cf75 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 In March, I am launching a blog for your amusement, my amusement and hopefully for many others...and could use your help. What's the premise, you ask? Simply...I like good food. I like dining out. I like eating in general. I also like to date - I have dated fairly steadily for 15 years and running... But sometimes when these two universal practices - eating and dating - coincide, one's quirks and behavior can surprise the other. or disgust. or absolutely outrage! ...hence the evolution of the MEALBREAKER. and my blog...(drum roll please) MEALBREAKERS.com: A compliation of meal-related dating "dealbreakers" - that peculiar thing that turns you off from another person - taken from personal experience, tales from friends (male & female!) and 3rd party observations. The point: none. The effect: hopefully laughter. Someone may learn something, too? Start flossing more regularly? who knows. The content: Each post will list a MEALBREAKER, whether its simply "eating with your mouth full" or "considering Olive Garden gourmet"...followed by a real person's brief vignette of why its a mealbreaker (why it drives you nuts) - or simply a time when you saw it happen. No names will be used, just initials (i.e. C., Washington, DC) unless clever nicknames (i.e. Flossing in Boston or EscarGO Get Some Manners) are provided. Why do i need your help? Because YOU love food - or you wouldn't be here - which means you probably have a mealbreaker. OR you're a server, a restaurant owner, a cook in the back, a maitre d' in the front, an eavesdropping diner who has observed dating behavior at the dinner table that you find odd, peculiar or downright ridiculous. Content will be edited to keep cruelty to a minimum. True, it doesn't have to be nice to be funny, but I'm not here to judge or offer my opinion on your mealbreaker. The collaboration will be funny in itself! I will collect a number of mealbreaker/vignettes before I publish the site. Therefore, if I've sparked your memory or a mealbreaker crosses your path in the future, please share your story with me at clfoster75@yahoo.com with the title "DR.Com - MEALBREAKER" Please do not post your responses to this Topic Item - I will share the link when I publish! Thank you! Cheers, Carrie p.s. my mealbreakers include - licking fingers when eating movie popcorn and then diving back for more; being rude or condescending to waiters (universal, yes?); and being taken to Chi-Chis, even with a group - luckily it hasn't happened since 10th grade. Ay yay yay, that dirty sombrero! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackers Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 There is an entire thread on eGullet called Deal Breakers - Ditching Someone over Eating Habits. I suggest you read the 90+ posts, including some by members of this board, as a good start. Some of the stories are hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Here's an earlier eG thread. Scroll down to NeroW's post. One of my favorites on eG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deangold Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 This is not really a meal breaker... but it really happened. When I was managing a restaurant in Los Angeles, we had one table that was really popular. It was a round table in the window. 2 guys came in and asked to be seated there. They had hot dates and wanted to impress the girls who were meeting them there. Our best customers, Mr and Mrs Q, had ressies for that night and they ALWAYS got that table. But when the guys flashed a pair of $100 bills, I asked the waits what to do (we pooled tips) and we all figured Mr & Mrs Q were cool enough to understand. Well as they sat, they talked like we (the staff) were not there. They were going to get the girls drunk and take them to an orgy. They were talking about taking them to a bar after and doctoring their drinks. This was really horrible. When the girls came in, I was with a customer and before any of us could react they were sitting with the jerks. The guys were wowing these two young impressionable girls, and we were panicked. Finally the guys got up from the table, one to make a call and the other to go to the bathroom, and we sprang into action. I called the restaurant down the block and asked the manager if he could take 2 in an emergency and then let me pay for it later. We bought the girls a bottle of champers to be waiting at their table. One of my waits related to them what their dates has been saying and the two young girls were horrified and grateful to us. We let them out the emergency door and they went down the street to dinner. We quickly reset the table so it showed only 2 sitting there. When the guys got back to the table they asked "where are our dates?" We played dumb. "There were only 2 of you eating sir." Mrs and Mrs Q who witnessed the whole thing chimed in in agreement. It was a scene out of a bad horror movie when the wife and daughter dissapear and not only will no one will tell the guy where they went, but deny that they ever existed. Finally the two guys stormed out of the restaurant telling me that "your life was worth shit". If they were members of the asshole mafia, I was in trouble! Mr & Mrs Q got their table back (and they would up giving us a tip that more than covered our expenses. We all felt we saved two lives that night! It was worth spending the $200 bribe to save these girls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Here's an earlier eG thread. Scroll down to NeroW's post. One of my favorites on eG.I'd forgotten my reply in that thread:Every single guy I dated up until Scott, my husband, was a picky eater. One hated tomatoes. One hated mayonnnaise. Mushrooms, vegetables, fruit, chocolate, fish, seafood...seen it all. I even dated a man who hated ice cream, for pete's sake.I've had the good fortune never to date anyone who was rude to servers, or a cheap tipper. Someone like that wouldn't get farther than the first date.I came across this post again recently. This was a dealbreaker: My one and only meal at Blackie's was also the occasion of my one and only offer to be a kept woman And I had forgotten Charles's response a couple posts down. Smartass.ETA: good luck rustling up content for your blog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lydia R Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Carrie... Why doesn't your signature appear on OP in this thead the way it does here: Mealbreakers looks like the beginnings of an idea for a great book! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdt Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Mealbreakers looks like the beginnings of an idea for a great book! More like compilation of stories from various folks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cf75 Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 (unsure about my signature? it should show up on this response - this has nothing to do with my work, though.) Ooh, i had no idea about the egullet thread -- I can't wait to read it. I am so amused by the topic. (perhaps i should trademark the word - ha) I've already received some PRICELESS stories. This should be fun. (and a compilation, definitely. i shouldn't let on as to how many of the stories are from my own experiences.) Dean, that story is a riot - and unbelievable. I guess the overriding dealbreaker is "unexpected orgies" - wow. Scares me that people like that even exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Riley Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 George Costanza re-dipping a half-eaten chip comes to mind, as does his *ahem* "salvaging" a barely-eaten pastry from the top of a kitchen garbage can. Dean - Jesus, is there a Humanitarian award in the restaurant business? That story sounds like a scene out of a hair-raising drama or a surreal comedy, depending upon your point of view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanCole42 Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 My wife and I have standing orders to divorce if the other ever orders a steak warmer than medium rare or if either of us goes vegetarian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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