Dear Blake,
I am a widow, and I miss my husband very much. We used to go out to dinner together often. I have friends I have dinners with, but sometimes I go out by myself. Every time I do, after I say I am dining alone, the host or hostess asks, “Just you?” It is like an insult — just me? Like I need a reminder that I am alone without a husband.
I recently mentioned this to a friend who told me he experiences the same thing when he dines alone. He, too, considers it insulting. Please share this with readers who work in the hospitality industry.
Signed, Nicole
From San Antonio, Texas
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Dear Nicole,
The host or hostess appears to be lacking etiquette. So I suggest you give them a crash course on how rude you can be. Here are some ideas. Tell them that some of your friends complained that the cuisine there was comparable to dogfood. And if you determine that they are correct, you are going to highly recommend their restaurant to the local rescue center. Or, the next time you are asked “Just you?”, ask the server are they more “stupid” than they are “insensitive”, because you want to quite them accurately when you right your review on Yelp. Or maybe this idea. Tell them that food is so overpriced that you can’t afford to pay for the meal of a second person, even if they were literally starving to death. And finally, this last idea. Tell the server that their food killed your husband, and at the request of your attorney, you’re there to gather more information… so he can file a wrongful death lawsuit in the near future. I hope this helps.
Blake