As for the Wild Rose Party and rednecks in general…well, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.

I’ll shut up now.

I totally agree with your thougths on knowledgable service staff. When I worked at a restaurant, the servers who were really good at their jobs always knew their stuff, and the restaurant managers did many things to make sure we all had useful information to convey to the customers.

Glad you like the comparison with Milli Vanilli. Now that we’ve mentioned them 3 times in one day I wonder if there will be a resurgence.

Never considered the allergy angle with the servers, and it’s a good point. That said, I would amend my distaste to be more centered around the lack of effort to give me information. “I hear it’s good” tells me nothing. And now that you mention it, it also frustrates me when servers can’t tell me anything about how the dish is prepared, beyond what’s in the description on the menu. When I had my snooty little place in Connecticut, we’d bring the whole staff, including the bartenders and the hosts, in to watch that night’s specials being prepared, and everybody got a taste (unless of course, as you point out, they were allergic). That way, people could actually sell the product.

Imagine a realtor who didn’t offer to take you on a tour of a house, but instead responded with, “I haven’t seen the inside, but I hear it’s nice.”

1) Fast food. Taco Bell is as much a Mexican restaurant as Milli Vanilli were musicians. You do mention this in your post to a degree, but in my opinion fast food shouldn’t even be mentioned.
For minimum wage and a paper hat I think you’re getting the exact “restaurant” experience you’re paying for.

2) Allergies. I was a server at a restaurant with a full menu that had a couple specialties. I’d tried everything on it, oh, except anything with shellfish, you know, because I’d DIE if I did. Does this mean I’m not fit to work in any establishment that serves shellfish? Certainly I’m not about to apply at Red Lobster, but you see my point. With customers who’d ask for an opinion on the crab cakes I’d simply tell them I had a food allergy and ask them if they wanted me to find someone who’s tried them. Most did not and asked about another item. Many asked about my allergies and it felt really good informing someone about this problem who would have otherwise been ignorant.

As the Oscars went on and The Artist picked up more awards, my twitter stream filled up with anti-French tweets, some of them just wickedly cruel. I think we may be able to learn a little bit from Jean Dujardin who said in his acceptance speech, “I love your country” and proclaimed his delight for cinnamon rolls on the red carpet. If a big star like Dujardin can find delight in the small pedestrian things about America, why can’t we find these same things about the French?

World War II was 70 years ago. The American Revolution was over 200years ago. One country has moved forward while the other keeps grabbing for the past. It’s one thing to be a chauvinist but quite another to tear down someone else’s country and culture to do it.