rude?
What’s considered rude service when dining out? This incident happened quite a while ago (last summer I think) but recent tweets from one of the Black Hoof’s owners brought this experience back into mind.
I went out for a late dinner with some friends at Asian Legend (the Chinatown location on Dundas at Beverley) one night. We got there around 10:30 pm, a half an hour before they closed at 11 pm. We were seated and I believe they told us the kitchen would be closing soon, so we should order quickly. I don’t remember the waitress telling us that we would need to leave by 11 or anything though. So we ordered, our food came, and we got to it. At some point, we received our cheque without asking for it. Not so subtle hint that they wanted us out. We weren’t even finished eating yet. We finish our food but one of my friends is still finishing her meal, she’s a little slower at eating than the rest of us. This isn’t a bad thing, we all just happen to be faster than her. Well, the few waiting staff still there did not look happy. They clearly wanted us to leave so that they themselves could go home. They gave us some more not so subtle hints such as cleaning all the tables around us and giving us “the look.” This is when things got a little tense. Some of us thought we should pack up the remaining food, pay, and leave as soon as possible since it was past closing. Others thought we should stay until our friend finished her meal. So a little tension between us friends and also with the staff.
Personally, I thought we should stay. We were paying customers and came to enjoy a meal, not scarf down some food quickly and leave. The waiting staff at no point indicated that we would be required to leave by a certain time. I’ve always believed that a restaurant’s closing time was when the restaurant would stop taking customers, NOT when customers would be required to leave. If they told us upfront, before seating us, that they expected us to leave by 11 pm, that would have been different. We would have planned on finishing quickly or we could have chosen not to eat there. But between the staff handing us our bill unasked, cleaning around us, and giving us death stares, I must admit I was pretty angry with the way we were being treated. I thought we were well within our privileges to stay and finish our meal and it was rather rude they way they served us.
I know in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t really that big of a deal (there are more important things in life for us to concern ourselves with) but what do you think? Were they rude? Should we have ate and left quickly? Should we have stayed until we had all finished?
delta (part II)
A few posts ago, I commented on the current state of the Canadian government. There was (and still could be) change coming to Canada’s political world. The same is definitely true for our friends south of the border. After many grueling campaigns, over $1.5 billion, and 131,237,603 votes, change was elected to the United States presidency on November 4.
It was a very interesting campaign and election to watch. First seeing who would receive the democratic nomination (the first female or African-American presidential nominee) and then the actual historical presidential campaigns and election. Many things were said, dug up, promised, revealed, and shown. All in all, a spectacular ride.
What struck me the most were the speeches made, especially those from Barack Obama. Before last year’s presidential elections, I always thought it was unfortunate how disproportionately the speeches and debates helped guide who the voters would vote for, whether it’s to elect a country’s leader or a high school’s student council. I use to think, “Public speaking isn’t really a good indicator of someone’s leadership skills. What does public speaking have to do with leadership?” But after watching some of Obama’s inspiring speeches, I realized just how important a leader’s speaking skills are, especially for those who are heads of state.
What does a leader do? Lead people, right? What if nobody follows the leader? Is he/she really a leader then? That’s why I now believe it’s essential for great leaders to have outstanding public speaking skills. One of their responsibilities is to inspire those they are leading. It isn’t only the leaders of a country or organization that make an impact, it’s everyone that’s a part of that group. If the leader cannot inspire or motivate their group to greater and better things, then he/she isn’t really much a leader.
So that brings me back to Barack Obama. He was able to inspire and motivate not only Americans, but people from all of the world (myself included) like no presidential candidate has done in a very long time. His campaign was based on change and millions of people bought into it, believed change is needed & is coming, and that Obama is the man to lead it.
Now on the eve of his inauguration, people all of the world are waiting to see if this inspirational family man from Chicago will make good on all his words and lead this awe-inspiring change. Expectations are high and hope is in the air. I for one cannot wait to see what’s in store for America and consequently the rest of the world in the next 4-8 years. Exciting times!
