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'The Restaurant of Order Mistakes' Employs Waiters With Dementia (2017)

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Re: 'The Restaurant of Order Mistakes' Employs Waiters With Dementia (2017)

#31

Post by tim333 »

song wrote: post #28
corin_ wrote: post #6

Somewhat related though very different, there are restaurants called Dans Le Noir ("in the dark") - founded in Paris but now in several countries, though so far I've only been to the one in London. You choose one of a few set menus without knowing what's in it (IIRC, roughly "meat eater", "fish eater", "vegetarian") and give any specific allergies or really hated food types. You are then led into a pitch black room w…

Unfortunately the food is rather bad for the price (at least in the Paris branch). So it's a fun experience but you end up eating food that's barely better than cafeteria food at the price of a fine dining restaurant... I was really disappointed...

Noir Saigon is pretty good https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g293925-d715...

Re: 'The Restaurant of Order Mistakes' Employs Waiters With Dementia (2017)

#32

Post by nlh »

corin_ wrote: post #6

Somewhat related though very different, there are restaurants called Dans Le Noir ("in the dark") - founded in Paris but now in several countries, though so far I've only been to the one in London. You choose one of a few set menus without knowing what's in it (IIRC, roughly "meat eater", "fish eater", "vegetarian") and give any specific allergies or really hated food types. You are then led into a pitch black room w…

There was a place like this in San Francisco a few years back (I think it’s closed now), but I went once with a group of friends and it was absolutely fascinating.

I still have vivid and clear visual memories of the meal (and this was ~5 years ago). Even though I couldn’t see my dining companions, I remember our sitting together, where every person was sitting, and what we talked about. The brain has an amazing way of filling in other details when lacking physically visual ones.

Another interesting effect was the pace and style of conversation. I was with a group of newish friends - not particularly close but close enough that we could let down our guards a bit. We talked about fairly intimate things - relationships, life, desires, etc. without the visual distractions I was able to focus on the conversation in a way I hadn’t been able to before.

Also it was nice to not care about posture or manners - slouch away! :)

Re: 'The Restaurant of Order Mistakes' Employs Waiters With Dementia (2017)

#33

Post by jnty »

Angostura wrote: post #17
jnty wrote: post #8

It seems like a well-meant idea but how do you prevent it becoming exploitative? Exposing dementia patients to random members of the public in a service role with no understanding of the state of their condition seems like a pretty good way of frequently upsetting them. And how does employment by consent work when you can't actually quite remember why you're in a situation and how you got there? It sounds like - prob…

It was put together by Maggie's a dementia charity which in the UK has a very good reputation.

I was a bit surprised by this too because Maggie's is actually a cancer charity in the UK. [1]

As I say I imagine it's being handled fairly sensitively in reality. I'm more objecting to the whimsical feel-good description in the article which sort of denies agency to the dementia patients and treats them as funny props.

[1] https://www.maggiescentres.org/about-maggies/

Re: 'The Restaurant of Order Mistakes' Employs Waiters With Dementia (2017)

#35

Post by phalangion »

BrentOzar wrote: post #11
GuB-42 wrote: post #10

The article focuses on the mistake of not getting the dish you ordered. Which can indeed be fun if you are open when it comes to food. But other kinds of mistakes can be a lot less fun. For example not getting any service at all, or having to pay more than expected. I wonder how that restaurant deals with that.

> The article focuses on the mistake of not getting the dish you ordered. Which can indeed be fun if you are open when it comes to food. As long as you don't have allergies...

If you have allergies I can imagine you'd just avoid this restaurant.

Re: 'The Restaurant of Order Mistakes' Employs Waiters With Dementia (2017)

#36

Post by benmanbs »

corin_ wrote: post #6

Somewhat related though very different, there are restaurants called Dans Le Noir ("in the dark") - founded in Paris but now in several countries, though so far I've only been to the one in London. You choose one of a few set menus without knowing what's in it (IIRC, roughly "meat eater", "fish eater", "vegetarian") and give any specific allergies or really hated food types. You are then led into a pitch black room w…

In a similar vein, there is a museum in Israel [0] that has a blind exhibit. They take you through several rooms laid out with different settings, all entirely in the dark. The guide is vision-impaired, and you don't get to see any of the other people in your group.

At the end of the experience they bring you into a room with lights, and you get to delve into what you learned and any assumptions you made about the other people in the group or the guide themself. It was an amazing experience.

[0] - https://www.childrensmuseum.org.il/eng/pages/childrens_activ...

Re: 'The Restaurant of Order Mistakes' Employs Waiters With Dementia (2017)

#38

Post by dahfizz »

datpuz wrote: post #37

I love this. I wonder: would something wonderful like this actually be illegal the US due to the fact that you'd technically be discriminating by hiring only those with dementia?

I'm not sure why you're being downvoted - it's an interesting question.

My understanding is that this is would not be illegal because of how discrimination laws work in the US. We have protected classes that can't be descriminated against, but we don't have a generic "no discrimination" employment law.

For example, it's illegal to discriminate against old people, colored people, gay people, disabled people, etc when hiring. It would not necessarily be illegal to discriminate against neurotypical people because they are not a protected class.

Re: 'The Restaurant of Order Mistakes' Employs Waiters With Dementia (2017)

#40

Post by toast0 »

acomjean wrote: post #14

In the US there is a trend to not write orders down (the reason is unclear to me:it’s saves paper and makes it mor personal?), short term memorize them and run to the computer and type them in. This tends to lead to a fair number of mistakes, and makes those with allergies ver nervous.

Avoiding writing the orders down may reduce the literacy needs of the wait staff.
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