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How Restaurants Got So Loud

theatlantic.com

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Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#311

Post by toomanybeersies »

GuiA wrote: post #93
toomanybeersies wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The concept of a quiet bar just seems weird to me. The problem with most bars isn't actually the volume of the music, but the loudness. The speakers are generally cheap speakers that are undersized and are then cranked so loud they're redlining and sound like shit. I can stand in the middle of a nightclub with a well set up speaker system and have a conversation with a friend. Yet in most bars and pubs, which are pla…

Interesting recent HN comment thread about the anatomy behind all that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18507650

Funnily enough that comment was a reply in a comment chain that I started.

It's absolutely correct too.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#312

Post by toomanybeersies »

decebalus1 wrote: post #182
jlokier wrote: post #108

There's an ice cream and bagel place in town. In the late evening it's consistently packed with people on their laptops or reading books. One day I noticed the music was much louder than usual, and asked the staff to turn it down. I figured it was a mistake because it was normally much quieter. They told me this was the new company policy. To set the music uncomfortably loud to make people leave, after finishing thei…

It probably won't be the most popular opinion but I'm siding with the business for this one. I never got people who use cafe bars, delis, etc.. as personal offices. I personally can't get 'in the zone' in such a public place where: - I need to buy/consume something every X minutes - have to overhear irrelevant stupid/mundane conversations - people have a habit of bringing their dogs everywhere now and I'm not even go…

Apart from the need to buy something every X minutes, those problems are also problems in the modern office. And instead of buying something every X minutes, you have a colleague interrupt you every X minutes for some banal thing that's quite possibly not even related to the work you're doing.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#313

Post by Symbiote »

brokenmachine wrote: post #293
Symbiote wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some visitors to Copenhagen remark that it's surprisingly quiet for a capital city. Others say it "feels boring", which I think is partly because they associate a noisy city centre (e.g. London or Paris) with fun. There are far fewer cars in the city centre than most cities the size of Copenhagen; enough roads are restricted to people on foot or bicycles that relatively few people try and drive to, from or through it…

Your comment has just added Copenhagen to my list of "must-visit" cities.

Definitely wait until spring, preferably summer, unless you're attracted to damp weather.

On OpenStreetMap, the pedestrianized roads are marked in a pale blue-grey [1].

They aren't labelled the same way on Google Maps, perhaps because on the smaller pedestrian streets vehicles aren't always completely banned, just strongly discouraged by the signs, surface, layout, and attitude of pedestrians.

The OSM cycle map layer needs a few updates for consistency, but most roads outside the very centre of the city have a separate cycle lane like one of these [2], or else almost no traffic. At school time or weekends I see 5-6 year old children cycling with their parents — other cyclists will overtake more carefully. Older children make similar journeys alone.

The Netherlands is similar. Within cities, the canals lead to some different approaches, and between cities, they provide nice long-distance cycling routes. I think the Netherlands is probably the better destination for a cycling holiday, but the difference between a Dutch and Danish city doesn't matter for a city holiday.

[1] https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/55.6802/12.5753

[2] https://ggwash.org/view/43010/copenhagen-uses-this-one-trick...

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#315

Post by School-Cotton »

brokenmachine wrote: post #297
leetcrew wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

interrupt and polling based models each have their own pros and cons. neither is inherently better than the other.

As per the name, only one of those models actually interrupts your meal though. Quite often it's literally as I'm chewing the first bite. So by those metrics, the most irritating waiters would have the best times. My pet hate is when I'm asked questions while I'm actually eating and I'm expected to answer with a mouth full of food. I always dreamed of a restaurant that has call buttons on the table, like in a plane o…

> call buttons on the table

A lot of Japanese and Korean restaurants (and maybe more) have exactly that.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#316

Post by detaro »

switch007 wrote: post #240
detaro wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They require you bring a cup? Otherwise you just get a paper one or ...?

Heh, I was referring to separate things and connected them in a tin-foil-hat way: the quite recent campaign against paper cups which encourages people to buy re-usable travel mugs and my experience with various chains serving paper cups even when sitting in (possibly fazing out normal cups). As in we're being guilted in to not accepting paper cups and instead bringing re-usable mugs.

Ah. Yes, paper cups for sit-down visitors is annoying.

Here in Germany some places even give out reusable cups with deposit for to go (as an alternative to paper if you forgot your own travel mug)

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#317

Post by leetcrew »

brokenmachine wrote: post #297
leetcrew wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

interrupt and polling based models each have their own pros and cons. neither is inherently better than the other.

As per the name, only one of those models actually interrupts your meal though. Quite often it's literally as I'm chewing the first bite. So by those metrics, the most irritating waiters would have the best times. My pet hate is when I'm asked questions while I'm actually eating and I'm expected to answer with a mouth full of food. I always dreamed of a restaurant that has call buttons on the table, like in a plane o…

> My pet hate is when I'm asked questions while I'm actually eating and I'm expected to answer with a mouth full of food.

I definitely understand that this can be very annoying, but like I said, there are tradeoffs to both. Being a bit socially anxious myself, I prefer not to have to compete with the other diners for the server's attention, so the polling model is better for me.

as an aside, when I go to nicer restaurants I find that the servers tend to be more skilled/graceful. I don't know exactly how they do it, but they always seem to come by at the perfect moment to check whether the food is okay without interrupting a bite/conversation.

in theory, call buttons would be pretty nice, but I think some people would find it to cheapen the experience.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#318

Post by barrow-rider »

bistro wrote: post #299
throwaway675309 wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd prefer the opposite, businesses that don't allow children. Why can't every place be a bar and/or strip joint?

Come to Seattle. Dogs freaking everywhere. And an unusually high number of restaurants that don't allow children.

Strip joints with dogs?

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#319

Post by JohnBooty »

justinph wrote: post #129
JohnBooty wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, my hearing's not the best and I really just cannot hear what people are saying half of the time. It's like... everybody's struggling to hear each other, but I really cannot hear. I just can't do those kinds of spaces, at least not if I want to have a conversation.

Might be worth looking into hearing aids. I have the same thing and got hearing aids, which help an immense amount.

Definitely in my future, I think! Perhaps my present, as well...
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