Birthdays and Baby Seals

This woman walks in, wearing a floor-length white fur coat, with matching Cossack hat and gloves.

Gloves!!

She doesn't want to have her coat hung up, so she takes it with her and lays it down in the booth. She carefully lays the gloves over the coat, but leaves the hat on. Throughout her entire dinner. It's as if she's channeling Julie Christie or something; she really is that lovely, but it's not at all cold outside, maybe in the low 40's. And we're not exactly in post-Revolution Russia.

Now, the coat was real, wasn't it? As the front-of-the-house staff debated this, I argued that you wouldn't wear a fur Cossack hat through your meal if you weren't trying to show everyone that you could afford real fur. Are there white coats that can be obtained without clubbing baby seals? At any rate... it was just a weird thing to witness. She was outrageous, and I have to give her props for pulling that off, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In other news, we had a fun surprise party tonight that was well-executed. The twenty-top party was seated well before the Birthday Girl showed up. When she did, she and her companions had a relaxed drink at the bar, and she opened a few presents from them. As soon as the clock struck 8:00, the twenty-top stood up and sang a hearty rendition of "Happy Birthday." She turned around, and her face turned ten shades of red. It was delightful. The entire dining room broke into spontaneous applause, and the servers and bartenders smiled and applauded right along with them.

Moments like that make me realize how much I love what I do. Not everyone gets to celebrate the joy of life and milestones while earning a living wage.

A toast to everyone celebrating a birthday, an anniversary, or any other joyous occassion. It's nice to make your loved ones feel like the Belle of the Ball, isn't it? May we always be so kind to each other. Cheers!

Oh me, oh my oh, look at Miss Ohio
She’s runnin' around with her rag-top down
She says I wanna do right, but not right now
Gonna drive to Atlanta and live out this fantasy
Running around with the rag-top down
Yeah, I wanna do right, but not right now
Had your arm around her shoulder, a regimental soldier
And momma starts pushing that wedding gown
Yeah you wanna do right, but not right now

- Gillian Welch, "Look At Miss Ohio"