Another Valentines in Hospitality. That's OK, need the cash, these are the first busy days in over a month.
It started Thursday, the early trickle of Valentines couples on errant schedules, hoping to avoid the rush or the special menu pricing, alternate lifestyle couples that have more than a single person to pass Valentines with and so their whole weekend will be taken up, and sensible diners who know damn well this isn't a weekend to dine out...
Friday, busy, as above. Saturday, the countless couples, and the almost as many no shows, people who call around and book reservations at as many restaurants as they can, then decide where they'll spend Valentines. They don't let us know, and don't answer the phone when we call to confirm. Like every year I've ever been there, we never fill. One table even tries to walk-in, no reservation, we have room, but that's some audacity and poor planning...
For most of these people this is a rare night out. They're on tight budgets, drink water, skip the appetizers, you can dine with us for pretty reasonably, comparatively. Duty bound husbands and spouses, couples, but for all the hype I don't get the love off even a single table. Comfort, complacency, but Love, well, it's a lot harder to find.
We have few regulars here this weekend, most know better. But there's a few, one, ordering expensive wine, $200 bottle, 3 people, over $600 bill, he brings a couple of us glasses of wine to share, steps out, runs to the florists, buys a few dozen roses (and these at Valentine's Pricing), then comes back to the restaurant to give them to some of the customers, his dates, the female kitchen staff, he's brightening a lot of lives and he knows it, he's a champion...
Tomorrow, the relentless onslaught of deuces, Sunday, traditionally closed but we're opening for this, already booked solid, but as we should have learned by now appearances are deceiving. I'm, we all are, Valentines free this year, it comes with the job, the territory, but so far, this year, I'm kind of glad...