You can’t always get what you want
We arrived 15 minutes early for our 7 p.m. reservation, partly because I know that reservations are not guarantees, they are best guesses, and partly because…
It all comes down to the people in your life
In the service business you get all sorts of customers but the hardest ones are those who don’t just expect you to do your job, and…
The quest to be cool is never quite cool
I hadn’t seen him in years, maybe two or three bars ago. If it is true that change is the only constant, then someone should let…
Whiskey makers thinking inside the barrel
With the advent of craft cocktails and modern mixology it is possible, even in the most remote recesses of our great nation, to get the most…
Don’t reward bad behavior
It was a busy night, not so busy that the man didn’t have time to tell me that he was looking for a seat at the…
When hick meets hipster, press on
They clearly were cool. It wasn’t something the two needed to say outright, it just permeated every aspect of their being, from their tribal tattoos to…
Everybody celebrates a birthday differently
I think I might have yawned. I know that I looked at the clock on the wall. Time can crawl or race by depending on circumstance.…
Give the lady what she wants
I don’t recall how the conversation started, but I remember well how it ended. “I never went back there,” said the young woman.
The problem with telling a customer, “no problem”
It was as good a lunch as one could remember. If Virginia Woolf is known for saying, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if…
Spirited conversation, with cherry on top
“I’ll have an old fashioned with George Dickel, orange and angostura bitters and maraschino liqueur,” she said authoritively. “With an orange twist and a cherry on…