Why is it that when you happen to go into a restaurant by yourself that you feel so awkward? If you sit at the bar, the bartender won’t talk to you and some weird guy is bitching about not being able to watch boxing. “Everybody loves boxing, don’t they?” he says.
So you go to a booth and just sit gazing at the menu for far too long. You have to do something. Once you order, they take away your primary reading material and you are left scoping out the 3 dessert specials of the month and the cocktail list. What is in a Rob Roy? Is Long Island Ice Tea made with real iced tea?
Explanation:
Servers don’t like talking to customers. Why? Who knows? And then, the management is too stupid not to have a plan for singles. When a single shows up, get him seated and then do something magical like give him a newspaper – today’s preferably – and then train the servers to check in on him more regularly than normal to see if he might want to talk.
Don’t ignore him. Embrace him. He has a story and may even have a huge family and lots of friends. A single treated respectfully could become a really good customer in a hurry if handled properly.