“Change we can belive in”
delta
Can you feel it in the air? The time is upon us again. It’s coming. It’s inevitable.
No, I’m not talking about Christmas. I’m talking about change. Change in the government.
For the first time in a while (or possibly ever), Canadian politics is more interesting than American politics. A coalition government may form in the the next couple of months and the current prime minister could become the next opposition leader. All of this in the midst of a global economic crisis.
Now, what do I think about this? Do I want a coalition government? I’m not sure yet. One thing I know for sure, is we need change and a coalition government would definitely be a change. Is it the right change though? I don’t know. I’m still divided on the issue. One thing I do know for sure is that we need action, immediate action. So what in the world is Steven Harper doing proroguing parliament for 7 weeks? At a time when we need to act, the government is shutting down. I must say I am deeply disappointed that governor-general Michaëlle Jean’s decision to grant Harper’s request. Some government officials have stated that they disagree with her decision to grant the prorogue but respect her decision. I’m a little confused with those statements. How can you disagree with a decision but still respect it? Aren’t those two things the opposite of each other? Yes, disagree with the decision and still respect Michaëlle Jean, but how can you respect the decision if you disagree with it? But I digress. One reason I’ve heard (this is purely speculation, so I don’t know for sure) on why she granted Harper’s request is that he would resign if she didn’t grant his request. I really hope this isn’t true, because that is a very selfish attitude, one that you shouldn’t have when you have the most servant-leadership job in the country as prime minister. The prime minister’s job first and foremost is serving the country, not his/her own self interests.
So what we’re left with now is a country without a government and a country deeply divided. Polls are showing that Canadians are split on the issue and the recent election shows that our support is divided among 4 parties, with no real strong backing of one party. This is exactly what we can’t have right now. To be able to confront this economic challenge, we need a united front in our government. I was glad to see that 3 of the parties were able to drop partisan politics to unite together to combat this challenge, but I think this is only a good first step. It would have been much better if all 4 parties could come together to solve this problem together. For it does not only affect the politicians, or even Canadians, but this affects the entire world. Unity and action is desperately needed in this country. I can only hope in the coming 7 weeks, before parliament resumes, time and resources will be spent more on facing the issues Canada is facing rather than campaigning for or against the coalition.
United we stand, divided we fall.
P.S. for those of you who don’t know why I picked “delta” for this post’s title, “delta” is the Greek letter than represents change.
relationships
This one is inevitable. If you’ve talked to me at some point in the last 2 weeks of November, you may know that this has been on my mind a lot: relationships, specifically the ones of the guy-girl flavour. And I’m not the only one, some of my other friends have been thinking and blogging about this too.
Now, what made me think about this? I don’t know. Maybe it’s the fact that many of my friends and people my age back home are getting married soon or have already done so. Maybe it’s because I may have a longing for one myself. Maybe it’s because of the conversations I had about this topic with various people in that 2 week span. Maybe it’s all 3 of these reasons. Whatever the reason, I was super-saturated with relationships during those 2 weeks.
So why all this relationship stuff? I think God is trying to tell me something. What is it? Still trying to work that out. But there are some thoughts I have about this.
First, why even bother with a relationship? If you look at the world, relationships seem to suck. Even in the Christian context. Half of all marriages (Christian or not) end up in divorce. Even personally, I’ve heard of all these screwed up things that happen in relationships that just hurt both people. It almost seems like there’s no point in getting into one. Almost. Where some may find the marriage statistic discouraging or become disheartened when they hear about yet another messed up relationship, I kind of take it as a challenge. To show the world that there is still such thing as integrity and honour in a relationship. There is such things as pure love that comes from above. I hope to slightly change the marriage/divorce percentage to the better side through my own marriage, God-willing, and show that there is something worth fighting for, worth working hard for.
