A friend and I were talking yesterday about parents bringing kids to restaurants, which, believe it or not, I have very few thoughts on, and those thoughts I do have are ambivalent and shaded, which is something I probably need to work on.
What I realized though is that more than bringing bad kids into restaurants, the worst thing people do when they go out to eat is applaud whenever a server drops some dishes. Every time I go out to eat and I hear the shattering of glass or ceramic, I hold my breath for a second and pray that nobody does it. If the diners ignore it, then I'm safely among normal people. But if they do break out into sarcastic applause, I am chagrined to realize that I am sharing a space with a.) people who are rude to servers and b.) people who think they're funny when they're not. Can you even think of a worse combination of personality traits?
That's all. Carry on.
midway117
OK, I am going to try to defend the practice. I get that the dropping of dishes/glasses is not only troublesome for the wait staff and possibly the customer (if the food is on the way out of the kitchen). And I know that in worst cases, there can be injuries. But as a sometime-clapper (I assess the situation), I have to say I do it to lighten the mood. It's a way of saying, "Hey, we all screw up!" I never thought of it as sarcastic.
Is it better to yell out "Just put that anywhere?" a la some d-list comedian?
Jan
Having worked for years in restaurants I always felt the clappers were saying, it's not a big deal, don't be embarrassed, we're all in this together.
jcdrossel
When that happens my girlfriend and I look at each and hope it's not as bad as it sounds, never occurs to us to clap. I think the bigger the restaurant and city the better chance there will be clappers.