Riff on Booths

Stephanie and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on Sunday, September 11. We ate at one of our usual "special occasion" restaurants and got a couple hours away from the kids.

While we were there I was reminded of a particular aggravation I have with the restaurant biz. That is, the gap (or should I say "gulf") between the booth and the table is way too large. Just to get near my plate, I have to sit right up on the edge of the seat, which is not comfortable for a two-hour dinner. There's no back support, and all the pressure of sitting is directed right into the middle of the hamstring.

This is one reason why I prefer tables. I can move my chair as close or far away from the table as I desire.

FACT: Restaurants do not build booths just to annoy me. Rather, they build them to suit their best customers, which happen to be people who are grossly overweight.

I guess I can't blame restaurants for accomodating those who spend the most on dining out. It's just sad that America's obesity epedemic is so rampant that there's a subtle form of "reverse discrimination" against people of normal size and weight.

With education (through blogs like this) and commitment to health, maybe we can have a positive effect on our communities and help reverse the trend toward obesity. We'll know we're making progress when the table/booth gap begins to shrink.

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Comments

[Connie]

Hi Ryan, isn't that annoying? Yeah, they actually started making tables and even caskets larger these days! How sad!

I wrote about it on my blog back in July. http://www.sugarshockblog.com/2005/07/fast_food_place.html

Nice blog, Ryan. My researcher just found it for me.

Connie
www.SugarShockBlog.com

[muttley]

Your mission is really inspiring. I was wrong when I thought that eating is the only thing that matters here on earth. When my health was jeopardized, I realized that my excessive eating must be stopped. I am starting to shift my diet to a healthy one.

[Amanda Villanueva]

I do realize now after reading this I went to eat at a restaurant not only was the booth bigger, you could actually move the seat section as far as you wanted from the table! I thought it was just an exaggeration on your part but hey...I see it now. Did you guys know that Thomas Jefferson, had a body fat mass of 22-27%? Found this at (http://www.shapeup.org/bodylab/frmst.htm) You can check out all of the other presidents to!

[Andy Catsimanes]

I've spent some time in the restaurant biz, and you're right about booth size. But what's really sad is when customers insist on sitting in a booth and they have to "crowbar" themselves in because they're to big to get in.