My Vitriolic Prose

Since I've started writing this blog, I've noticed that my disdain for the least grateful 5% of my customers has diminshed greatly (though, not entirely.) This is so cathartic for me... any server harbors a certain degree of resent and hostility for being in the position of waiting on people, a small percentage of whom can ruin the vibe of a whole night. But since I've started this blog, I've noticed that it's becoming easier for me to focus on the good people, the joyful talkative barflies, the happy-go-lucky locals, and the progressive compatriots.
So I would hate it if any of my friends, whom I serve so genuinely and passionately, would find themselves alienated by my characteristically vitriolic prose. I've made good connections with people like Brian and Frieda, Wendy and Joanne, Lenny and Erin. I like you, and people like you, and I hope you like my blog. So I hazard this extension of self.
It's actually very intimate, to share a webdiary like this. My previous posting about Cactus Club reveals as much about myself as it does its object. Any faults that I find in others can only be those things I disdain about myself... and inevitably, the things I most oft expose unconsciously. My vitriolic prose is a mirror of my own uncertainty and insecurity.
So, my aforementioned friends, I hope that you will take my passionate opines as an expression of self, and not a statement of fact. Throughout life there are things that we each support, as a matter of philosophy, and things that we abhor with equal arbitraire. As the sun takes its rise, and its set... we are who we are, and I strive to be unashamedly thus biased, ever aspiring to see my brother's view. As we all grow, we twine together, reaching for the same sun... and the stronger we grow as one, the stronger we shall become together.
So please accept My Vitriolic Prose as exaltation rather than condemnation. Cactus Club: you've done alot for the dining scene in this town. Because of you, service standards have risen noticeably for upscale-casual establishments. You serve primarly local (and therefore better than Tyson chicken and Chilean pork farms) proteins and a great list of local wines. I just want you to do better... you have so much potential! You have such buying power and market share! I hope you can push us even further, Rob, and that you and Cactus Club set better than pineapple gelee. Because you're a magical cook, and I have the greatest faith in cooks, you of whom are a king. Do us proud, and speak economically of the WestCoast zeitgest as your Canadian Classics did culinarily!!! You're the man, Rob, that can take those five foot LCD screens and turn them into community supported agriculture. I can't wait to taste your Fraser Valley pork chop with Joie Riesling, organic cremini mushrooms and Okanagan gala applesauce.
Until that day, I do my best to represent establishments that have shown a commitment to the Ocean-Wise program, in particular, and expression of local terroir in season. It's not just local sablefish and spot prawns that represent our support of a short foodchain, but roasted golden beets and organic fingerling potatoes. Because every dollar we spend on sustainable harvesting with local labour prevents 50 cents of overfishing or unsustainable farming. The conversion rate is astronomical.
But as you dine, my friends, my opinions are forgotten and your comfortability is placed at a premium -- because ultimately, I value the dining experience, and politics have no place in the dining room. Politics are like cellphones: they're best if you only turn them on once in a while. The rest of the time, I can tell by looking into your eyes that we are both humans, and all we seek are the same... the same Comfortability, Delight, and Satisfaction, that dining rooms are designed to elicit.
So let us relish in this shared experience while we dine together. Because we all want the same thing, ultimately. And that ultimate experience, I believe, lives in the here and now... it is roommates with Dining. So let us work together, do our best to enjoy one another in this moment, and let our politics be a matter of discussion for the forums. Thanks so much for reading my blog.
Love,
Shane