Because we wanted to eat out spontaneously, but hadn’t made a reservation, there turned out to be only one table available in the wider area. At 5 p.m. sharp. For exactly one hour. That was a pity for the starter and dessert, but because we were already happy that we had found something after scouring thirty websites, I quickly clicked on four people.
A few hours later, at 4:48 PM, we were assigned a window table, next to the entrance of the restaurant. An empty table next to us, empty tables in front of us, empty tables everywhere. You could hear a pin drop. I watched the people shuffle past outside, looking for hot bitterballen with a cold beer.
I wanted to have a chat with someone. That’s part of it, when you’re out for dinner. But the waiting staff, consisting of a handsome lad of about 25, were busy at the door. As soon as someone came in to ask for a table, he said “no, we don’t have room until 7:30pm.”
“Weird, isn’t it?” I muttered. “They could have filled at least four tables in the ten minutes that we were here.” The old catering tiger in me came up. “In the past you just always kept some tables free, that worked fine and it was always full.” Puk (11) and Olle (8) rolled their eyes. They knew those stories about the past.
Unwelcoming and uncozy
“Ma’am, can I ask you something?” I asked the lady who, fifteen minutes later, brought our dishes (two lasagnas, a pasta with salmon and a piece of meat). “Is that something, such a reservation system?” She showed her mobile. I saw blocks with colors and times. “Look, in an hour we’ll be completely full, and then we’ll do two shifts this evening. I can see exactly how many people we have per table,” she explained.
“Thanks,” I said as she walked away. “That probably means that you can buy squeaky clean and plan staff. You don’t need anyone to answer the phone, you can collect data, send mailings, your agenda is clear…”, I rattled over my plate of pasta. “But I still think it’s inhospitable that they determine how long we can sit here. And isn’t this extremely uncomfortable, such an empty restaurant? Especially if it could have been full long ago.”
No one responded, I took that as a sign to continue with my story. “Nowadays you have to book a restaurant, museum or hairdresser weeks in advance. Just walking in or calling is no longer an option. Are you sitting there with your runway outgrowth, I find it so inconvenient. Are you three weeks later it’s your turn. And what if you go shopping in another city, then you can never have a nice dinner afterwards, isn’t that crazy?!?”
It used to be better
“No, with things like this I really wonder if things have really gotten that much better, with all this digital stuff,” I concluded. I was now sitting at an empty table and looked around. By now quite a few people had come trickling in. From behind the window, outside, the children waved at me. Hubby tapped his watch. Our hour had already passed, the restaurant was full. “No, some things used to be really better”, I sighed and quickly walked outside.
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