So back to the question, why even bother with a relationship? Well, according to Voddie, there are two purposes for a relationship, specifically marriage: imitation and procreation. It’s to imitate to the relationship of Christ and the church, where the man is like Christ and the woman is like the church (see Ephesians 5:22-33). It’s to procreate, basically make babies. Now, I totally agree with this, but I think there’s more. What that more thing is, I’m still working out.
Now, why would I want a relationship? Well, of course, to honour God, but true as that is, it sounds like the typical Sunday school answer. There are more reasons that just that. During a dinner outing last year, a friend of mine was going around the table and kind of profiling all the guys with what kind of a boyfriend we would be. When she 
got to me, she said I’d be the type that would do almost anything to make the girl happy. Now, I don’t know if it’s because she said that or if it’s really true, but I believe it is. One of the reasons for me to be in a relationship would be to make the girl happy. This is taking it out of context, but it’s kind of like when Jesus said, “I didn’t come to be served, but to serve.” It’s not what I’d get out of the relationship, but what I could put into it. Now that’s not to say I wouldn’t get anything out of the relationship, but that wouldn’t be my movtivating factor. In fact, if and when I get into a relationship, I hope the girl will really challenge and push me spiritually, help me become more of the man that God intends me to be. I really like the triangle illustration for relationships where God is at the top corner of the triangle and the guy and girl are at the bottom corners of the triangle. As the guy & girl grow closer together, so also will they grow closer to God. 
So that’s a snippet of what I think relationships are about. There’s more, much more, but I’m still learning and still trying to discern what God is saying to me. This is going to take a lifetime to figure all this out.
But let’s end on another type of relationship: one between a father and his son. Truely one of the most inspirational videos I’ve ever seen. Brought many tears to my eyes. The story of Team Hoyt.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryCTIigaloQ]
boys are stupid?
Why do guys do such stupid things? I mean, seriously…what’s wrong with us? *sigh* I guess this is going to be my little rant about guys (much like the one I had about girls a couple months ago). It’s just within the past 6 hours, I’ve just heard about so many messed up things some guys have done. I’ve always disliked those “boys are stupid” or “throw rocks at boys” t-shirts and I try to stand up for our gender anytime a girl says something like, “all guys are jerks” because not all of us are, but after tonight, it seems those t-shirts seem to speak a little truth. Come on guys, man up!
On a happier note, a friend sent me a link to this video yesterday. If you’re having a bad day, I guarantee this will bring a smile (and maybe even a tear) to you face.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BngEhhdg4lw]
why???
Gotta get something off my chest. Why on earth can’t a guy compliment a girl without people getting the wrong idea? Is our rep that bad?
Well, the reason I bring this up is because in the past 6 months, there have been two seperate occasions where I complimented a girl and got reactions that I didn’t really like all that much. And for some reason, I think about it every so often. The first time, I was talking to some friends about Urbana 03 and about the worship team there. I commented on how I really enjoyed it when the Korean girl lead and thought she was a great worship leader. Immediately, the only girl in the car (also the only other person in the car who had been to Urbana 03 also) went off about how so many of her guy friends developed a crush on her. That was not what I was saying at all! I just thought she was really spirit led when she worshipped! The second time, I was having dinner with some other friends and I commented on how one of my (guy) friend’s sister was really cool. Again, immediately, the only girl there pipes up and was like “oooooo, you (my guy friend) better watch out for Jon!”. gah!!! I then had proceed to explain how that wasn’t what I was saying at all, I was just saying how lucky he is to have a sister as cool as her.
*sigh* Why do girls have to assume we have the wrong intentions whenever we give a compliment? Can’t you give us the benifit of the doubt? Maybe it’s not just the girls. Maybe us guys have just screwed up our rep so bad that people think that all we ever think about is girls. *sigh* (again). I don’t know what to do, I just needed to let that out.
On another note, World Trade Center looks like it’s going to be a pretty hype movie and a real tear-jerker. The website is really well done too. One of the best designed websites I’ve ever seen. Anybody up for watching it sometime soon?
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