Where do you go to be abused?

Some recent threads made me wonder why people put up with the rigmarole that some places make you go through before/while you can eat. But then I realized I used to do the same thing with Frontera Grill (waiting for two hours in the itty bitty entry way they used to have in January with my feet freezing off).

Anyone else have a place where they go to be abused? (My apologies if this topic has been discussed before.)

I am reminded of a letter to the editor the late playwright John Osborne wrote after attending a controversial play's premiere: "DEAR SIRS: I do not go to the theater for an evening of sodomy, sadomasochism and necrophilia. I can get quite enough of that at home."

Hi,

Weiner Circle seems to be the place for staff and customers to exchange insults.

From what I learned recently, Le Perroquet (RIP) was a place where the owner ruled over the customers. He had a strict rule that no women paid for dinner. When a woman took three customers for dinner there and desired to pay the bill, the owner refused to allow it. The gentlemen explained they were her business guests and it was suitable for her to pay. He got so furious, he pulled their tablecloth off the table and sent them out the door. If you talked to loud, he would be certain to advise you. If you violated some unknown rule, he seated you away from the main dining area. I never went so I know this anecdotally, does anyone have an experience to share?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Weiner Circle seems to be the place for staff and customers to exchange insults.

From what I learned recently, Le Perroquet (RIP) was a place where the owner ruled over the customers. He had a strict rule that no women paid for dinner. When a woman took three customers for dinner there and desired to pay the bill, the owner refused to allow it. The gentlemen explained they were her business guests and it was suitable for her to pay. He got so furious, he pulled their tablecloth off the table and sent them out the door. If you talked to loud, he would be certain to advise you. If you violated some unknown rule, he seated you away from the main dining area. I never went so I know this anecdotally, does anyone have an experience to share?

Regards,

I went there once while in high school on a big date. I did not experience any of the oddness from the owner that I have heard talked about. The food was memorable, the date not so much (other than the ride back to ground level in the little bitty elevator after dinner.)

Years ago, part of the Kaufman's Deli experience was being given a hard time by the staff behind the counter. One memorable exchange witnessed by my family:

Customer: Are the fish fresh?
Counterman: Listen. Caught yesterday, caught today, they're all dead, lady.

Does it count if you go somewhere and expect the service to be very, very slow? I can think of a couple of places that fall into that category (only one of them warns you on the menu, though). When I was in college, my favorite pizza place regularly took two or three hours to deliver their highly-prized white-clam pizza. But it was so good, we endured the suffering.

But as for real abuse . . . I've never gone to Ed Debevic's, but I always assumed that been sassed (or abused, if you prefer) by the waitstaff was supposed to be part of the experience.

My only experience with a restaurant that set out to insult its customers was when a friend and I decided to have a beer on the San Antonio "River Walk." We picked a restaurant that looked casual, sat down and ordered two beers. We were perplexed by the waitress's aggressively bantering tone -- it was a quiet afternoon, we were both in a very relaxed mood, we hardly seemed to be inviting it. The waitress gradually realized that we were clueless and stopped chivvying us. Only later did I discover that "Dick's Last Resort" was a chain specializing in customer harassment.

At the counter at Katz's Deli in New York, I once heard the following exchange:

Customer: I'll have the corned beef, lean please.
Sandwich Maker: If you want lean, you should get the turkey. Corned beef is fatty.

Overheard at Manny's: Customer: Can you put some mustard on the corned beef?
Geno: What-am-I, your mother!? Mustard's on the table.

Johnnies Beef, It can be abuse if you are indecisive during a busy lunch.

Perry's on Franklin. If you did not know wat you wanted by the time you got to the orderperson you would get yelled at by Perry-loudly. I wonder if the place is still open as there is a new deli on the smae street at or near the same location.

Elfin wrote:Perry's on Franklin. If you did not know wat you wanted by the time you got to the orderperson you would get yelled at by Perry-loudly. I wonder if the place is still open as there is a new deli on the smae street at or near the same location.

it's still there but Perry is gone. I was there the other day for the first time in a couple years and it was a ghost town. The food is the same but it just doesn't feel the same without the music and the random trivia questions from Perry.