A Genuine, Well-Dressed, Friendly Greeting

Just an observation here. Why is it that restaurant hostesses have an attitude? Out of all the restaurants I've been to over the years (lots) it seems the most likely person in any of them to be unpleasant is the hostess.

Tonight for example, I went to Cracker Barrel for dinner with my husband. After waiting around a while, the hostess eventually returned to her stand and asked us "how many?" without so much as cracking a smile.

"Two please."

"Follow me." Still no smile.

She proceeds to jet across the restaurant in some sort of turbo-mode. As she speeds up her walk, I try to catch her attention and end up literally running to catch her.

"Sorry to ask, but would it be possible to get a table a little closer to the door?"

If looks could kill, I'd be dead ten times over. She glared at me as she pushed past my husband and I and went into another turbo-bolt back across the restaurant.

"Will this work?" followed with another death-defying glare.

Maybe I should have made my request a little sooner, but at the same time she gave me little to no opportunity to do so. The interesting part is that clearly she learned her abrasive attitude from the best; ordinarily there's quite the grumpy woman who fills that position most days. She must have had the night off and her understudy was doing her very best to fill in some mighty big shoes.

Being grumpy isn't what I usually see in restaurant hostesses. More frequently, it's that whole "I have the keys to the kingdom, bow before me, meager restaurant patron" persona. I have to wonder what the proprietor would think to see their patrons being looked down upon so strongly as they entered the restaurant.

Then there's that artificially sweet greeting some offer. It's so over the top faked that you feel you need a shower after their drippy-sweet "Welcome to Charlie's Beer Barn."

I won't go into another long diatribe, but suffice it to say that in many a restaurant, someone needs to tell the hostesses that I'd prefer not to see that much of their body, please cover it up. I don't care if you are 19 and think everyone wants to see your legs, buns or overly propped-up cleavage. I don't.

I know not all hostesses are this way, there are those who are genuinely pleasant and do their job well. They're the exception, not the rule, a sad reality. To those, I mean no offense.

So genuinely friendly, appropriately dressed hostesses (and hosts, not to leave the guys out here), I am seeking your restaurants! I sincerely want to be a patron at your restaurant and let the owners and managers of those with the unpleasant hostesses see me vote with my feet and my wallet for the better service.