Waiterrant Guest Bloggling Aftermath

So last week, I wrote an article that was posted as a guest blog entry on Waiterrant.net. The concept behind this was simple. I would create a humorous/entertaining article based on my past experiences as a waiter and bring some simple entertainment to a wider audience of people.

Fortunately, most people understood this and enjoyed the article. Unfortunately, not everyone did and therefore, decided to have an angry reaction to the article. I especially enjoyed the ones that defended obnoxious children as well as the ones that suggest that waiters are some sort of low-class people that should be looked down upon. Internet comment boards really bring out the best in people.

But in the end, the article was a success as the day after it was posted, it was made popular on Digg and made the buzz section of Stumbleupon, resulting in the website being forced to go offline for a short period of time. The end result was a huge traffic boost for Waiterrant.net

The internet took a liking to the article.

And wouldn't you know it, I even received some intelligent emails from it!

From: "royall" <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, September 8, 2007 7:00 pm
To: [email protected]
Subject: Ten Amazingly Ignorant Customer Quotes Article

Hey, I love your "Ten Amazingly Ignorant Customer Quotes" article. I wish I could contact Tim to commend his great cynicism, unless of course you were the one who wrote the commentary. In that case, I think it was great.

His wish came true, he did contact me.

From: "Marc Welsher" <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, September 8, 2007 3:55 am
To: [email protected]
Subject: Your 10 Amazingly Ignorant Quotes Article

I read all of them and agree wholeheartedly. However, I do have a comment regarding the mother with the baby. You stated: "better yet, not bring an infant to a restaurant at all." I wonder if you have children. I do. Sadly we don't have the luxury of a babysitter where we can just take off and leave our 1 year old at home. We do try our best to make sure it's during a time when he's already been fed and is calm. During the unexpected times when he does get upset, one of us will take him outside to the car until we can calm him down again. However, I think it highly unfair that children should be considered unfit to be anywhere, whether it be church, the store, or a restaurant. Granted, I'd not take the baby to a movie theater because of the atmosphere. It's expected to be quiet.

To be sure, I've been in restaurants where the grownups were loud enough and obnoxious enough to destroy the atmosphere of my meal. More's the shame that supposedly mature people act that way. Perhaps that's something you should address in your blog. A child doesn't know any better, but what about the jackasses that are so into themselves they could care less about their loud voices and asinine conversations? These people should be asked to leave by the management but they very rarely if ever do.
Sincerely, M.R.

I like how he reminded me about the problem of adults who act like jackasses in a restaurant, couldn't agree more there. As for how I feel about his comments, I'll just cite part of my email response:

As for actual infants, in my experience with serving customers, it just doesn't seem worth it to take an infant to a restaurant mainly because too many of them are prone to beginning to fuss and cry out of the blue, regardless of how skilled the parents are. However, if the parents feel they are still able to handle their infant appropriately, then there is no problem.

Your email makes it clear that you are the type of parent who acts responsibly when out in public with their child, which is great to hear. Since this is the case, by all means continue to enjoy family outings with your child.
And yes, some adults are very obnoxious in restaurants. This is an unfortunate reality that would be a good discussion point for a waiter blog.

See how sensible I can be?

On that note, I'll end by saying that I enjoyed the opportunity to exchange a few emails with Waiter, the author of Waiterrant.net. He's a pretty cool and classy guy and I recommend checking out his blog, if you haven't done so already.

-9.14.2007

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