Waiter Rant
When Amy and I were at the Tea Room a couple weeks ago a man walked in with a small group and proceeded to raise a ruckus. He didn’t like the table they assigned. He didn’t like the next table. He got angry and firm, finally taking a table near the back despite the protest of the staff. Quite rude and quite thinking he was the only one in the restaurant.
When he sat down his mother, who likely taught him such behavior, said, “First you give them a chance to do it right, then you help them do it right.”
We laughed out loud. Their assumption of what they were owed did not disguise the fact they were merely boors.
I’m glad I don’t have to deal with such people every day.
But waiters and waitresses do.
The author of Waiter Rant started out thinking he would like to help people as a priest. He began to study for the priesthood but left when the corruption and the scandals started getting too much. Had a degree in psychology and tried his hand in the mental health care business. Also corrupt and scandal-ridden. Stayed honest, got fired.
Wandered around a little. His brother got him a job in a restaurant. Also corrupt and scandal-ridden, but at least there are no illusions. Stays a waiter. Moves to a nicer place. Begins to write about his experiences on a blog. Then in this book.
That’s the background.
The book is a memoir of sorts, but not a typical kind. It’s anonymous. It also dwells on a particular setting and makes particular points along the way. It’s a memoir with a mission, and this is to illuminate the often hidden world of restaurants. The Waiter, as he is known, touches on important concepts such as management, illegal immigration, rude customers, good and bad service, holidays, waiter revenge, hygiene, and assorted other topics. Each chapter has a particular theme.
Yet, these themes aren’t at all obvious at first. The writing is that good. The Waiter is brilliant at showing not telling, that tricky art that foils lesser writers. We are given a story, not a mere rant. He is descriptive, insightful, observing, and honest. The themes are held within an overall story that is his life, a life that has many twists and turns and disappointments.
These disappointments and disillusionment become our boon, however. Because of his background, and his great capability, we are given a wonderful view into an often disguised world. The Waiter brings to bear not only his expertise at his profession, but also psychological and spiritual insights, making this book a surprising deep read. But never overbearing and certainly never self-righteous. The honesty sometimes ventures into the vulgar, but always understandably so. It’s not only the story of a man trying to find his way and providing great commentary as he goes. It’s also a manual of restaurant etiquette and personalities, becoming a mirror to our often unconsidered actions.
This really is a great book, amazing insight and amazing writing throughout. Profound and readable, all while dwelling on often mundane issues. I’m going to be recommending this to most everyone I know.
Now, I sort of wish he went back into the priesthood, or maybe tried out being a Protestant pastor. I can only imagine how good he would do looking at the convoluted world of church life. But, I suspect his mission is greater than that.
He’s a waiter. He’s really a writer. And this book should be bought. Waiter Rant is a brilliant book. Ten stars if I could.
N.T. Wright
N.T. Wright, one of my favorite writers, was on the Colbert Report last night talking about heaven. Quite interesting… both the topic and how he did in that setting. It’s a hard topic to get across in such a short amount of time and with the jokes flying back and forth but I think he did a good job. Then again, I spend a lot of my time trying to sort out those kinds of things so maybe I’m not the best judge of how well he communicated. The fact he was on, however, is really interesting and might be among the nicest ‘theology in popular culture’ events I’ve seen in a long while. Hopefully, there will be more of that. Bringing theology directly to the people is a very needed task.
Here’s the clip (scroll down–I can’t embed it here for some reason and can’t link directly to the exact clip).
the pledge
It’s tough to run a college these days. It’s tougher still when you set high standards. And it’s toughest of all when those standards reflect an Ozzie and Harriet morality in a Sarah Jessica Parker world.
Just ask the folks at Wheaton College.
My alma mater, Wheaton College, in the news about its community covenant. Or as we called it, ‘the Pledge’.
When I was there, and probably still, the hip, attempting to be chic students (probably now users of Macs–which were pieces of junk then) reveled in breaking the pledge. Go out dancing, drinking, whatever. Go to the most conservative place you can, and break the rules. That’s rebellion!
I never really got that attitude. Freely choosing Wheaton meant freely choosing to live according to certain guidelines. No, they didn’t all match what I saw in Scripture. But they were there, and I signed that I would live by them. It was a matter of my own honor and commitment. A covenant indeed.
