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I recently was treated to an article in my local paper that was a synopsis of the problems with restaurants local to me.

The writer opened with a simple incident that had recently occurred in which the writer had entered a restaurant about 10-15 minutes before closing time, sat down and was eating the meal when the employees started putting the chairs up at the other tables in the restaurant.

The writer went on to rant about how offensive it was that they would dare to do such a thing and was incredulous that there was no apology forthcoming from the manager of the establishment. The writer used this incident to segue into a rant about how service has suffered in our local metro area due to the proliferation of restaurants and a dwindling of the labor pool in reference to talented and dedicated servers.

To which I say; Go suck an egg. One way past its usable shelf life.

I would like, if I may, to offer a slightly different perspective on this situation. One from the eyes of a dedicated career restaurant manager that has been doing this work from coast to coast for over twenty years.

First I will say that there is no excuse for poor service, whatever the time of day or night. If you are scheduled to be open to a certain time in your restaurant, then you should not resent the odd late guest that wants to stuff them-selves and more importantly, their children, chock full of grease before they mosey off to bed. A guest in a restaurant has a right to expect the same quality of food at 12 o'clock am as they would get in the middle of a lunch or dinner rush. The staff of the restaurant should be glad to get the sales, especially in a wobbly economy.

Now that I'm done toe-ing the company line, I'd like to talk about human beings.

Thats right, people. Because people is what were dealing with here. And it often occurs to me that individuals such as the author of this article tend to forget that in their endless pursuit of the properly cowed and chastened, never tiring always smiling, always attentive never intrusive service personnel. And for that matter, they shouldnt be ugly, wear a particular cologne of perfume, be a certain color, race, gender, etc, etc.

I've formed the opinion over the years that everyone who eats in a restaurant should be forced to work in one for at least two years of their life, and have to live off of what they make from it. And if they forget how to treat people, they should be forced back. For however long it takes.

Because until you've worked as a server, host, cook, bartender, dishwasher, bus boy, restaurant manager, with a nod to retail personnel, you cant possibly have any idea what its like to have worked from 10am to the wee hours of the morning, be ready to finally go home to see the family that you barely know, only to have a party of three people wander in to your restaurant 10 minutes before you close and seat themselves. They proceed to order a full course supper, sit around the table laughing and taking their sweet time, smoking, talking, ordering coffee after coffee, oblivious and ignorant to the fact that there are five people standing there waiting just for them to finish so that they can go home and do it again tomorrow.

And standing behind that group of weary people are an uncountable number of family, waiting for them at home.

How many of you folks who work a job with regular hours and week- ends off, besides the obvious work-a-holics and individuals that have no desire to go home, hang around your place of employment for an extra two or three hours? Especially if you have nothing productive to do?

We in the industry have learned, folks. We have learned that unless you the public are bludgeoned over that head with obvious clues that the restaurant is closed, will inconsiderately sit around talking obliviously to each other about inane crap that has nothing at all to do with our lives.

Unless the music is turned off, the cleaning lights are turned on, the chairs are all put up, the vacuum cleaner has been run, the lights in other portions of the restaurant are turned down and the rest room lights are off, the air-conditioners are set to heat in the summer and cold in the winter, the smell of bleach permeates the air, the manager yells loudly to the lone remaining server every three minutes, hey, did that table cash out yet? Unless the sun is coming up and the remaining hourly staff stands 10 feet away staring daggers at the back of their heads. Unless all that is done not a single one of these dimwits will turn around in their chair and say cluelessly, uh, are you guys closed or something? Or even more perceptively are you all waiting for us?

For pure revelation and epiphanies, Newton has nothing on these geniuses.

The sad part of all this is that the poor server has to say something like yeah, we are, but you guys dont have to rush!

Despite the fact that the way I've heard most of the servers I know deliver this line with a chill that would keep the largest of walk-in freezers cold for a week, the dimwit just nods and says, oh, okay. Then the group continues to party.

The worst is the actively malicious group that realizes what is being done to clue them in that its time to leave, and decides to get territorial and sit there way past any possible comfort, not saying anything at all, just testing the will of the restaurant employees.

I used to ask why? Is it because the people dont know that we still have to be there for an hour or more after they leave finishing up paperwork and cleaning their mess? Is it because they are to drunk to realize what is going on? Is it because they are so engaged in what they are talking about that they are oblivious to the world outside their table?

The truth is much more sinister and sad.

The truth is that most people just dont care that there are human beings with tired feet, aching backs, and missed families waiting for them.

The truth in some cases is that these people actually enjoy making others have to wait on their whim. They enjoy that what they do has a direct, adverse effect on a group of people that they dont even know.

The truth in some cases is that some people think of these service personnel as kind of below them. They think to themselves, as maybe you have, hey, these people made this decision to be doing what theyre doing, they just have to live with it. Maybe they should have gone to school for something. Maybe they should try and make something of their lives instead of this dead-end job.

Poor and pathetic justification, in my opinion, for treating others like they are there to be your servant and nothing else.

The ironic thing is that I've found others and myself in my industry thinking of the people that we are here to wait on, to serve, as less then deserving of respect or even the title of humanity.

Thats right, a kid who flips burgers and says, in effect, you want fries with that looks down on the executive with the MBA.

So if youre reading this, and dont like seeing yourself in this light, well, next time you go into a restaurant late why don't you take the time to ask when they are closing. And if you just have to stay and eat, please, please be aware that there are humans with lives outside of the restaurant waiting for you to finish so they can get home. To their kid and an hourly paid baby sitter. To their wife. To their invalid mom or widowed father. Or even just to the bar for last call to enjoy one ice-cold beer.

If you come into my restaurant, youve got a half-hour past closing. Thats when my security rules say that all non-employees must be outside of the restaurant with the doors locked.

Finish up.