Ah, memories...
Aug. 16th, 2007 08:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terribleturnipThe recent posting of ANCIENT pictures has me glad of ONE thing. Few of you knew me in '84, '88, back when there were giant sloths, and those that did weren't picture-takers. Whew!
But speaking of flashbacks -- am meeting a friend tonight for happy hour at a restaurant that was once, about a decade ago, a Mexican restaurant. Where I decided, after having a really hard week, I decided I deserved a sit-down relaxed lunch before I headed back to the salt mines. So I went in, pulled out a book and had me my lunch.
I was darn near finished with my iced tea, and nose down in my book, when I finally looked up at my glass. And saw the drowned cockroach plastered against the inside of the glass. And he weren't no little one, neither. He was big enough to see the expression on his little drowned face.
I sat there stunned for a moment, my gut beginning to roil a bit -- frankly, I've eaten bugs on purpose, but I also know restaurants and roaches and well, THEY don't wash their hands, either. Just at that moment the waiter comes up and brightly asks if he can get anything else for me.
Now the restaurant is packed. And since I have worked in foodservice, I know that cockroaches are a fact of life and that s**t like this happens; it really does NOT mean that the place is a unsanitary necessarily. So, overcome with WASPness (we abhor a scene), I whisper "Um, actually, there's a roach in my glass" and point to the offending critter.
"There's a what?" the waiter says loudly.
I motion him in closer and point, still whispering, "A roach. In my glass."
"OMIGOD! There's a roach in your glass. That's DISGUSTING!" he hollers, at the top of his lungs. And the whole dining room is now aghast...and staring at me, who has now become "the woman who drank roach juice". So much for not making a scene.
He runs off with it back into the kitchen and returns a few minutes later "The manager says, the whole meal is on us and let me get you another beverage. Would you like another iced tea?"
"Um, do you have something in a bottle?"
So...here's the question...different restaurant, but will I be able to order something unbottled?
But speaking of flashbacks -- am meeting a friend tonight for happy hour at a restaurant that was once, about a decade ago, a Mexican restaurant. Where I decided, after having a really hard week, I decided I deserved a sit-down relaxed lunch before I headed back to the salt mines. So I went in, pulled out a book and had me my lunch.
I was darn near finished with my iced tea, and nose down in my book, when I finally looked up at my glass. And saw the drowned cockroach plastered against the inside of the glass. And he weren't no little one, neither. He was big enough to see the expression on his little drowned face.
I sat there stunned for a moment, my gut beginning to roil a bit -- frankly, I've eaten bugs on purpose, but I also know restaurants and roaches and well, THEY don't wash their hands, either. Just at that moment the waiter comes up and brightly asks if he can get anything else for me.
Now the restaurant is packed. And since I have worked in foodservice, I know that cockroaches are a fact of life and that s**t like this happens; it really does NOT mean that the place is a unsanitary necessarily. So, overcome with WASPness (we abhor a scene), I whisper "Um, actually, there's a roach in my glass" and point to the offending critter.
"There's a what?" the waiter says loudly.
I motion him in closer and point, still whispering, "A roach. In my glass."
"OMIGOD! There's a roach in your glass. That's DISGUSTING!" he hollers, at the top of his lungs. And the whole dining room is now aghast...and staring at me, who has now become "the woman who drank roach juice". So much for not making a scene.
He runs off with it back into the kitchen and returns a few minutes later "The manager says, the whole meal is on us and let me get you another beverage. Would you like another iced tea?"
"Um, do you have something in a bottle?"
So...here's the question...different restaurant, but will I be able to order something unbottled?
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-16 01:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-16 01:43 pm (UTC)Cultural Prejudices
Date: 2007-08-16 06:38 pm (UTC)A small tome by an English writer of the late 19th century made exactly that point. He wrote," Well, them critters is eatin' our food, so why shouldn't we get ours back by eatin' them in return???" (It may be that the midlands accent is not easily understandable in this representation.)
A whole culture of bug preparation could spring up," ...and our chef is pleased to recommend the termite pate, Buffalo style water bugs, and imported stag beetle grub Romano with a hint of garlic".
As members of the order Arthropoda, insects are not substantially different from crabs, shrimp, or lobster. You may be aware that these sea creatures are very popular items at dinner tables.
That being said, OH MY GOD GOD, A DEAD F***ing COCKROACH THAT HAD BEEN FLOATING IN YOUR DRINK WHILE YOU SUCKED BACK THE EXUDATES OF IT'S DEATH STRUGGLES !!!???!!! YOU CAN CUT OFF A COCKROACHES HEAD, THEN DROWN HIM, AND HE'LL STILL TAKE HOURS TO DIE!!!!! O, M, F***ING G !!!! I WOULD HAVE F***ING VOMITED RIGHT THERE!!!
Re: Cultural Prejudices
Date: 2007-08-16 08:13 pm (UTC)Re: Cultural Prejudices
Date: 2007-08-17 01:09 pm (UTC)By mistake I've eaten...bees, japanese beetles, unidentifiable white swarming wormy things infested the raspberries and more flies than I really want to think about.
And even bug infusions don't really bother me -- friends still remember a batch of homebrewed IPA I made as the best ever, and I'm still pondering whether it was the drowned wasp I found in the bottom of the carboy that made it special or if it was a fluke.
I've eaten at Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City, where you eat the world's best barbeque, slapping cockroaches off the wall and table as you eat...
But I know where cockroaches hang out in a commercial kitchen and they never wash their feet, those dirty little bugs...and if only 20% of men wash their hands after using the bathroom...what if that was a BOY cockroach? Blech.
Re: Cultural Prejudices
Date: 2007-08-17 01:12 pm (UTC)Re: Cultural Prejudices
Date: 2007-08-17 03:53 pm (UTC)Right you are! and since roaches would have no problem in going from toilet to dinner table... AND, since boy roaches are more adventurous...AND the only way they wash up is by cleaning off with their mouthparts, AND it was those very mouthparts of the roach you saw smiling back to you in eternal bliss...well, I don't think I have to draw a verbal picture...oh, too late.
"friends still remember a batch of homebrewed IPA I made as the best ever, and I'm still pondering whether it was the drowned wasp I found in the bottom of the carboy that made it special or if it was a fluke. "
When I come over tonight remind me to sing "Dead Dog Scrumpy" for you.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-19 09:04 pm (UTC)EW ew EW ew EWW!
p.s. totally adding you. you so funni!