Armchair Owner

…and by “Armchair Owner” I mean that in the same way a football enthusiast would be called an “Armchair Quarterback.” You know, one who is a self-proclaimed expert, without having actually played the game.

I can’t tell you how many times over the last 30 years I’ve heard…”If I owned this place, this is what I would do.” Or, “I’m gonna have to talk to the owner about this.”

First of all, when you start telling the owner what they should do, about eeeeeeeeverything…..they listen because they are polite. NOT because you are the smartest person that ever walked the face of the earth. When you think an item should be added to the menu or deleted, they are not going to hop to, because you said so. Did these geniuses ever stop to think, that in order to add or delete, the entire page would need to be rewritten. I don’t think so. And, just because it’s your personal preference, doesn’t mean the rest of the world shares your opinion.

None of these people that I’ve listened to drone on and on for the last few decades, have ever put their money where their mouth is, and opened up their own restaurant. I guess if they did, with all their brilliant ideas, they would be immensely successful, thus negating the need for any other restaurants. From those of us already working at successful restaurants, we thank you.

So there they are, week after week, month after month, year after year, bellied up to the bar, telling the rest of the world what they should do. It’s really a phenomenal thing to listen to. The more they drink, the smarter they get.

Yeah, right.