Television Indigeshion

Never again!

A bane of my existence is going out to eat and being confronted by television screens mounted in every corner of the dining room. Although they serve good food, many restaurants haven't seen me darken their doorways for some years, for that reason. Why in the world do the owners think I want to go out to watch TV, when I can do that at home? Do the proprietors figure I just can't pull myself away from the small screen, even for an hour or two?

They're more than wrong; they're losing money. It's gotten to the point where not only the TVs are invasive to diners who simply want to relax; the TV watchers are intruding into other diners' table space. Tonight we went to a Mexican restaurant and I was very pleased, on being seated, to see NO TELEVISION SCREENS within my purview. What I failed to notice as we were being led to our corner table was that they were seating us underneath that room's TV. Throughout dinner, I noticed lots of other diners staring in our direction. Twice, people going to and from the restrooms stopped at our table and peered right above my head. I thought one guy was going to sit down with us. A college football game was being aired, and people were squinting at the rolling score strip at the bottom of the screen.

The food was fine, but I won't be back at that restaurant, either. Enough is enough. If any of you are restaurateurs, be advised that some of your potential paying customers do not, in fact, want football with our food, or rap videos, or endless/mindless news, or anything else the media want to vomit onto our tables. A nice, quiet meal with perhaps a hint of music in the background would be oh, so wonderful. Can you provide that—and only that? Hey, you could save yourself a few bucks on TV units and cable service. . . .