I worked at Copeland’s tonight. Tonight, of course, being Valentine’s Day: a day servers in the food industry both love and hate.
It wasn’t a bad night, money-wise. Good amount of business, good staff on tonight, and generally good tips. I’m not going to go into detail about the logistics of the food-service business: if you want to see someone who does, and is pretty humorous, check out my friend Jon’s page here.
The only thing I wanted to post about was something I saw running rampant today – something I’ve seen alot in my 4+ years of being in the restaraunt biz, but for some reason it especially irritated me tonight. I almost busted some heads. Okay, maybe not really. I’ll go ahead and introduce it by quoting Jon’s blog post from this past Saturday:
The one thing about this couple that really bothered me was that there was no communication, unless there was a complaint. every time I went to the table they were sitting there on their cool little smart phones. which brings me to say this, if you’re going out with your significant other, talk with them. listen to them. if your cool smart phone is more important than your relationship with him/her, then it’s not going to be too long before it’s just you and your phone.
I really like my new phone I got, but I don’t get on it when I’m out with my wife.
I love the way that’s worded, by the way. That’s exactly what I saw a lot of tonight!
Guys especially, but girls too, who would go out to eat and spend 80% of the meal chilling on their phones! Playing scrabble, facebooking, searching the area for the nearest Waffle House – seemingly anything besides talking to their date!
What? I mean, it’s Valentine’s Day! Overrated, Hallmark, commercialized – call it what you want, but if you can’t be romantic and involved in your “best bud’s” life on V-Day…you have a problem!
Jerks. Best word without cussing I can think of for people that consistently do that. Checking the phone occasionally, responding to texts, updating Twitter saying you’re out with an amazing person- totally cool in my opinion! Far too often however, even on V-Day, the focus turns from just being with the person, to writing, posting, texting, etc about being with that person! What? What? I find it terribly disconnected and disrespectful. Just my two cents…I’m climbing down off of my soapbox now.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being connected. I love Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, gmail, YouTube, etc. But when you set aside time to spend with a certain special someone, isn’t it worth it to unplug for a few hours? iThis, iThat, ilovebeingonline – let’s take the “i” out of everything and let it be about “them”!
I think oftentimes we get so involved in being “socially connected”…that we become “socially disconnected“.
Can I challenge you to be different in this? Go out with the person – and actually be there! Don’t be off “in the cloud” somewhere! The great business philosopher, Jim Rohn (and I believe Zig Ziglar as well), instructs us to “work when we are at work, and to play when we are at play.” Choose today, and every day, to enjoy life by being fully present. Wherever you are, be there!
El FIn.
Luke
“All of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some
magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the
roses that are blooming outside our window today.”
Dale Carnegie