Season 1: Episode 2
We all know the unspoken city citizen right of passage that occurs one Sunday afternoon after a long service of church or a long weekend of parties full of things we'd rather not remember. The smell of Creme Brûlée French toast, Eggs Benedict, freshly squeezed Orange Juice, and fruit fill our noses as we make our way through crowded tables as if we were a part of a maze on the morning paper. Some call it a tradition, some call it unnecessary, and everyone calls it as it is--brunch.
I experienced this food fellowship of bliss last weekend with a friend that I'd established as my brunch partner earlier on during my first semester of college. As we walked into the wooden doors of one of the busiest brunch spots in Washington, it felt good to be seated right away. We watched others wait desperately in hopes to be seated before the serving of crisp waffles, fluffy biscuits placed on top of fried chicken, and shrimp laid out on grits came to an end. I won't say that making reservations in advance made the food taste good, but it did give it that extra bang that I was looking for. The feeling got me thinking as I twirled eggs onto a silver fork, why do we make reservations?
Preparation is everything
If I haven't learned anything else in these few months that I've been here, it's that on time is the new late and early is the new on time. When you call ahead to reserve a table for you and your party, you're going in with the expectation that your space should be prepared for you and that the process should be as smooth as butter on top of pancakes. Researches (me, a college student with experience) have come to the conclusion that nothing ever gets done efficiently when one rushes. When you schedule ahead, time is (or at least should be) set aside for the cleaning and preparation of your table. Let's think of the same concept being applied to scheduling in advance for anything in your life, shall we? When scheduling ahead, you can allow room for mistakes, messes, and so forth because you have allotted the time for yourself to clean in up before it's time to press go. If practiced right, you also make space for a decent amount of preparation that goes toward the efficiency of our everyday lives.
Planning for the future
The definition of reservation is actually quite simple:
res‧er‧va‧tion /ˌrezəˈveɪʃən $ -zər-/ an arrangement which you make so that a place i is kept for you at a particular time in the future.
Making reservations has unintentionally helped me communicate my plans for the future to myself and others, whether it be for tomorrow or the next few years. When you set up a reservation for either your hotel, table, or whatsoever it may be--- you're taking the value of your time into consideration. No one likes setbacks (especially not this girl), and without the proper planning, you'll be stuck for about an hour waiting for a table while your stomach scolds you for being so inconsiderate. Plan out your goals ahead of time; this can be done in simple ways such as purchasing a monthly planner, making business plans, budgeting, or creating a yearly goal list (let it be more effective than New Years resolutions!)
Since I've gotten to DC, I've gotten better at communicating my plans to others that could be of help as well as executing them myself. It's helped me socially and serves as brownie points toward my #imfinallyadulting status (to my southern mother: it's okay mom, I know I'll never really be "grown.")
With my points racked up in my pockets, I challenge you to make reservations every place you go that takes them into consideration. If there isn't a website to do it, call and try your best to communicate what you want. It's okay, no one can see you through the phone unless you've accidentally pressed FaceTime. You'll find dinner and hanging out more enjoyable when your time isn't waisted by rushing whoever is in front of you. You might even find your favorite dish hitting better than it ever has before because you can slow down and take it all in. Don't worry, you can thank me later--you know, when your mouth isn't full of food.
