We all want to support our favorite restaurants in the time of COVID-19 to give them our business so they can stay in business. What if those restaurants aren't able to give us what we had before the pandemic settled into our lives?
Example 1
With my negative reaction to mozzarella cheese, I don't frequent too many pizzas in restaurants. I have a place that I love that makes a New Haven style pizza with parmesan cheese. The place doesn't require a special order, which psychologically is huge.
I was in the neighborhood of the place and called in an order for the lunch-size pizza. The pizza is a really good size for a single person. The regular pizzas are meant to be shared with 2-3 people.
I called in for the lunch-style pizza. I was told that the pizza was not available at this time. Confused? You weren't the only one. The person said I had to get the larger pizza. That wasn't going to happen and the conversation ended.
I noted my experience on the restaurant's Facebook page in a kind tone. Got no response.
Example 2
I have a favorite pulled pork sandwich place. The place requires 2 long bus rides there and 2 long bus rides back. I love going out there for the pulled pork sandwich, greasy fries, and the cutest cucumber vinegar cole slaw. When the weather is nice, I love eating outside.
I get out there after a long journey. There were no fries. They had no regular water. You had to buy a crappy bottle of water for a ridiculous price. I forgot to bring my own water (my mistake).
They did take my temperature (97.1°) before I decided that the effort was not worthwhile and went back home without barbecue.
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Feel free at this point in the stories to laugh or poke at me for being too particular or wanting what I had in the before time. I have routines that I like — this is who I am.
The pizza scenario was particularly odd. Maybe their profit margin on the smaller pizzas wasn't enough to make up for the lost time when they were closed. They wouldn't tell me that thought process but that would be logical. Then again, I was a customer and I was willing to give them money I didn't really have for a takeaway pizza. They said no to my pizza request.
The fries scenario has a back story. The place also has a downtown location where the setup doesn't allow them to have fries. So in the before time, you knew that about the downtown location. I would not have been on 4 buses in total if I knew there were no fries. There was likely a reason why the fries were not viable.
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I love the idea of supporting local restaurants to buy gift cards to keep them afloat. Go back when things are somewhat normal and use the gift cards.
This works if you have regular money coming in during the pandemic. The United States has been woeful in giving help to its citizens who were barely making it. The unemployment didn't kick in for 2 months after the pandemic started. The $600 unemployment supplement has expired. The $1,200 one-time check was so long ago and had to go to rent.
Gift cards are a difficult purchase if rent is an issue.
These local restaurants deserve better and generally aren't getting the kind of support from the federal government. Did we mention the House-led Dems passed an extension of those unemployment benefits in May that would have extended the $600 supplement through the end of January 2021?
Rich people have received a lot of money from the current regime. They don't spend money on local businesses for the most part. The rest of us do spend money on local businesses but we don't have the money to spend on them.
Even with limited money, I am willing to spend some of that money on local places. I do want what I used to have.
photo credits: me
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