# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**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 30, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/41 "2008-09-30T19:48:30Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > 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. This sort of thing (minus the baboons and classical influence) has been big in the Cincinnati area. There are/were two restaurants (the Springdale Music Palace Restaurant and [Shady Nook Restaurant](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfsQSMqN6rs&feature=related) where mighty Wurlitzer organs were feature attractions (and in at least one instance the organ was raised up to floor level at the start of the performance - as graphically described in one of Calvin Trillin’s books on food). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/42 "2008-09-30T19:52:39Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > Well, if enough people vote with their wallets, places like that will go out of business. Or be bailed out. Preserve America’s God-given right to bland music and food! Or just provide public funding for pop orchestras ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/43 "2008-09-30T21:20:54Z")
Do people really leave religious tracts as _tips_? I’m almost speechless. > [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > 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. What, no ukulele? ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/44 "2008-09-30T22:00:21Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > Do people really leave religious tracts as _tips_? I’m almost speechless. I had it happen only once to me, but I am sure other servers and former servers who worked on a Sunday morning in a place which attracted the seniors both before & after church can attest to receiving them too. I even had one lady lecturing me that I should be in church on a Sunday. I said to her, if I did go to church, I couldn’t be at work to open up the cafe at 6:00 am and I’d miss out on serving her breakfast. She wasn’t very bright, but she was a sweet lady. She’d make “inspirational” cross-stitches and give them to all the servers for x-mas. ---
**Author:** ![A\_shameful\_cracka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@A\_shameful\_cracka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_shameful_cracka)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/45 "2008-09-30T22:08:21Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > This sort of thing (minus the baboons and classical influence) has been big in the Cincinnati area. There are/were two restaurants (the Springdale Music Palace Restaurant and [Shady Nook Restaurant](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfsQSMqN6rs&feature=related) where mighty Wurlitzer organs were feature attractions (and in at least one instance the organ was raised up to floor level at the start of the performance - as graphically described in one of Calvin Trillin’s books on food). There was a restaurant in Richardson (just north of Dallas) called “Pipe Organ Pizza” back in the 1980s that had a Wurlitzer organ. They went out of business before I ever went there, but my wife says she used to go there all the time as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/46 "2008-09-30T22:18:58Z")
They even make special tracts designed to look like money, meant to be used as tips. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/47 "2008-09-30T22:29:05Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > They even make special tracts designed to look like money, meant to be used as tips. I believe the first part, but not the second. I imagine the strategy is for the tracts to look like money so that someone will pick them up and look at them, wherever they are laying about. Ignoring debate about religious tracts _per se_, the intended usage probably does not include intentionally pissing off the server at a restaurant, though I’m certain many people do leave them for tips for varying motives. Someone who was tricked by found money might just laugh about it, while another who lost wages to the same trick would be furious and not receptive to the message of the tract. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/48 "2008-09-30T23:15:37Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > A smart restaurant owner would have 2 completely separate music circuits, one for the public dining area and one for the back rooms & kitchens. All you have to do is change the taps on the transformers (if it’s a 70 volt line PA system.) I was in a Radio Shack that was playing Christmas music at headache inducing levels. I was getting quite a few parts and asked them to turn it down. The salesman said the couldn’t control the volume because it was set by the mall. Huh? You’re Radio Shack! You sell audio parts! ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/49 "2008-10-01T00:33:15Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Ignoring debate about religious tracts _per se_, the intended usage probably does not include intentionally pissing off the server at a restaurant, though I’m certain many people do leave them for tips for varying motives. > > Someone who was tricked by found money might just laugh about it, while another who lost wages to the same trick would be furious and not receptive to the message of the tract. You’re assuming that the people who created the tracts are in command of logic and reason. Also knowledge of human response to given stimuli. Or possibly the weight of a certain stimulus (eg Wow, they left me a tract about Jesus! This is sooo much better than money!). ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/50 "2008-10-01T04:13:07Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > You’re assuming that the people who created the tracts are in command of logic and reason. Also knowledge of human response to given stimuli. Or possibly the weight of a certain stimulus (eg Wow, they left me a tract about Jesus! This is sooo much better than money!). In general yes :). As much as one might dislike the content of those tracts, they were probably very carefully planned by professionals who know what works and what doesn’t. (of course, they are likely handed out in bulk to church members who wish to distribute them). Sorry for the slight hijack. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/51 "2008-10-01T05:20:53Z")
> [@Will\_Repair](#): > > I was in a Radio Shack that was playing Christmas music at headache inducing levels. I was getting quite a few parts and asked them to turn it down. The salesman said the couldn’t control the volume because it was set by the mall. Huh? You’re Radio Shack! You sell audio parts! i was in an auto parts store that also sold car stereos and satellite radios (hey, they go in cars; they’re auto parts, right?). The satellite radio display was blaring rap music. Loudly. Very loudly. Too loudly; I couldn’t even hear my wife speak to me when she was standing next to me. I turned it down so my wife and I could converse about whatever it was we needed. Two minutes later, a Pimply-Faced-Kid Part-Timer was back to crank the rap up to earsplitting levels. Me: Jeez, can you turn that down? PFKPT: No, the manager says we have to have it loud. Me: I doubt that. My wife and I left, but not before I stopped at the Customer Service desk and told them why we would not be buying anything that day: the earsplitting rap music that the manager claims is necessary to sell satellite radios. Now, when I go back, it’s still rap. But it’s at a tolerable (and safe) level. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/52 "2008-10-01T05:29:03Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > I believe the first part, but not the second. > > I imagine the strategy is for the tracts to look like money so that someone will pick them up and look at them, wherever they are laying about. > > Ignoring debate about religious tracts _per se_, the intended usage probably does not include intentionally pissing off the server at a restaurant, though I’m certain many people do leave them for tips for varying motives. > > Someone who was tricked by found money might just laugh about it, while another who lost wages to the same trick would be furious and not receptive to the message of the tract. Oh, the intended usage is indeed for them to be used as part of a tip. After all, the tract is MUCH more valuable than mere money! The last time I saw such a tract, it was printed to resemble a $10 bill. This was some years ago. And let’s not forget the trick’r’treaters!: > [@](#): > > This year, don’t let this wonderful witnessing opportunity slip away. By dropping Chick tracts (and some candy) in Trick-or-Treat bags, you can give hundreds of kids (and their families) the gospel, all without leaving your home. If you like the idea of doing what Jesus would do, here’s your chance. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/53 "2008-10-01T07:33:02Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > My wife and I left, but not before I stopped at the Customer Service desk and told them why we would not be buying anything that day: the earsplitting rap music that the manager claims is necessary to sell satellite radios. > > Now, when I go back, it’s still rap. But it’s at a tolerable (and safe) level. I will not purchase items from any store that plays rap music, regardless of volume. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601/54 "2008-10-01T08:37:57Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > In general yes :). As much as one might dislike the content of those tracts, they were probably very carefully planned by professionals who know what works and what doesn’t. (of course, they are likely handed out in bulk to church members who wish to distribute them). > > Sorry for the slight hijack. There most likely are some professionals making these tracts, but let’s not forget who one of the more [famous creators](http://www.chick.com/catalog/tractlist.asp) of these tracts are. I actually agree with you, but I can’t help be amused by the thought of Jack Chick having a grasp of… well, of anything, really. Not even a great grasp of the religion he’s touting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-who-do-not-know-who-their-clientele-is/465601.md?page=2)