People Who Don’t Want Lettuce All Over Their Seats, That’s Who!

My city has two [Restaurant] locations: one at a major intersection on the edge of the city and one smack in the middle of the shopping center. The one at the city’s edge is notorious for a poorly-placed drive-thru where a line of any reasonable length will obstruct one of the parking lot’s entrances/exits; the other one doesn’t enable left turns on your way out.

This story takes place during a period where health crisis restrictions were temporarily lifted. I’m in the city to bring a family member in, kill some time, and then take them home. The ride in featured a discussion about how restaurants are starting to open up their dine-in areas again, so I visit the [Restaurant] in the shopping area intending to grab a meal and eat leisurely.

[Restaurant] has automated ordering kiosks, but they only accept cards; paying in cash requires you to serve at the till. I happen to have cash on me, so I approach the till, where this conversation happens.

Me: “I’ll have [order], to dine in.”

Cashier: “Our dine-in area isn’t open yet.”

Me: “I thought you guys were open to dine in?”

Cashier: “No, [Other Location] is open to dine in. We’re not yet.”

I can already see myself being quoted on NAR as I say words I have mocked so often.

Me: “You should have a sign up.”

I’m expecting the cashier to point at an obvious sign I’ve missed, or say, “We do; you walked right past it.” Maybe they’ll look at a given sign, look back at me, and give me a sarcastic response. I’m therefore shocked when, instead, I get this.

Cashier: “What kind of idiot dines in at [Restaurant]?”

No comment about the health crisis or recent restrictions, no attempt to claim that they’re planning to, not even a snarky comment about management deciding not to enable it yet. Just an insult toward people who dine in, said to a person who had JUST asked to dine in.

I stared at the cashier for a moment and then turned around and walked away from the till. Out of curiosity, I started the ordering process on the kiosk and found that the screen that normally presents an “Eat In/To Go” option had a statement that said the restaurant was currently serving to-go only and apologized for the inconvenience. Paying attention this time, I saw no signs saying the same for people who intended to pay with cash.