Saturday, January 17, 2009

Correspondence



Dear Aunt Bostick,
It's great you have a blog now. Why aren't you posting more often?
---A Reader

Dear Reader:
How kind of you to write me! I hope things are going well for you and yours.
Starting a blog is a tad stretch-y for me. I'm busy with my activities here at home. Remembering to sit down to write requires a discipline I've yet to develop.

One of the things I'm thinking about is clean restrooms. When I go to a restaurant, I go to the Ladies to wash my hands before I'm seated at a table. I do this because I want to have clean hands when I eat. If the restroom is messy or dirty, I am bothered. My dictum is " a clean restroom means the kitchen is clean, too." I'd write this in Latin but this morning my head is full of the jumble of Sunday School lessons, cat food bowls and the MLK weekend. Besides, Mrs. Tatum's Latin Class was years ago and here in Beulah, I seldom have an opportunity to burst out with a good Latin phrase.

The Trough, down at the strip mall, serves plentiful, hot country food. It's one of those buffet restaurants where the largest people take every seat. You pay one price and can eat as much as you can carry to your table. Don't try to take your rolls or dessert home in a ziploc bag. The waitresses are trained to spot your hand going into your purse to retrieve a plastic doggy bag. Once, Lally Porter, put a yeast rolls in her hanky to take home "to feed the birds". We all know Lally planned to heat that roll up the next morning for her breakfast. She, like many of us, recalls the Depression, so an untouched roll or pork chop or piece of chicken left on a plate uneaten is verboten. One of the waitresses swooped down and mentioned that Lally might as well take the butter patties on the table, too. Lally reached out to grab the butter patties and the waitress leaned in and said, "We do not allow our food to be taken out!" Lally was so embarrassed that she refuses to go to the Trough again. Or, at least until the waitress takes retirement.

The Trough restaurant has a clean restroom. One of the dishwashers goes in to scrub the lavatories, clean the toilets and put in fresh paper about every hour or so. Like the Cracker Barrel, the restrooms are clean all the time.

Not every place keeps a nice Ladies. I can't eat at Buford's anymore because I believe the bathroom is cleaned once a month. I don't want to name dirty restroom restaurants here because it's better to speak to the manager.

Clean your restaurant, keep your kitchen clean and have kind waitresses. I'd say waiters but the restaurants around here hire women to be the servers. Women are the cooks, too, so I guess the men just get the money.

Writing a blog, for me, means I have to get my kitchen clean, make my bed, straighten up my living room and get my groceries done before I sit down to blog. Clean house means a clean mind for blogging.

Thank you, again, for writing to me. I'm happy to hear from you all.

Gratefully,
Aunt Bostick

3 comments:

  1. I left a really long comment and blogger ate it. BUt as the waitress who used to have to clean the bathrooms at the end of the night I agree with all you said, and also wonder if we can do a better job of cleaning up after ourselves when we are in there.

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  2. Always happy to read you, Aunt B!

    Love.

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  3. Dear Aunt Bostick,
    I agree! An unpleasant restroom makes me suspicious of the kitchen. You are very wise.
    Let me know if you ever require technical support.
    Fondly,
    Songbird

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