What in the hell is up with the chewed gum that I keep seeing in places other than mouths? The only other place I should ever see gum is in its package at the store. Don't people have any manners anymore? Look, I chew gum on occasion because I want to make sure my breath is minty fresh when I am all up in the grill of a customer. (That "grill" comment is for you, John Anthony, father of two lovely little girls.) When I am done with that gum, I take it out of my mouth and place it in a trash receptacle. I don't spit it out on the subway platform or onto the sidewalk or stick it under a table and I certainly do not put it on the edge of my plate at a restaurant. People who chew gum and stick it on the edge of your plate at a restaurant: stop it.When I am clearing plates from a table, nothing is more disgusting than seeing some tired ass used up piece of gum stuck on the rim of the plate. With the gum there, I can't stack plates and the plate is going to need special attention when it gets to the dish room because that gum isn't going to slide off the plate like a french fry or a leftover hamburger bun. The gum is going to need to be physically removed by someone and if it's not me then it's going to be Julio the dishwasher and Julio has enough to do, what with emptying grease traps, cleaning toilets, dragging trash cans to the back to be sprayed with a water hose and doing my roll-ups for an extra five dollars. Customers, I ask that you deal with your own used chewing gum.
The disposal of gum has always a problem. I never understood why we were not allowed to chew it in high school until one day I crossed my legs at my desk and my knee brushed up against some Bubble Yum ruining my Jordache jeans. That was not the look I want to know better. I heard Oprah say once that there was no gum allowed in her studio because she hated it so much. She told a story of how she had someone over to her mansion for dinner of squab, escargot and gold leaf quiches when she noticed that the child of her friend put her used gum on the edge of the plate. Oprah, being all Oprah, was completely bleched out and had to throw the plate away because she knew she'd never want to use it again. Bitch please, just have one of your maids or Gayle King scrape that shit off and get over it.
Maybe some people don't know what to do with their gum when they are done with it. I have some suggestions:
- swallow it.
- collect a bunch of it and place it underneath your child's ass so it will remain seated while in my station.
- create a Gum Wall anywhere but my restaurant.
- put it in the hair of the lady sitting next to you on the 7 train who is talking on her cell phone way too loud about the bunion surgery she's saving up for because her "insurance don't cover that shit."
- feed it to a baby and see what happens.
- just keep chewing it until it dissolves.
- wrap it up in the same piece of paper it came in and then drop it into a trash can, you stupid asshole.
- Or do what Violet Beauregarde does:
"Well, normally, I'm a gum chewer. But when I heard about these ticket things of Wonka's, I laid off the gum and switched to candy bars, instead. Now, of course, I'm right back on gum. I chew it all day, except at mealtimes when I stick it behind my ear. Now, this little piece of gum I've been chewing on for three months solid. That's a world record. It's beaten the record held by my best friend, Miss Cornelia Prince Medal. And, was she mad. Hi, Cornelia. How are ya, Sweetie?"
Seriously, if you're going to chew gum, please be responsible with it and dispose of it properly. I don't want to see it on the edge of your plate. And I don't want to see it in the urinal either. Somebody has to get that gum out of there, you know and that person has a name.
His name is Julio.
Click here to follow The Bitchy Waiter on Twitter.
Click here to find The Bitchy Waiter on Facebook.
11 comments:
"collect a bunch of it and place it underneath your child's ass so it will remain seated while in my station."
hahahahaha
Love your blog, BW. Very, very much
:-)
~PolishSpring
If I could, I would make chewing gum illegal. There is nothing more disgusting than seeing/hearing someone chewing gum. I don't care if they are part bovine and proud of their family tree; go found a barn and chew your cud there.
Chewing gum is disgusting. You see people chomping away at it like a cow chewing cud. No matter how careful, you eventually step in some and feel that annoying tug as you pull away your foot. Then there is that bumping up against it when someone sticks it under a table (no Jordaches, but my skin, my poor skin). It makes me want to find such offenders and slingshot the wads right onto their foreheads. I think they must be the same people that smoke in cars but throw the butts out the window.
You brighten up my day!
I like your idea of feeding used gum to babies...just to see what happens. Great post...as always.
I never thought to pay the dishwasher to do my roll-ups!
When my son was almost two, I had allowed him to chew a bit of gum because he was of the age that I could not get away with putting anything in my mouth. He walked over to a clerk and held out his chewed gum and asked her to throw it away. I was a little horrified he was wanting to put his spit in her hand. She smiled and took the gum.
You see, I had taught him from early on not to throw anything on the floor! Then, he stepped in gum enough that he hated those who throw down gum. I imagine he is still ranting to his high school English class her teaches, ranting about gum being disposed of improperly. From my earliest school memories all the way through grad school, there has been gum under desks and tables at school. I don't get it. Throwing gum away is as easy as wrapping it in ANY paper of just dropping it naked into the trash.
Do you think this might have something to do with parental training of children?
That "chew it until it dissolves" comment reminded me that a lab in Ireland is putting the finishing touches on a gum that actually dissolves about an hour after it's first chewed whether it's in someones mouth or spat on the ground.
My favorite "slow day" activity at Olive Garden.... "Hey, since we're dead, why don't you all go around and scrape the gum off the bottoms of your chairs and tables, ok?" Nevermind you made me drive to work in a blizzard, now you want me to scrape gum?! Best part? Getting to give that knife to the one table that drove to stupid OG in the middle of a raging snowstorm in February in Minnesota. Because that one table made my manager all smug and justified telling ten people to come in to work on a Saturday afternoon.
Yeah. We actually do things like that. So mind your manners. And as Monty would say, Don't FUCK with the people who handle your food.
Hey, thanks so much again, I'm so glad you came in today, hope you get home safely! Thanks for the two dollar tip on your five salad refills and 16 breadsticks and 5 diet cokes with lemon and 3 zuppa toscanas. You really made my day!
Great info! And easy to implement daily. love it!
http://www.champagnefantasy.com/
I really don't know what to say but this was a problem back in the dinosaur days, as well. It was rude back then and, in these days of germophobia, would imagine it to be six times as gross. It just doesn't make sense. I happen to enjoy chewing gum, on occasion, but have always made sure that I disposed of it in its original wrapper. I did date a boy in my early teens who used to put his gum behind his ear but, as a girl just discovering her femininity, I thought THAT was gross! If only you could catch them at it, Bitchy Waiter, I'm sure you would find something appropriate to say to them.
Post a Comment