I was refused service in a dinner today, because I orderd a diet pepsi, coffee, and $5 worth of french fries: is this normal?

The place clearly sucked, so I'll try not to take it personally. To my mind, any order that includes an honest effort at eating should suffice. I would have tipped her well too. I always do that when the check is modest, because I'm a good customer like that.

We left and went to a nice little cafe, where we got no guff whatsoever. I gave that waiter a real nice tip. Five bucks on an $18 check.

If you want diner-chic image, you must accept diner-esque customers.

There's nothing too strange about ordering a diet pepsi. For me, it would be the soda thing and the pepsi thing. But they had pepsi, which is obviously the cola of choice for hipsters. I didn't give her any crap about though.

Right around that time is usually when restaurants have their shift change. The lunch workers leave and the dinner ones come in. The lunch servers can't leave though, until they close out your check -- get your payment, tip, etc. Or, they can't leave until they clean up your table because you were there during their shift, and they can't leave the mess for the next server to clean. So, they end up waiting around for you to leave and cursing you to the other servers. They say things like, "That motherfucker has been sitting there for 2 hours, and I just want him to leave so I can go home. God damn it, I have to study for a test tomorrow!"

Or, in some cases, they may say, "God damn it, I have to wait for that guy to go home so I can leave. And he only bought 5 bucks worth of shit too!"

So, am I maybe right? ON THE MARK?

X-post, god dammit!!!

Also, we weren't sitting around there for 2 hours; we had just sat down and were kicked out when we tried to place our order.

And finally, we didn't go to a bodega, because we wanted to sit down and have a rest for a half an hour.

I would name the diner, but I didn't think to remember the name. The place was weird. The staff were arguing loudly and using unsavory language.

lsg OTM

"Hello, just looking!"

"Well, you can fuck right off to the next shop then."

I might be making this up, it's not necessarily applicable to your sad afternoon, Super Cub, but...maybe it's a sensitivity you get for a city/locale, a feel for the nature of things and the different classes they fall into...? At this point in NYC if I just needed to rest the feet I'd home in on a cafe or something v casual by local definitions, going by certain hallmarks like the other clientele, the age/attire of the servers or counter people, whether there was table service AT ALL, a look at the menu, the decor in general, whether or not there were table cloths, etc etc blah blah. You know, signs that are only useful if you have a framework for them already. In, like, Berlin, I'd be fuckin' sunk -- I'd probably try to order falafel in a chocolate shop.

Written down like that it sounds like a lot of work just to get some fries, but after a while it's automatic, no work at all. You just observe and categorize to best meet your needs.

As my mother always says: The client may be king, I'm the EMPRESS.

I'd just go to a Starbucks, except those places are so unpleasant.

Alright. I'm over it.