Thank You for your Hospitality

Hospitality refers to the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.

Hospitality ethics is a discipline that studies this usage of hospitality.

I overheard someone suggest this phrase when leaving a diner and it caught my ear.

We go to another building to dine, drink and be entertained and even with the fee for food preparation and being pampered, we are actually in someone else’s house. We don’t have to wash the dishes or put away the silverware. We don’t have to sweep up our crumbs or wipe off the tabletop.

We can taste the finest wines that we would not normally purchase and sample cuisine unknown in our kitchens. Courteous people whom we tip a generous 15% of the tab meet our every whim.

Not every fine dining is done in soft lighting and linen table clothes. Some of the best meals are had sitting on a stool with the grill sizzling just feet away. A different ambience but just as much effort is put in to please the patron in hopes of return business.

In pass years, many greasy spoons were grab and go with a five spot under a questionably clean bowl of lukewarm chili and fountain cola. Still this establishment was where I chose to fill my belly with what I could afford and never complained about the health inspector.

Restaurants come and go because it is a rough business. Heavily regulated with a constant turnover of staff, it is difficult to keep clean with customers coming and going all day and night. Since restaurants are all about food preparation, liability of illness can quickly shut the doors. Food spoils in their kitchens just like it does at home.

There are wonderful stories of dining establishments, current or past, that everyone has. Rarely it is not about the booth, table or stool but the company.

My new rule when walking out the door, paying in full and above if so deserved, is to tell the Maître d’ or Concierge or Owner “Thank you for your hospitality.”