Annoyance of the week
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009My new petty annoyance is restaurants that do not provide wireless internet service (Wi-Fi). Among them is Taqueria del Sol on Cheshire Bridge, where I lunched recently.
I asked owner Mike Klank and manager George “The Taco Nazi” Trusler why the restaurant doesn’t provide Wi-Fi, which costs next-to-nothing.
Mike shrugged and George snapped, “I don’t want it. It will just keep people longer at their tables.”
This is the usual explanation I hear. More questioning almost always reveals that they picture people camping at their tables with laptops like they do at coffee shops. I in turn explain that just about everyone carries a hand-held device today, like my I-Touch, and I’ve never been in any restaurant with Wi-Fi that was full of people dawdling over dinner while chatting on laptops. Mike and George looked at me rather blankly.
Of course, restaurateurs who refuse to install Wi-Fi may be avoiding altercations at the table. Last week, when I logged on to check my e-mail while lunching with friends, they threatened to put a fork in my head. “Are we that boring?” one asked. Hey, at least I wasn’t gabbing on my cell phone.
