Yesterday, onetime San Francisco mayor and bon vivant Willie Brown penned his most (in)famous article yet, "If diners have to wait, the restaurant should pay." That he's so blunt and Willie Brown-ish makes the entire thing so richly satisfying, especially for those of us who follow Brown's antics.
Brown writes: "Every restaurant should strive and achieve a maximum of a 15 minute wait. Anything more and your meal should be free. I wonder aloud, can you legislate that?"
Well played, Willie. We shouldn't expect anything less from our city's favorite puppet string-pulling gem, 'Da Mayor.
Service industry workers, however, weren't having any of it, as you can see from the many comments he culled. We shouldn't except anything less from our city's hard-working ilk. Namely, Perbacco's Staffan Terje, who, as Eater pointed out, tore into Brown's punitive idea thusly:
Wow! Is that what my career in this indutry has come to. Penalties and punishment for restaurant owners and guests? Great idea. This will entice people to go into the restaurant business and people to frequent them. I'll start caning my cooks when they over cook a steak and we should put all guest who showed up late in stocks on Union Square for public humiliation. No shows will be executed. Listen to your self! Pay somebody's dinner because the reso is late? Do you get free ticket when your flight is delayed? Free doctors visit if the patient before you is taking longer time? You of all should be bridging the gap, not widen it.Staffan Terje, Perbacco
Even better played, Staffan.