Restaurants and bars are opening up across the country, and people sure are going to them! That is certainly a choice that I don’t feel comfortable making, but if you simply must go out right now and pay someone else to make and bring you your food, it’s very important that you don’t act like an unappreciative dweeb.
I assume, if you are going out for dinner and/or drinks in the middle of a pandemic, you have your reasons. Perhaps you are trying to support local businesses, or keep your favorite bar afloat (although there are other ways you can do this). That’s fine, I guess, but ordering chips and salsa and $2 tallboys while tipping 15% is not, as the kids say, it.
Every time you choose to bring your body to a restaurant or bar, you run the risk of exposing yourself or others to COVID-19, even if you don’t have any symptoms. You, the patron, can choose to stay home, but restaurant workers cannot, because they need money. The person who decided to open your favorite bar or restaurant back up is most likely the owner, not a worker, and it is the workers who will be taking your order, bringing you your order, and/or cleaning up after you, so it is very important that you be a polite patron, wear a mask, and tip well.
Follow. The. Rules
Beyond wearing a mask any time you leave your table, the establishment you have decided to bless with your presence probably has a list of rules they would like you to follow during the course of your visit. You should read them. If they are on their website, you should read them before you leave your house. If the rules are objectionable to you for some (unique, creative) reason, you should not go to that restaurant. Do not ask for exceptions—you are not special—and do not try to “get away with” bending or breaking the rules. If you have children who are incapable of understanding or following rules, do not bring them; if you have a relative who thinks masks are an infringement on their personal freedom, do not invite them; and if you have one of those “medical exemption cards,” leave it at home, because it’s a lie and you’re not fooling anyone.
Don’t complain! At all!
If I have learned one thing during all of this, it’s that $15 cocktails are actually completely worth it. I was never paying for the alcohol, not really. I was paying for the ambience, the chilled glass, the perfectly stirred and diluted beverage, and not having to clean up or worry about running out of ice or lemons. Similarly, when you go out to eat at a restaurant, you are not simply paying for the food. You are paying for labor, for experience, for preparations you never would have thought of on your own and—once again—not having to clean a dish or wipe a table.
It is okay to have missed someone else making your food. It is okay to have missed someone else bringing you your food. Hopefully these quarantine longings translate into a little bit of empathy or perhaps a newfound appreciation for restaurant workers, but some people have a remarkable ability to forget their past prayers and promises once they get what they want.
People who work in the service industry are under an unprecedented amount of stress, and whining because some aspect of your dining experience isn’t exactly what you want it to be is unacceptable, particularly when no one is forcing you to go out for fajitas (or whatever). Keep your criticisms to yourself, be nice and polite to the staff, and resist all urges to tweet at the establishment, especially if you are tweeting about shredded cheese.
Tip extremely well
Poor tippers are bad at sex. This was true before the pandemic and it’s even more true now. But worse than that, poor tippers are communicating to restaurant workers that they don’t think their labor is worth much, even when they’re putting themselves in physical danger every day. Much like deciding to eat out during a pandemic, how much you choose to tip is completely up to you, but anyone who tips less than 25% is, to me, now dead. Grubstreet’s Chris Crowley has made a case for tipping 50%, and it’s a strong one:
Why? Because restaurant workers have been made to keep working, to put their health on the line, in an industry that didn’t pay them enough to begin with; workplace abuse is rampant; and health insurance is elusive at best. These people are quite literally risking their lives so you can have a more convenient meal — you should never forget that.
Also, keep in mind that you can financially support a restaurant without physically being there. Order to-go, buy a t-shirt, order wine for pickup, or donate to whatever crowdsourcing platform your restaurant is using. If you’re not sure of the best course of action, reach out and ask. Send a simple email or DM that reads “What’s the best way I can support you? I can’t visit but want to send money your way,” and then do the thing that they tell you do to. If your reasons are purely philanthropic, doing so should bring you joy.
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July 07, 2020 at 08:00PM
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If You Eat Out Right Now, Don't Be a Jerk - Lifehacker
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