Welcome to Hoots' Place

I notice a lot of traffic from the Yahoo Piccadilly Message Board, thanks to an ersatz invitation posted by my alter-ego. Blog traffic is like customers coming in the door: It makes no difference who you are or what your reason for coming might be, all are welcome.

I'm reminded of the tension between smokers and non-smokers. Both sides of the issue could get pushy, I recall, and usually I as the manager was expected to play adult to the children around me...

"That man over there is smoking."

"I see. Did you say anything to him?"

"ME? No, I didn't say anything to him."

"It's okay if you want to ask him to stop. He may not realize he is in a non-smokng area."

"ME!? I"m not gonna say anything. YOU need to talk to him."

"Is it alright if I mention that you are objecting to his smoking."

"No. Leave me out of it. I don't want to get involved. It's your place, so it's YOUR job to do that."

"I'll see what I can do."

For my own part, I want everyone's business and good will. I have looked a lot of bank deposits and for the life of me I cannot determine by looking at the money which part came from smokers and which came from non-smokers. Same for queers and straights, geezers and kids, people who blow their noses into the napkins and those who ask for paper napkins because the last time they were in they saw a guy blowing his nose into a napkin. It's not easy to stay out of other people's issues, is it?

Those of us who have spent years serving the public have seen a lot of issues. We've seen issues about sanitation, economics, minimum wage arguments, clothing styles, security, illegal immigrants...the list is endless. One of my favorite blogs is Waiter Rant, by a waiter who tells great anecdotes about his daily experiences. I think he is putting together a book on lline. If he isn't he is missing a good chance. The main link might change, but here is a link to a recent story I thought was good.

We didn't serve alcohol in the cafeteria and the hours of operation were not set to attract late-night glammor, so the atmosphere of most dining rooms was pretty tame by comparison with a Bistro. All it took to stir things up was a sweet young thing in August wearing the right kind of tank top. Geezer eyesight got all better for a moment and traffic from the kitchen picked up with a sudden interest in the condition of the line display. I suppose that was one of the few rewards of staying put as line manager. But I'm glad that is now a memory instead of a daily grind.

For those who would like to wean from the message board to more rewarding reading, feel free to click on the blogroll. (Right sidebar, or scroll to the bottom, depending on whether the sidebar choses to "float." Program glitch, I think, but hey! Blogger is free so I can't complain!) I have changed a lot of the site names to the name of the writer. I relate better to a person's name, even if it is a screen name, than a blog title, no matter how clever it might be. It's easy to forget that all we read is written by an individual, not a "site." Group blogs have more than one contributor, but one or two usually stand out for me. that's why the "et al" references are there.

As you click and travel, get ready for a wild ride. There is a breathtaking range of writing and thinking out there. It's an incredible world we live in, and I just saw a statistic that said that blogs were being created at the rate of one per second. Significantly, that was from a group blog from United Arab Emirates. If you want to review a bunch of blogs at one place visit Pundit Drome. There you will see preview panes with the most recent posts from a collection of blogs, arranged in reverse chronological order with the most recent appearing top-left, etc. Notice under the banner a series of other links to The Second Page and other sets arranged by category. Think of the blog world as a big library, the difference being that you are more likely to read all the books in a library.

Feel free to leave a comment if you like. Unlike the message board I am the editor here. If you leave something I don't like I can simply delete it and move on. Normally I don't like to do that. It's better for my credibility that I find a suitable reply. That way other readers don't have to imagine what may have been so threatening that I didn't want anyone else to read it.

(On a different subject, I read the Lubys board from time to time and notice that their stock took a big hit a couple of weeks back. The price had been steadily improving, up and past the fifteen-dollar range. Then abruptly it went vertically down, all at once if youb look at the three month chart. What happened? No one on the LUB board seems to have a clue. All they do is guess or spin, depending on whatever agenda they are pushing.)