So… This is actually not new… I wrote and published this in a different blog about 6 years ago… only 5 and a half short months after our oldest son was born… I find it just as relevant today as it was then…maybe even more so. Enjoy…
So last night I was reading this article which really got to me just a bit especially having similar topic content to my most recent blog “Smell the Roses.”
So…up in NYC, there is this restaurant that was quite popular and has been there for years but as of recently they began to receive bad reviews. They felt as though business had been steady over the last 10 years and not much has changed. Why are they just now receiving bad reviews after a decade of good reviews. They couldn’t figure it. They even hired new staff to try to compensate for the reviews claiming they were too slow. They eventually hired an investigator to help them get to the bottom of the problem. Get this…10 years ago they had these old Sony systems that recorded their surveillance on tapes. They are now upgraded to digital. By sheer luck, they had the old systems in storage and each of the 4 systems had the last tape still in them. The investigator reviewed the tapes from July 1, 2004, taking notes and comparing the details to the digital recordings from July 3, 2014 which was almost the exact same volume. As he calculated everything, he noticed that it took on average 1:05 from time of arrival to time of departure in 2004 and 1:55 in 2014. When he looked at all the little details, it took on average the same amount of time for them to be greeted at the door, the same amount of time for them to be brought appetizers, same for their meal, their check, and so on….so what was accounting for the difference in time…The people in 2014 all had smart phones. Many of the customers wanted to take photos with their food or have the server take a group photo which they had to review and then take again to get it right. Several wanted to show the server something on their phone. And several of them either did bump into or nearly bumped into someone as they walked out because they were busy staring at their phone.
In the end, the restaurant is giving the same quality of service as it always has but the customers are now so distracted that they do not even notice and then are displeased when they see the clock after having left. This is outrageous.
What has our society come to? I have been there on a special occasion and taken a photo before at a restaurant so I am not pointing the finger without pointing four back at myself but I can say in my defense that my lovely wife has helped me change so much for the better. Let me clarify that she has not intentionally changed me….I had to say that before I received angry comments. lol
My lovely wife having entered into my life has shown me there is so much more precious things in life and time should not be wasted having been attached to one’s phone. Those beautiful precious moments are lost never to be seen again. Take a tip from me and put that phone in the glove box the next time you go into a restaurant and embrace those moments. I promise you that you will not miss your phone. It will be waiting for you and nothing is going to be so pressing that it cannot wait until you are finished with your meal. Having left your phone aside you will have no distractions to take your eyes off of your beautiful wife’s eyes except for the moment when your little one pours his beverage in his lap…and each of those moments should not be missed. You will treasure them forever.
beingcoreybayless 