The Marrow Spoon

I do not have to tell you that there are few places in this area that provide good service.

Or, maybe I do. Because poor service exists in so many places, and no one seems angry about it except me. Part of the reason is that too many people do not know how to act when out to stores, restaurants, departments of motor vehicles.... People who try to get their way by bullying, repeating requests, escalating the situation emotionally (beyond what is warranted given the often mundane consequences,) destroy the spirit of the rare exceptional customer service professional. Curse you for doing that! May you come back to this world as an overly industrious and particularly slimy insect.

Remarkably, in the face of you evil people, a few places manage to be good. Please don't go and ruin them.

If I were a restaurant owner, I would recruit servers at the Chili's at Santana Row in San Jose. They are consistently fantastic, and WAY beyond what is expected in that setting. Especially shocking when you consider how truly awful the service is at the "nicer" restaurants and stores in the mall. It is fascinating to watch them serve a little league post game meal--smiling the whole time with apparent sincerity, from the opening "WANT SPRITE!" at the beginning of the meal to the wiping of Sprite, smashed fries and ketchup handprints off the wall as the children knock their coin tips onto the floor. They are good. If you go there, do take care of them.

I cannot overstate how good the meat department is at Whole Foods in Campbell. I love those people--love them, want to put them in my will.
They are that good. Go ahead and ask any one of them how to cook something. Try to challenge them by requesting a recipe that can make a gourmet meal for four with a toaster oven in a half hour. They know everything, and they are nice!

# posted by Comida Evangelista : 6:45 PM