A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

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Continental Lunch

By Jimmy Johnson

May 09, 2011


Oh, what wouldn’t I give right now to be sitting in some cozy bistro griping about how long my lunch is taking? Let’s remember all the cooks and waiters and dishwashers and managers in the restaurant trade, who—in a literal sense—have been on the front lines of the economic downturn. Theirs were among the first jobs to disappear and probably will be the last to reappear. The food-service trade is a notoriously marginal trade, and we know all those pre-pandemic jobs aren’t coming back. We miss you and hope to see you somewhere when this is all past.


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23 responses to “Continental Lunch”

  1. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    I am friends with Robert Irvine of Restaurant Impossible fame and Robert intends to be very busy in the coming months as potential a third of the local restaurants may not survive this. We often eat out on the weekend for brunch, but the two local guys are not even open for pick up. Robert says that restaurants will need to open up with much smaller menus and will need to change them up to draw people back in. While some some people might eat or take out 4-5 times a week, they may only be able to do so twice a week. Support your local business, if possible, their livelihood depends on it.

  2. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    Who WAS that masked man? 🙂

  3. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Amen on supporting your local food providers.
    I know a hilarious Lone Ranger & Tonto joke which unfortunately is much, much too inappropriate for this venue. It involves a buffalo, in case you’ve heard it. 🙂

  4. joe d Avatar
    joe d

    My wife and I used to het a babysitter for kids on Tuesday nights so we could go out alone to our favorite restaurant; but that’s no longer possible. But today my first unemployment check came so we’ll get a family take out meal from there and have a couple of adult beverages at home. Not the same for them or us but at least something.
    PS: JJ- How’s Gene’s family farm & restaurant?

  5. ruralbob Avatar
    ruralbob

    We are ordering carry out twice a week from our favorite restaurant here in our little town, as well as ordering beer as often as possible from the local brewery. I would hate to lose either of them. When/if we get our stimulus check, a good chunk of it will go to both of these establishments. I hope this craziness ends soon.

  6. emb Avatar
    emb

    Here is a timely read. She’s also a good speaker; spoke at BSU maybe a year after the NP trip.
    https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/newsmd/coronavirus/5041673-Social-isolation-tips-from-polar-explorer-Ann-Bancroft
    Peace,

  7. emb Avatar
    emb

    A video, “timely” in a different way:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7KeutzTlKE
    Ann would be interested; people like her are. But, I should still get outdoors more. It may thaw again today, but we’ve had only scattered frost-free nights.
    Peace

  8. TruckerRon Avatar

    We’ve had several gorgeous nights lately… with wind gusts in the 20s and 30s. That’s kept me indoors! I don’t want suffer the windchills or to risk my telescopes being blown over.

  9. Sideburns Avatar

    The cold weather coming down from Canada gave us some April Showers last night, and we expect more tonight. It will probably take several days for it to melt.

  10. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    6.5 inches snow on Sunday sometimes hard to see 300 feet.
    Snow flurries yesterday and more today.

    Small potatoes to what happened down south – prayers.

    My Best Man (50ya) Ron’s Pancreatic Cancer is flaring up again.
    It has been 4 years since first round. Keep him in your prayers.

  11. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    Once again I’m unable to share a link 🙁 Comic Strip of the Day provided a link to this explanation of how modeling works. Not quite a “for dummies” version but pretty good. I’ll post it on the A&J Facebook page; maybe someone else will share it here.

      1. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
        Ruth Anne in Winter Park

        That’s it. Thanks!

  12. Judy in Conroe Avatar
    Judy in Conroe

    Thanks TR. Don’t know whether this is the one Ruth Anne was talking about, but it’s a good one!

    1. TruckerRon Avatar

      That one makes it clear just how much “educated guessing” is involved in computer models of human behavior. Throw in the unreliability of some countries’ data, and it becomes clear that we can’t really rely on the international medical models. And it calls into question all computer models! Unless you’re modeling well-known and measurable factors, like in a chemical reaction or other physical event, the models are just best guesses. At best.

  13. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    I grabbed dinner tonight from a local Mexican restaurant. They are opening for dinner takeout Monday thru Saturday and I hope they make it through this troubled time. Their food is great, the prices are too, and the staff is very friendly.

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      Good recommendation, considering that Tulsa seems to have more than its share of purveyors of good Mexican food.

      1. Bryan Avatar
        Bryan

        Good Mexican food in Oklahoma??? Boy, something has changed since I lived there and ‘Mexican’ meant kidney beans, bell peppers and ketchup.

  14. emb Avatar
    emb

    I’m afraid we will lose our only Greek eatery [in a shuttered mall] & also possibly my preferred Chinese source. Don’t know what Sanford Health will be like when / if I get to be an active volunteer again. Peace, G’nite.

  15. Bryan Avatar
    Bryan

    I saw a waiter/bartender from my favorite pub working as a ‘curb-side shopper’ at my local grocery and the manager of our towns only movie theater working at the hardware store.

  16. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Don’t click on that link. It won’t do what it was supposed to. I wish we had an edit/delete button on here.