I’ve never been a rebellious sort, though I’m certainly not one to walk as everyone else does just because those are the rules. At Wheaton though it did create a certain atmosphere, and one that resulted in profound intellectual and spiritual growth for me.
I didn’t have the typical college experience, but then again, I didn’t have the typical college experience. Meaning I don’t remember all the social adventures or the craziness, but I did get this utterly classic liberal arts education which opened my eyes to the whole world, in depth and breadth. I learned how to think historically and think globally and go beyond the provincial thinking that I saw so limited a good many people I knew… and know. I think big, because of Wheaton, because of the modeling that came from professors who not only knew their subjects but truly and deeply loved God and conveyed that in a powerful way.
Yes, there will be those incidents that seem gray and grate against what seems otherwise entirely fair. But that’s a minor sacrifice in helping to maintain the kind of place where iron is really sharpening iron.
And those who broke the pledge, and celebrate(d) it? They talked a lot about hypocrisy and God’s freedom and such things. Still do. But the fact is that to a person they pushed people away from God and wallowed in their own frenzies. They undercut what could have been not only a profound intellectual experience but also a profound expression of amazing Biblical community.
The Spirit is, after all, the Holy Spirit and leads us towards holiness.
That’s why I really do support, in every way, the kinds of policies that help Wheaton continue to nurture a specific environment. As Bill McGurn says, “Today Wheaton is the counterculture. And the men and women who teach and study there know it.”
For Christ and his Kingdom.
time that blog forgot
Ann Althouse, a law professor at UW Madison, is beginning a very interesting project. Interesting, at least to this one time history major.
She’s started a blog called the Time that Blog Forgot. Each day she is going to go through the New York Times archives on a random year, going back 100 years, and blog about the news of that day.
This is especially fun to me because it is such a more thorough version of what I attempted back in 1994 or so (pre-blogging!). For a history methodology class I went through the microfiche of old New York Times and sought to get a contemporary view of the Civil War.
Here’s that paper.
You’ll need a bit more New York Times online access to read the full articles she is posting, but even the little bits in her post make for a very fascinating journey through history.
Very fun!
“stuff white people like”
Stuff White People Like. Or “how to fit into the emerging church scene”.
There’s a great website that is dedicated to listing what white people like. Things such as gentrification:
“White people like to live in these neighborhoods because they get credibility and respect from other white people for living in a more “authentic” neighborhood where they are exposed to “true culture” every day.”
Or study abroad:
“If you need to make up your own study abroad experience, they all pretty much work the same way. You arrived in Australia not knowing anybody, you went out to the bar the first night and made a lot of friends, you had a short relationship with someone from a foreign country, you didn’t learn anything, and you acquired a taste for something (local food, beer, fruit). This latter point is important because you will need to be able to tell everyone how it is unavailable in your current country.”
Or knowing what’s best for poor people:
It is a poorly guarded secret that, deep down, white people believe if given money and education that all poor people would be EXACTLY like them. In fact, the only reason that poor people make the choices they do is because they have not been given the means to make the right choices and care about the right things.
Or, maybe, Apple products:
On the surface, you would ask yourself, how is that white people love a multi-billion dollar company with manufacturing plants in China, mass production, and that contributes to global pollution through the manufacture of consumer electronic devices?
Simple answer: Apple products tell the world you are creative and unique. They are an exclusive product line only used by every white college student, designer, writer, English teacher, and hipster on the planet.
I woke up this morning thinking about a writing a post talking about some of my critiques of the emerging/missional church movement. I tend to be a cheerleader of it, and I think this hides some of the reasons I stepped away from it for a number of years, and only found my way back in a roundabout way. But, then I saw this site, and realized it’s getting at a lot of my pet peeves in a funnier way. And, getting at a lot of what I do like. I’m white, I know. I’m fine with the fact.
Well, well worth going through all the posts they have there. Hilarious stuff.
Doing good
What Kind of world do you want?
Raising money for worthy causes, led by Five for Fighting.
