This is an ongoing series of posts on digital life and culture from DigiDame, aka Lois Whitman-Hess.
I’m not implying that the New York Post is a trusty news source, but I did read a story they recently wrote about restaurants that might impact you. The newspaper believes that “restaurants are discriminating against old people.”
Just to clarify, the Post refers to old people as Baby Boomers. The story points out that more and more restaurants are eliminating phone reservations. Some restaurants are even eliminating phone numbers for patrons.
The reason why I zeroed in on this story was because I, too, have noticed a change in recent months when I’ve called to make dinner reservations. The hours to make a reservation have been shrinking and the hosts leave me on hold way too long.
The New York Post revealed that restaurants need to save money, and one way they are doing that is by cutting back on employees. This is also a maneuver to discourage older customers from going to certain restaurants that are aimed at younger, hipper crowds. Baby Boomers are supposedly not comfortable making reservations online.
I don’t really think this story has much validity, but I do encourage seniors to use OpenTable, the worldwide website for online restaurant reservations, as much as possible. Let’s show them that we have what it takes in today’s society. Don’t fret. OpenTable is very user friendly.
Here’s the link for Open Table.
It’s also an app for iPhone and Android, so you can make reservations on the go like all those Millennials.
Have you found that fewer and fewer appointment and reservations can be made by phone?
A version of this post was first published as “Restaurants Vs Baby Boomers” at DigiDame
Lois Whitman-Hess has been in the tech business for 50 years. She has been writing DigiDame every day since 2012 because she loves sharing information about the digital world with people over 55 years of age.
COMMENTS
2 responses to “DigiDame: Restaurants Vs. Baby Boomers”
I’m a very seasoned NYC diner and haven’t felt discrimination this way, except that like many of my younger friends, an extremely “hot” restaurant is easier to get into before 8pm.
It’s better for seniors to aim for the earlier bookings, and definitely use Open Table, which often results in a reconfirming call that afternoon.
Can’t agree with the comment on just stay home, cook, and have your less pricey wine, because dining out is a most important Social experience!
Regarding the restaurants that allegedly discriminate against us
“seasoned citizens,’ a couple of things.
First, my mother (a wise woman) used to say: “If they don’t want
me, they don’t deserve to have me.”
Second, it would do a world of good for seniors to shop for food
and ingredients, then cook a meal. Too many of my old pals just
are too lazy to do this. Also enjoy a glass of wine, while avoiding
the unreasonable restaurant markups.
Finally, if restaurants want to follow the stupid, and masochistic
policy of turning away customers, let them go in the direction of
so many, which close within a year.
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