The Mary Jane Harrietta shoe is currently almost impossible to get hold of, with a waiting list of 800 people. Or you can wait four years for a table at the Bank Tavern restaurant in Bristol.
You or me would surely say, I'm not going on a huge waiting list, that's ridiculous, I'll try another type of shoe/ another restaurant that's more easily available.
What if when you finally get your table at the restaurant, it turns out the chef is having an off day and the meal simply isn't up to much? Then you'll kick yourself for enduring the long wait.
Is it sheer snobbery that people are prepared to go on a waiting list for months or years rather than walking into the local Pizza Express and getting a table straightaway?
Do people get a bit miffed if they're number 754 on the waiting list and they discover their friend is at number 23? Might a few banknotes be exchanged so as to jump the queue?
And how miffed would you be if the famous restaurant burnt down just as you got to the top of the queue?
Pic: the hard-to-obtain Harrietta pumps
The only waiting list I am on is for library books.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: I'm not even on a waiting list for library books. Or a waiting list for medical treatment.
DeleteBy the time they are no. 1 in the queue the shoes and the restaurant will be out of fashion.
ReplyDeleteFly: Very likely!
DeleteHow foolish!
ReplyDeleteJoanne: They don't see themselves as foolish, I'm sure, just cleverly on-trend.
DeleteNick you made my day. The shoes can stay in their box and there are so.many nice restaurants where you drop in and have a table in 5 min. It's probably the summit of a certain form of snobism. Who really knows. As noticed by the fly in the web shoes and restaurant will be "out"after 4 years of waiting.
ReplyDeleteHannah
Hannah: Yes, why go on a waiting list when you can just walk in to an equally good restaurant and get a table immediately?
DeleteI don't do any of that type of waiting. However, I just called to make an appointment to have my teeth cleaned and the next available appointment is in February! Apparently we are having a shortage of dental hygienists here. So, I am now on the wait list for a cancellation.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Linda: No appointment till February, that's ridiculous. Good luck with the waiting list for a cancellation!
DeleteI honestly believe this kind of crap fills a hole in people, they are so empty and shallow. But that exterior hides wounding of some kind. What is important to people really reflects who they are and so very many are troubled and unhappy and fearful of a tomorrow that may never come. So shoes, restaurants become ultra important until achieved and then the Big Next. Emptiness.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
www: I guess a waiting list presupposes a future and maybe that's reassuring for some people. Certainly as you say there are far too many people who are troubled and unhappy and fearful.
DeleteIt's ridiculous. No restaurant is worth such a wait. What if your day there comes around and you're sick? Go anyway and have a miserable time?
ReplyDeleteAnd those shoes look..... ordinary.
No doubt for some people the main thing is the cachet of owning a particular brand with a designer label, or being able to say you sent to Jean-Pierre Leposeur's House of Boutique Truffles or whatever. Incredibly shallow.
Infidel: Indeed, supposing you're sick? Ah, the House of Boutique Truffles, Michelin-starred, thrice winner of the Restaurant of the Year Award. Incomparable. I'm currently number 953 on the waiting list!
DeleteI had no idea that was even happening. I don't buy trendy shoes or clothes so there's no waiting for me. lol
ReplyDeleteMary: I couldn't picture you doing anything as ridiculous as going on a waiting list for some fashionable product.
DeleteI'd never heard of Harrietta pumps!
ReplyDeleteJenny: I don't think you've missed very much!
DeleteNot on my radar, Nick. I just wouldn't put my name down.
ReplyDeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: Neither would I. Even for the best meal on the planet, I wouldn't join a huge waiting list.
DeleteLife is too short to spend it waiting in line. I've never wanted anything badly enough to justify the wait.
ReplyDeletePS: Those shoes? Why do material things matter so much?
Debby: The shoes aren't even anything special as far as I can see.
Delete