Killing time at a bar in the LaGuardia Airport is nothing new for me. If I could log airport drinks as frequent flier miles, I’d be at Chairman status. It started with televisions in bars, this dumbing-down of patrons’ treatment. When a very elegant hotel in my hometown of Richmond, VA (built in 1895, marble columns, oil paintings of our founding fathers, a marble statue of Thomas Jefferson in the lobby) posted TVs in not only the more casual downstairs bar, but also in the upstairs elegant restaurant bar, it just did not sit well with me. Can’t we unplug for a couple hours?
Now airport bars’ customers are forced to use an iPad to order and pay for food and drinks. I hate it, and I think most hate it, but we have adjusted. To add insult to injury, some airport restaurants have bolted the bar stools to the floor. Why? Has anyone actually tried to take one onto their flight? What is the purpose of this? For us shorter patrons, the distance between the seat and the bar forces us to sit on the edge, with the risk of falling off.
TVs in elevators and restaurants, iPads to place food and drink orders… What happened to social interaction? Isn’t that the point of sitting in a public venue for a drink? Otherwise, ex the airport, you could make that vodka-tonic for 1/4 of the cost and watch T.V. at home (on a channel of your choosing!). Bolting down the barstools makes paying for that $15 cocktail a lot harder to swallow and I found it personally insulting. Hey guys, you CAN trust me with your barstool, I know it doesn’t belong to me even though I rented it for four hours as my flight was delayed. Generations of civilized people have been entrusted with restaurant chairs and bar stools. Give my bar stool freedom!
gettinoldaint4sissies 