altered states
señor member
We were in Philadelphia overnight to attend a friend's art opening. Being a food whore, I asked a few natives for a few places to go. Two agreed that THE place to go for breakfast was the Morning Glory Diner, a little south of South Street. It was a few blocks from our hotel, so, great. We were warned it gets crazy-busy on weekends, so we went early by NYC standards.
We showed up at about 9:00 am and there was one couple waiting inside (it was cold) for what looked like at least 4 empty tables. "What's up?" I asked the couple after about 5 minutes of no acknowledgment from the not-exactly-idle, but not-slammed-either staff members. "We don't know," the couple said. Okeydoke. We waited another couple of minutes, and the first acknowledgment we received was a 20-something boho-looking waitress (or maybe hostess - lets call her the "Haitress") with her hand up, like a traffic cop. "Okay," she said, very annoyed, rushing towards us. "You're all gonna have to wait outside."
Mind you, none of us had said a single thing - we were standing there, waiting. We were not blocking anyone, nor taking up any space needed for service. And it was 30-something degrees out, with a stiff wind. "Can we-" I asked, but before I could say "Put our names down" or whatever, she said "No - just go outside, and we'll call you." We stepped back outside and the Haitress slammed (yes, slammed) the door on us. "Okay, fuck this," I said to my GF, "Let's do 'Plan B.'" The other couple just seemed shell-shocked. The Haitress was meanwhile putting up a sign on the door that featured a big stop sign and explained all the many, many rules for accessing a table at the Morning Glory diner.
As I was headed back to the street, the GF opened the door up again as the Haitress was finishing posting the Rules and told her "You're very rude to your customers!" Now, see, when my GF opened the door, the Haitress had been leaning on it a bit, causing her to fall forward a step or two. Thus whatever hate the Haitress was buzzing on prior was now amplified to hummingbird velocity. "I'm calling the cops!" she threatened. "You're a fucking bitch!" the GF countered, and closed the door back in her face. We walked around the neighborhood a bit while finding another place for breakfast, and never heard sirens. I had no idea that at the Morning Glory even opening the door and talking back to the Haitstaff is grounds for arrest. We found another place with friendlier staff and pretty good food.
So here's the thing: I'm from New York, arguably the rudeness and bad-vibes capital of the planet. I've eaten at hundreds of restaurants here - cheap and expensive, achingly trendy and tacky as hell. I've gotten cold shoulders, bad service, etc at many. I've spent a decent amount of time in Paris and LA as well, two places not known for their warmth or the personal generosity of their service people. However I have never encountered hostility as at Morning Glory - nothing even close. We encountered several more seriously unpleasant people throughout our day in Philly, but that's another long rant. Still, the Morning Glory wins the prize so far in my short lifetime.
We showed up at about 9:00 am and there was one couple waiting inside (it was cold) for what looked like at least 4 empty tables. "What's up?" I asked the couple after about 5 minutes of no acknowledgment from the not-exactly-idle, but not-slammed-either staff members. "We don't know," the couple said. Okeydoke. We waited another couple of minutes, and the first acknowledgment we received was a 20-something boho-looking waitress (or maybe hostess - lets call her the "Haitress") with her hand up, like a traffic cop. "Okay," she said, very annoyed, rushing towards us. "You're all gonna have to wait outside."
Mind you, none of us had said a single thing - we were standing there, waiting. We were not blocking anyone, nor taking up any space needed for service. And it was 30-something degrees out, with a stiff wind. "Can we-" I asked, but before I could say "Put our names down" or whatever, she said "No - just go outside, and we'll call you." We stepped back outside and the Haitress slammed (yes, slammed) the door on us. "Okay, fuck this," I said to my GF, "Let's do 'Plan B.'" The other couple just seemed shell-shocked. The Haitress was meanwhile putting up a sign on the door that featured a big stop sign and explained all the many, many rules for accessing a table at the Morning Glory diner.
As I was headed back to the street, the GF opened the door up again as the Haitress was finishing posting the Rules and told her "You're very rude to your customers!" Now, see, when my GF opened the door, the Haitress had been leaning on it a bit, causing her to fall forward a step or two. Thus whatever hate the Haitress was buzzing on prior was now amplified to hummingbird velocity. "I'm calling the cops!" she threatened. "You're a fucking bitch!" the GF countered, and closed the door back in her face. We walked around the neighborhood a bit while finding another place for breakfast, and never heard sirens. I had no idea that at the Morning Glory even opening the door and talking back to the Haitstaff is grounds for arrest. We found another place with friendlier staff and pretty good food.
So here's the thing: I'm from New York, arguably the rudeness and bad-vibes capital of the planet. I've eaten at hundreds of restaurants here - cheap and expensive, achingly trendy and tacky as hell. I've gotten cold shoulders, bad service, etc at many. I've spent a decent amount of time in Paris and LA as well, two places not known for their warmth or the personal generosity of their service people. However I have never encountered hostility as at Morning Glory - nothing even close. We encountered several more seriously unpleasant people throughout our day in Philly, but that's another long rant. Still, the Morning Glory wins the prize so far in my short lifetime.
