages
- 22,330
Top Konzern vintage in parking lot today
- Messages
- 22,330
That's awesome, not oddThruth , dear.
True but also odd because not often seen.
LKP
Troll Treasurer
- Messages
- 4,981
Olo @ overtime
Now you tell me that this was a WHITE salary with taxes being paid etc??
LelandJ
Chicken Testicle Enthusiast
- Messages
- 6,002
This was at a top 3 star NYC restaurant still in business!
My co-waiters were an Italian, two nationals from your country, and an Indian. Our manager was Greek who sometimes went clubbing with me. Most Americans weren't smart enough for the job. Tips pooled taxes paid.
I posted an essay about the experience on SF couple years ago.
- Messages
- 4,235
Link? Or repost over here?
- Messages
- 9,148
This is third world exploitation levels. I don't know why it exists in a (relatively) civilized country like USA.
Here minimum wage is around $18.70 per hour.
Last edited:
LelandJ
Chicken Testicle Enthusiast
- Messages
- 6,002
Very few have the skills and ability to keep a serving job at high end foodie restaurants where tables sell out a month in advance and before online high frequency bot reservations existed. There’s always an intermittent revolving door of new hires who didn't last a week of training, although someone would be personable enough they'd get by for a month or two whenever there was a shortage of established servers.
Imagine a dinner shift doors opening at 5:00 where all your tables are filled immediately for three full seatings, sometimes four with people willing to get sat at 11:30 for dinner. Five or six tables in combination of two tops and two to three four to six tops depending how good a server you are. A typical full unhurried menu presentation takes three minutes to explain all options and courses. Forbid one of the guests thinks they can break the course rules or tell the chef to change a dish, and the most stubborn will, but next day the part-owner chef will go off in service meeting as if he’s about to kill someone with his war cry audible over a block away on a busy street. You learn to angle your head slightly to deflect damage to your eardrum. Who says terrorism doesn’t work? The best servers take an order for a five top of four courses without pen and paper, that's 20 different dishes, on a daily changing menu of 70 dishes, with corresponding seat positions to remember for computer entry, not because it was fun to do but writing the order would waste time and more importantly take your peripheral vision away and status awareness of all other tables and their real time needs. Then you learn art of being able to give directions to your back waiter, things like mise en place for another table whose previous course was cleared by someone else's backwaiter, in the middle of taking order on the four to six top right in between one person's complete order and the next without the table even noticing you're multi-tasking other tables or knowing they don't have your full undivided attention. You finish taking your five top order but all three computer terminals are in use by other servers, so you have to do other things for a minute before the data dump which can include taking another order by memory for a two top. Up to 28 dishes total relying on your advanced short term memory skills. Nevermind you only had four hours of sleep last night, the night before that, two nights before, three nights before LOL.
If you're unlucky you'll have a table completely carefree of the restaurant being slammed and ask never ending food questions or waffle on their order even though you asked if everyone were ready before committing to taking order. You learn to read these people over time when they sit down so you'll know whether to schedule a food questions chat interaction in between menu presentation and order taking. Usually not a big deal for people in first seating with theater tickets and need out by certain time, but second to fourth seatings different game. Can't spend too much time in one individual table interaction, there's wine bottles waiting at the bar and their wine glasses need primed, or the kitchen just sent out five whole fish simultaneously to present their respective tables before filleting, plating, and serving. Every server and back waiters slammed, the owner and manager each filleting one fish with eyes prowling till they catch you to fillet a fish despite none destined for your tables. The better and faster your filleting skills the more you get "recruited" for what takes at least 90 seconds at the fastest as we timed our filleting races for the biggest fish that first need excavation from an egg white salt encrusted dome. You then learn to recruit the backwaiter of the server whose fish you're filleting to go refill the water glasses on your tables. You notice as you're finishing the fish, one of your tables is ready to order, but there's still another fish on the center table getting cold. The manager, who I was really good friends with, suckers you again without a break but bargains to take the two top order and entry so you have time to fillet and deliver another fish. Really he just wants you to keep an eye on the weak newly trained server he purposely placed next to your station, he knows you'll see and correct what's missing or waiting to be done when you deliver his fish. The manager will always use you to ease his duties, and with tips pooled you have to do the right thing regardless.
