# Restaurants who do not know who their clientele is **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 28, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601 "2008-09-28T18:58:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/1 "2008-09-28T18:58:32Z")
It’s early Sunday afternoon, around 12:30. You are managing what is supposed to be a family-oriented, conservative establishment. At this time of day your clientele is the after-church crowd. I don’t know if you realize this, but they tend to be older folks and other types who are not exactly into rap and hip-hop. So why do you have _rap_ blasting so loud that it can be heard out in the parking lot? Who are you trying to attract with that? Here’s a news flash: whoever you are trying to attract with that music, they are not even _awake_ at 12:30 pm on Sunday. And even if a few of them did manage to struggle out of bed between 11:30 and 12:00, they will not be coming to you anyway because you are not serving breakfast. So if you’re wondering why your establishment is deserted, while the one across the street is packed wall-to-wall with blue-haired ladies: get to know your customers, moron! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/2 "2008-09-28T20:40:55Z")
Maybe they are trying to drive the blue haired ladies away, so there will be room later in the afternoon.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/3 "2008-09-28T20:44:22Z")
On the flip side, that’s one _gangsta_ Bob Evans. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/4 "2008-09-28T20:51:21Z")
Dare I ask what restaurant this was? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/5 "2008-09-28T20:51:33Z")
Nah. The manager was at home with his family, and the place was left in the hands of the 18-year old cheap-wage workers to run. They just played music _they_ liked, and didn’t even give thougth to what the clientele might want. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/6 "2008-09-28T20:54:04Z")
Sundays are hell in restaurants. Most of the staff is hung over. Lots of call ins. Lots of large after church parties who don’t tip. Sounds like one of the employees was getting back at the crowd to me. I know it isn’t the right thing to do, but if I was 21 again and stuck working on another Sunday… ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/7 "2008-09-28T21:08:44Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Nah. The manager was at home with his family, and the place was left in the hands of the 18-year old cheap-wage workers to run. They just played music _they_ liked, and didn’t even give thougth to what the clientele might want. I would put money on this being the case. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/8 "2008-09-28T22:02:01Z")
This is why restaurants shouldn’t play music at all. Most of the time when they do, it’s the usual shit you’d hear on an adult contemporary station, like Maroon 5, Nickelback, Savage Garden, and the like. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/9 "2008-09-28T22:59:47Z")
When I control the restaurant music, it will be William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy singing 24/7. Preferably in an _Old Country Buffet_. [sub]No, I won’t dine there. Are you crazy?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/10 "2008-09-28T23:14:26Z")
When I open _my_ restaurant, during the middle of the first after-church seating I shall be hydraulically raised from the orchestra pit seated at the keyboards of a mighty Wurlitzer theater organ, dressed in white tie and tails, playing J.S. Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor with full 16-foot Bourdon and 8-foot Open Diapason and twelve baboons wearing jockey outfits keeping time on the finger cymbals. And then…pancakes for everyone! ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/11 "2008-09-28T23:17:24Z")
**Ukelele Ike** , can we put in reservations, now? ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/12 "2008-09-28T23:29:37Z")
Fugue U, Ike. Just kidding! I’ll be there. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/13 "2008-09-28T23:40:36Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > When I control the restaurant music, it will be William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy singing 24/7. [Shatner] Lucy!.. inthesky… with DIAMONDS! [/Shatner] ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/14 "2008-09-28T23:54:34Z")
I’ve noticed an attitude held by workers at some establishments to the effect that their jobs are a punishment, the customers are the enemy, and routine interactions are battles of wills where the most important thing is for the worker to demonstrate his/her superiority over the the customer. Government offices are notorious for this kind of thing, but it’s not so surprising - the customer usually isn’t in a position to take his business elsewhere. It’s the private businesses where it seems so weird. The shop or restaurant is empty, or nearly so, but the idle employees don’t want to interrupt their phone time or bull session to actually, you know, do their jobs. They shoot you an angry stare, or lecture you in a dismissive tone about how you’ll have to wait, or that they can’t ring you up because you’re standing at the wrong register. Another favorite maneuver is to shoo out the customers so they can go home before the listed closing time. What you invariably do as a customer is make a mental note not to patronize the place, or to avoid that particular branch of the chain. When you’re working low wage jobs, you often wonder, Why do they treat me like I’m an untrustworthy retard just as step above a prison inmate? Then you realize that a lot of the people who work those jobs are in fact untrustworthy, hostile retards. Not playing music that your potential customers won’t like is fairly obvious, but I bet the workers at this joint would take it as a sign of oppression that they can’t play the music they like. Weird ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/15 "2008-09-28T23:56:20Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > This is why restaurants shouldn’t play music at all. Most of the time when they do, it’s the usual shit you’d hear on an adult contemporary station, like Maroon 5, Nickelback, Savage Garden, and the like. Maroon 5 and Nickelback are adult contemporary?😕 ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/16 "2008-09-29T00:16:52Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > What you invariably do as a customer is make a mental note not to patronize the place, or to avoid that particular branch of the chain. When you’re working low wage jobs, you often wonder, Why do they treat me like I’m an untrustworthy retard just as step above a prison inmate? Then you realize that a lot of the people who work those jobs are in fact untrustworthy, hostile retards. Actually, prison inmates are much trustworthier, much fo the time. The ones in the slammer, presuming it’s short of Max Security, don’t want to screw up their parole. The ones outside are probably going to go work for some place with manual labor, where they usually do pretty well even if they’re not totally trustworthy. Those places have a lot of tough, blue collar joes and the prison dudes get reasonable respect but aren’t feared or hated. ---
**Author:** ![BlueOhio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@BlueOhio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueOhio)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/17 "2008-09-29T00:22:09Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > When I control the restaurant music, it will be William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy singing 24/7. > > Preferably in an _Old Country Buffet_. > > [sub]No, I won’t dine there. Are you crazy?[/sub] I have the original _vinyl_ of these guys…I’ll be right over. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/18 "2008-09-29T00:28:15Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Actually, prison inmates are much trustworthier, much fo the time. The ones in the slammer, presuming it’s short of Max Security, don’t want to screw up their parole. The ones outside are probably going to go work for some place with manual labor, where they usually do pretty well even if they’re not totally trustworthy. Those places have a lot of tough, blue collar joes and the prison dudes get reasonable respect but aren’t feared or hated. I see your point. I’ve dealt with convicted armed robbers who were on work release going to machine shops and construction work. They were actually fairly stand up guys. The employees I’m talking about, though, seem to be coming out of welfare to work or rehab situations. Their attitudes are all wrong, and they seem determined not to finish out their full shifts or provide the services in their job descriptions. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/19 "2008-09-29T02:11:56Z")
That reminds me of a time we went to a Pizza Hut in downtown Redneckville. My sister, who was about 17 at the time, went poking through the jukebox and found, buried amongst all the country records, a Bach album, of all things. She put on some 15 minutes long organ fugue - that’s the kind of teenager she was - and within thirty seconds there were about ten people in line to select their own music. I especially liked the little kid in the next booth who said quite loudly, “Mommy, I don’t like this music!” ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/20 "2008-09-29T02:18:13Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > The employees I’m talking about, though, seem to be coming out of welfare to work or rehab situations. Their attitudes are all wrong, and they seem determined not to finish out their full shifts or provide the services in their job descriptions. Hell, I bet half of them are just your run of the mill self-entitled middle class kids. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601.md?page=2)