Where shall we find such love
And thus the Great Creator said, “…Man disobeying,
Disloyal breaks his fealty, and sins
Against the high Supremacy of Heav’n,
Affecting God-head, and so loosing all,
To expiate his Treason hath naught left,
But to destruction sacred and devote,
He with his whole posterity must dye,
Dye he or Justice must; unless for him
Some other able, and as willing, pay
The rigid satisfaction, death for death.
Say Heav’nly Powers, where shall we find such love,
Which of ye will be mortal to redeem
Mans mortal crime, and just th’ unjust to save,
Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?”He ask’d, but all the Heav’nly Quire stood mute,
And silence was in Heav’n: on mans behalf
Patron or Intercessor none appeared,
Much less that durst upon his own head draw
The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set.
And now without redemption all mankind
Must have bin lost, adjudg’d to Death and Hell
By doom severe, had not the Son of God,
In whom the fullness dwells of love divine,
His dearest mediation thus renewed.“Father, thy word is past, man shall find grace;
And shall grace not find means, that finds her way,
The speediest of thy winged messengers,
To visit all thy creatures, and to all
Comes unprevented, unimplor’d, unsought,
Happy for man, so coming; he her aide
Can never seek, once dead in sins and lost;
Atonement for himself or offering meet,
Indebted and undone, hath none to bring:
Behold me then, me for him, life for life
I offer, on me let thine anger fall;
Account me man; I for his sake will leave
Thy bosom, and this glorie next to thee
Freely put off, and for him lastly dye
Well pleas’d, on me let Death wreck all his rage;
Under his gloomy power I shall not long
Lie vanquisht; thou hast given me to possess
Life in my self for ever, by thee I live,
Though now to Death I yield, and am his due
All that of me can die, yet that debt paid,
Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave
His prey, nor suffer my unspotted Soul
For ever with corruption there to dwell;
But I shall rise Victorious, and subdue
My Vanquisher, spoiled of his vanted spoil;
Death his deaths wound shall then receive, and stoop
Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarm’d.
I through the ample Air in Triumph high
Shall lead Hell Captive maugre Hell, and show
The powers of darkness bound. Thou at the sight
Pleas’d, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile,
While by thee rais’d I ruin all my Foes,
Death last, and with his Carcass glut the Grave:
Then with the multitude of my redeemed
Shall enter Heaven long absent, and return,
Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud
Of anger shall remain, but peace assur’d,
And reconcilement; wrath shall be no more
Thenceforth, but in thy presence Joy entire.”His words here ended, but his meek aspect
Silent yet spake, and breath’d immortal love
To mortal men, above which only shone
Filial obedience: as a sacrifice
Glad to be offer’d, he attends the will
Of his great Father.~John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book III
Merry Christmas!!!
millions
Have you seen the movie Millions?
I saw it for the first time this past week. Honestly I was a little disappointed. Not by the movie but because Netflix sent it instead of The Simpsons movie. At some point someone recommended Millions, I added it to my queue then, likely a few months or more back, and it’s time came.
I was very much not disappointed by the movie. I was utterly appointed. (shouldn’t that work?) Actually, in a way I was because it turned out to be a Christmas movie of sorts. Christmas in both setting and Christmas in theme. Not the theme of rush to the store to buy the last figure and endure all sorts of mayhem. The theme of giving. The theme of overcoming consumerism to find something richer and deeper.
And both Francis and Clare of Assisi have cameo appearance, the former with birds, the latter with a cigarette
News from the Shire
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea:
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar,
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.
Peter Jackson is going to start making The Hobbit.
Strike!
Jenna Fischer, Pam from The Office, has written a great little post on the Hollywood writer’s strike.
I’m not a screenwriter, and likely will never be one. But I really support this strike, as a writer. The writers are the foundation of any good entertainment. Casts get famous, but it is the writing of a show or movie that sets it apart. Because they are behind the scenes, however, writers are often forgotten and ignored. Ignored by studios who are run by people with very little creative talent, besides squeezing more dollars out of society. The writers are asking for what is rightfully theirs, part of the royalties for the content they, not the studios and not the actors, created. The multi-national corporations, however, would rather break the union, force the writers to hide once more. I’m for this strike, no matter how long it lasts. The studios are ruining entertainment in this country and they need to lose for all sorts of reasons. No better reason, in my mind, than giving writers more money.