Basically there's about ten things on your immediate to do list, constantly re-prioritizing real-time for efficiency about every ten seconds, both for yourself and what to relegate your backwaiter. For eight hours straight the restaurant's roaring with noise from tables' conversations, fillet silver clashing, and heavy handed backwaiters lugging bus bins to the back in a 18 foot high ceiling and wood floor reverb chamber. You don't hear yourself think, can barely hear some of your elderly or shy tables ordering, but you maintain zen amidst the multi-task anarchy gauntlet. Tables so close together and the hallways traffic jammed of workers, diners, and people waiting to get sat. One inch the wrong way your tray of cocktails or wine glasses becomes a hole in the matrix. Witnessed it once and server was fired shortly after. Only had one female server last any length of time I remember, with several having near mental breakdowns in the middle of service. Like there's anytime for that in the shift LOL. I almost had a physical exhaustion breakdown after a 112 hour work week once, not including the daily two and half hour commute time. The established service crew was small, like six of us and we were all first generation or mixed immigrants. Indian, Ukrainian, Italian, Japanese, Greek, all in our 20's or early 30's. We only had one competent white American who was old and gay. He moved the slowest naturally but we didn’t mind helping him out. Looking back most young privileged white Americans intelligent enough to work that level were busy making more money in less demanding environments.
One of biggest challenges was scheduling your one eight hour pee break in the ever changing must-do-now list of ten plus items. You multi-task down to six things and have a 20 second window to rush the restroom, but the runners will shove two plates in your hand to run them as the kitchen entry is adjacent the restroom hallway. Lose your one opportunity for next hour, with same thing happening two more rescheduling attempts until three hours pass quickly and by 11:00 you find a moment to escape wondering how you managed to hide the pain that long. Of course the owner meets you right outside the restroom hallway at the barista station handing a check book to process with a sheepish who needs a restroom break but can’t say anything look LOL. Then he remembers you had a lunch table stayed all afternoon and didn’t get a meal break since the 10:30am employee meal of semi-rotting fish. You’re dehydrated because you can’t drink water on the floor and no time to schedule a sip in the pastry kitchen downstairs, all the wines you tested during service compounds the problem.
Despite the supra martial randori focus required for 14 to 16 hour service shifts, it was still a lot of fun. Daily food and wine tastings with chef, on the good mood days, and sommelier hour before dinner shift, working with other highly intelligent people of great humor sense, no shortage of friendly racist jokes with the diversity. Even learned how to genuinely interact with wealthy but clueless guests instead of putting on a show or faking sincerity. Not their fault they were born to spoiled families. Once in a while you’ll get a young middle class foodie couple come in like a Portlandia skit and show too much exuberance in your presentation, knowledge, and of course the food itself. You want to tell him to relax like the wealthy people around them. A treat when you get other sommeliers or servers in the industry on a rare day off come, dine, and understand the demands of the job, inviting you to their restaurants likewise on your rare day off.
Imagine a dinner shift doors opening at 5:00 where all your tables are filled immediately for three full seatings, sometimes four with people willing to get sat at 11:30 for dinner. Five or six tables in combination of two tops and two to three four to six tops depending how good a server you are. A typical full unhurried menu presentation takes three minutes to explain all options and courses. Forbid one of the guests thinks they can break the course rules or tell the chef to change a dish, and the most stubborn will, but next day the part-owner chef will go off in service meeting as if he’s about to kill someone with his war cry audible over a block away on a busy street. You learn to angle your head slightly to deflect damage to your eardrum. Who says terrorism doesn’t work? The best servers take an order for a five top of four courses without pen and paper, that's 20 different dishes, on a daily changing menu of 70 dishes, with corresponding seat positions to remember for computer entry, not because it was fun to do but writing the order would waste time and more importantly take your peripheral vision away and status awareness of all other tables and their real time needs. Then you learn art of being able to give directions to your back waiter, things like mise en place for another table whose previous course was cleared by someone else's backwaiter, in the middle of taking order on the four to six top right in between one person's complete order and the next without the table even noticing you're multi-tasking other tables or knowing they don't have your full undivided attention. You finish taking your five top order but all three computer terminals are in use by other servers, so you have to do other things for a minute before the data dump which can include taking another order by memory for a two top. Up to 28 dishes total relying on your advanced short term memory skills. Nevermind you only had four hours of sleep last night, the night before that, two nights before, three nights before LOL.
