How Restaurants Got So Loud • Hacker News Board

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#81

Post by School-Cotton » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 2:15 PM UTC

mikewhy wrote: post #74

mnw21cam wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally hate it when a waiter comes up, interrupts my meal, and asks if everything is OK with my food. Are you seriously saying restaurants are being encouraged to do this?

Yes, it's important to the restaurant to know if your meal is okay while there's still a chance to do something about it. It's also a chance to ask for anything else without a restaurant of people flagging down the wait staff.

Somehow other cultures (IME: China, many parts of Europe, Korea) do fine with people being expected to flag down wait staff when they want to talk to them.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#82

Post by dpeck » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 2:21 PM UTC

mnw21cam wrote: post #64

fredley wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partner and I are 'mystery shoppers' for restaurants. We have our bill covered plus a bit extra on top (but have to fill out hefty, detailed questionnaires afterwards). One of the things there's always a whole section on is timing: every single interaction has a time-window in which it must occur. You must be greeted within (t1), you must be seated within (t2). Plates must be cleared within (t3), you must have a '…

I personally hate it when a waiter comes up, interrupts my meal, and asks if everything is OK with my food. Are you seriously saying restaurants are being encouraged to do this?

It has to do with the timing of it, like gp mentioned. Current best practice is that that waiter should come by within a couple minutes of the food arriving to top off water and make sure your first bites were as expected so that any problems can be fixed early in the meal.

This is much preferred to a manager only hearing about a problem after all the food has been eaten or the customer has sat staring at a plate with unsatisfactory food on it while their companions eat (making everyone less comfortable as generally humans don’t like to eat when others haven’t had the opportunity to).

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#83

Post by ben0x539 » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 2:21 PM UTC

mnw21cam wrote: post #64

fredley wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partner and I are 'mystery shoppers' for restaurants. We have our bill covered plus a bit extra on top (but have to fill out hefty, detailed questionnaires afterwards). One of the things there's always a whole section on is timing: every single interaction has a time-window in which it must occur. You must be greeted within (t1), you must be seated within (t2). Plates must be cleared within (t3), you must have a '…

I personally hate it when a waiter comes up, interrupts my meal, and asks if everything is OK with my food. Are you seriously saying restaurants are being encouraged to do this?

This is restaurants hiring someone to check on their own staff, isn't it?

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#84

Post by philpem » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 2:23 PM UTC

mnw21cam wrote: post #62

erdo wrote: post #3

This is a pet hate of mine - glad to see it's not just me getting older. A restaurant round the corner from me has acoustic foam on the under-side of all the hard wood chairs and tables, and that helps a little. As soon as I find a bar that's decided to carpet its ceiling, it's going to be my new favourite hang (I understand why places don't want carpet on the floor. Apart from anything else, it's hard to keep clean)

The Met Office in the UK has a canteen, and at one point, they decided that it was too noisy. Their solution was to make a load of person-sized wool "clouds", and hang them from the ceiling. They look cool, and they absorb noise. A couple of months ago, I went to a conference in San Diego, and went to a restaurant in the evening with colleagues. We could hardly hear the person next to us shouting. I left as soon as I…

With regard to the restaurant, maybe that's the goal: encourage people to settle up and leave quicker so the restaurant can serve more customers?

Or maybe I'm just getting old and cynical...

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#85

Post by L_Rahman » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 2:23 PM UTC

firepoet wrote: post #79

pcarolan wrote: post #61

I work remotely and find myself working from a lot of Starbucks. The music level seems consistent no matter where you go to the point where it feels like a policy. It is just loud enough that you can't drown it out with a good set of headphones or take a conference call without annoying the rest of the group. It seems too consistent to be unintentional. Conversely, there's a new coffee shop in Chicago that is designe…

Where is this mystical coffee shop? I live in Chicago and would appreciate the tip. :-)

I imagine it's one of these: https://limitlesscoffee.com/store-locator/

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#86

Post by ceejayoz » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 2:23 PM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #41

rubinelli wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids that grow up associating libraries with fun are much more likely to want to visit them after they learn to read. Libraries are closing down because they don't have any readers.

is this a joke? the last thing most young adults like is to be surrounded by screaming children. The louder you make libraries the less people will ever want to go there.

That's why you have a children's section.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#87

Post by dpeck » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 2:24 PM UTC

Nasrudith wrote: post #76

Agnosco wrote: post #11

I guess it also helps getting people to eat and leave faster, which enables restaurants to seat tables more frequently.

I think McDonalds are designed for that purpose in a way less obtrusive way - ironically enough by the decorating being loud making people not want to linger. The chairs and seats are tight and limited in manuverabilify for one in addition to the "openness". How well does it work? Well do you want to go hang out at a McDonald's? Ironically they later tried McCafe iniative to make lingering spaces to try to compete wi…

A LOT of people hang out at McDonald’s. Older folks, kids after school, etc. In some neighborhoods they function as something like community hubs (third spaces) during their non-peak times.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#88

Post by L_Rahman » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 2:27 PM UTC

tapland wrote: post #6

Locally (Stockholm, Sweden) the head of the city libraries has made a statement of battling the 'quietness norm' in libraries. Most of them now have playgrounds, one in Kista (where I happened to live at the time) won awards for best library in the world and in Sweden the same year. It was completely unusable for what me and my fiance usually do at the library. The study rooms had the ventilation system for the build…

There is a very simple solution to this problem. Build more libraries or bigger libraries.

A terrific example is the Jefferson Library in lower Manhattan. It is technically a children's library to the point where it's nearly impossible to find bathrooms that are adult accessible without children.

It is also possibly the best quiet library in the city because the upper levels of the space are adult only and nearly pin drop silent. You can absolutely have both.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#89

Post by technobabble » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 2:30 PM UTC

pcarolan wrote: post #61

I work remotely and find myself working from a lot of Starbucks. The music level seems consistent no matter where you go to the point where it feels like a policy. It is just loud enough that you can't drown it out with a good set of headphones or take a conference call without annoying the rest of the group. It seems too consistent to be unintentional. Conversely, there's a new coffee shop in Chicago that is designe…

Thank you for the recommendation

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#90

Post by philpem » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 2:30 PM UTC

mikewhy wrote: post #74

mnw21cam wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally hate it when a waiter comes up, interrupts my meal, and asks if everything is OK with my food. Are you seriously saying restaurants are being encouraged to do this?

Yes, it's important to the restaurant to know if your meal is okay while there's still a chance to do something about it. It's also a chance to ask for anything else without a restaurant of people flagging down the wait staff.

"A single terrible Tripadvisor review could be the end of our massive chain!!!!111one"