I thought the first 140 characters were interesting, but then I lost interest. #positive #cupcakes! #Mobbies

This was a well-written boring piece of fiction! I feel like I am right there... and I don't want to be. I've got to finish reading just so that I know he made it out of the mall and back across the street to the restaurant without falling down. I was secretly hoping we'd get the inside scoop on what makes those cheesy biscuits so awesome...

It was very well-written. He captured all the nuances of running a restaurant and the alienation of corporate servitude.

That being said, it was like having my ex-girlfriend describe all the mean people, boring people, stupid people etc. at her office for ten hours straight. I gave up after 50 pages.

Notes:

Page 11 – "Ty's styling in a black leather jacket".
"a soul grip"
1991 called and it wants its ethnic talk for white people back.

Page 15 – Unsure of what vernacular of the last 50 years "youngblood" is from. Only ever heard it in the possibly statutory rapey Bad Company song.

Ironic bonus - I was reading this in one of my Little Italy haunts and all the stuff in the book was happening all around me all the time. I couldn't take the recursive ennui.

I really wanted to like it, but maybe I'm just too close to that stuff on a daily basis.

P.S. I've never been to a Red Lobster. When I was in high school a friend of mine made fun of someone else for taking his girlfriend to RL. In high school. So I probably have a snob-infusion reaction. I think my brain interpreted what my friend said as, "If you go to Red Lobster, you will never ever ever have sex with a girl."

My hour is up already? Okay, that felt good. Next week, can we talk about my fear of intimacy with the Kool Aid guy? Oh yeah! See, he's a man shaped like a pitcher, holding a pitcher of himself. To me, that feels like a lifelong commitment to Kool Aid because of the infinite recursion. What? Yes, I'm out of Wellbutrin.

Bonus/curse: I had the B-52s Rock Lobster in my head every time I looked the book. There goes a narwal, look out for that piranha!

Subtopian tone poem.

The whine Liszt.

À la recherche du homards perdu.

The Franzia Consideration.

Overswirled.

Amanda C, I remember one gargantuan fabricated lobster suspended over the restaurant tables. Words cannot convey the repulsive creepiness of that dining experience.

I read the whole book, even though I didn't love it. Maybe if I had ever eaten at a Red Lobster I would appreciate it more. The book certainly didn't make me want to go to one ever.

I would like to hear from people who work in restaurants to see how their experience compares. I most appreciated the descriptions of the difficult customers--those rang really true to me.

Has an idea for a sequel. "First Day in the Garden"

Has anyone else wondered why someone would go to a chain restaurant like Red Lobster in New England where the real thing is available at real restaurants; Or even more curious going to Taco Bell in the southwest US and even Mexico?

The book was OK. I never worked in a restaurant but I have observed similar characters in other work environments.

I thought the book was ok. Not great. There were many things that reminded me of my past corporate restaurant table-waiting days. I didn't feel like any story was fully developed, but I guess that's difficult when only a few hours pass in the novel. It did make me want cheese biscuits.