If you're unlucky you'll have a table completely carefree of the restaurant being slammed and ask never ending food questions or waffle on their order even though you asked if everyone were ready before committing to taking order. You learn to read these people over time when they sit down so you'll know whether to schedule a food questions chat interaction in between menu presentation and order taking. Usually not a big deal for people in first seating with theater tickets and need out by certain time, but second to fourth seatings different game. Can't spend too much time in one individual table interaction, there's wine bottles waiting at the bar and their wine glasses need primed, or the kitchen just sent out five whole fish simultaneously to present their respective tables before filleting, plating, and serving. Every server and back waiters slammed, the owner and manager each filleting one fish with eyes prowling till they catch you to fillet a fish despite none destined for your tables. The better and faster your filleting skills the more you get "recruited" for what takes at least 90 seconds at the fastest as we timed our filleting races for the biggest fish that first need excavation from an egg white salt encrusted dome. You then learn to recruit the backwaiter of the server whose fish you're filleting to go refill the water glasses on your tables. You notice as you're finishing the fish, one of your tables is ready to order, but there's still another fish on the center table getting cold. The manager, who I was really good friends with, suckers you again without a break but bargains to take the two top order and entry so you have time to fillet and deliver another fish. Really he just wants you to keep an eye on the weak newly trained server he purposely placed next to your station, he knows you'll see and correct what's missing or waiting to be done when you deliver his fish. The manager will always use you to ease his duties, and with tips pooled you have to do the right thing regardless.
Basically there's about ten things on your immediate to do list, constantly re-prioritizing real-time for efficiency about every ten seconds, both for yourself and what to relegate your backwaiter. For eight hours straight the restaurant's roaring with noise from tables' conversations, fillet silver clashing, and heavy handed backwaiters lugging bus bins to the back in a 18 foot high ceiling and wood floor reverb chamber. You don't hear yourself think, can barely hear some of your elderly or shy tables ordering, but you maintain zen amidst the multi-task anarchy gauntlet. Tables so close together and the hallways traffic jammed of workers, diners, and people waiting to get sat. One inch the wrong way your tray of cocktails or wine glasses becomes a hole in the matrix. Witnessed it once and server was fired shortly after. Only had one female server last any length of time I remember, with several having near mental breakdowns in the middle of service. Like there's anytime for that in the shift LOL. I almost had a physical exhaustion breakdown after a 112 hour work week once, not including the daily two and half hour commute time. The established service crew was small, like six of us and we were all first generation or mixed immigrants. Indian, Ukrainian, Italian, Japanese, Greek, all in our 20's or early 30's. We only had one competent white American who was old and gay. He moved the slowest naturally but we didn’t mind helping him out. Looking back most young privileged white Americans intelligent enough to work that level were busy making more money in less demanding environments.
One of biggest challenges was scheduling your one eight hour pee break in the ever changing must-do-now list of ten plus items. You multi-task down to six things and have a 20 second window to rush the restroom, but the runners will shove two plates in your hand to run them as the kitchen entry is adjacent the restroom hallway. Lose your one opportunity for next hour, with same thing happening two more rescheduling attempts until three hours pass quickly and by 11:00 you find a moment to escape wondering how you managed to hide the pain that long. Of course the owner meets you right outside the restroom hallway at the barista station handing a check book to process with a sheepish who needs a restroom break but can’t say anything look LOL. Then he remembers you had a lunch table stayed all afternoon and didn’t get a meal break since the 10:30am employee meal of semi-rotting fish. You’re dehydrated because you can’t drink water on the floor and no time to schedule a sip in the pastry kitchen downstairs, all the wines you tested during service compounds the problem.
Despite the supra martial randori focus required for 14 to 16 hour service shifts, it was still a lot of fun. Daily food and wine tastings with chef, on the good mood days, and sommelier hour before dinner shift, working with other highly intelligent people of great humor sense, no shortage of friendly racist jokes with the diversity. Even learned how to genuinely interact with wealthy but clueless guests instead of putting on a show or faking sincerity. Not their fault they were born to spoiled families. Once in a while you’ll get a young middle class foodie couple come in like a Portlandia skit and show too much exuberance in your presentation, knowledge, and of course the food itself. You want to tell him to relax like the wealthy people around them. A treat when you get other sommeliers or servers in the industry on a rare day off come, dine, and understand the demands of the job, inviting you to their restaurants likewise on your rare day off.
- Messages
- 22,011
I know it was a massive political effort to get cycling lanes in the city, but it's 21c today and I see skateboarders using them. Is that normal?
LKP
Troll Treasurer
- Messages
- 4,981
LelandJ
Chicken Testicle Enthusiast
- Messages
- 6,002
At an airport restroom today and the guy next to me was swinging his body back and forth laterally with gusto while urinating. Luckily there was a small divider between us but still hard to believe my peripheral eyes.