A Table By the Window

 

A Table By the Window 

It must have been a really special occasion.  Possibly it was my boyfriend’s birthday.  Typically I wasn’t the one to make the reservations but on this particular occasion I was the one to organize the event and make the calls.  I had narrowed down the choices to two rather upscale restaurants in Manhattan. One of the restaurants could not promise me a table by the window so I made my final decision and confirmed a reservation for dinner for 8 when the Top of the Sixes guaranteed me we could be seated at a table by the window.  I was thrilled. 

When the night of this special event arrived, as we quickly rose in the high speed elevator to the very top of the building, our spirits rose too. We were dressed to the nines, wearing our finest colognes and perfumes, and every hair was in place. The joy and excitement of our little group was palpable.  Having a solidly confirmed reservation, we were a bit surprised when we announced our arrival and were told, “you’ll have to wait because your table isn’t ready yet.” We were all a bit disappointed but there wasn’t much we could do.  When the wait continued longer than a few minutes, we sat on benches facing each other in a rather small entryway.   We eventually ordered drinks even though we assumed we wouldn’t be waiting too long. We nursed our drinks slowly as we were drinking on empty stomachs and the costs of our alcoholic beverages were astronomical.   We waited and waited and waited and got more and more frustrated.  It felt like an eternity and when we continued to inquire as to the reason for the delay, we got nowhere.  The staff standing guard at the entryway were stiff and cold and uncaring.   Finally after what seemed like an eternity we were told our table was ready and we were escorted to the table that had been prepared for us.  It was right smack in the middle of the room and nowhere near the promised window.  Wait, this can’t be our table, I said, “I clearly reserved a table by the window and we have waited half the night to be seated and this table in nowhere near the windows!” 

Mind you, this was a restaurant in midtown Manhattan with a view that was to die for. The reason it was picked was because I, personally, had been guaranteed a table by the window. 

I was angry beyond words.  This was 1968 but I remember it like it was yesterday. The staff member who brought us to the table said, “ I’m sorry but there won’t be a table by the window for hours.”  We had already sat for close to an hour and a half waiting to be seated at our table and it would be ludicrous to wait such a long time again. Thinking we had no other choice we reluctantly sat at the round table in the center of the room.  Being famished, and having finished our cocktails, we placed our meal orders rather quickly.  We were also a bit restless and disheveled after hanging around on benches in a small hallway near the main dining room.  It was hugely disappointing for me. I had tried so very hard to make this a very special evening at an upscale Manhattan restaurant and I was embarrassed that I had failed. More importantly I was furiously angry that I had been deceived by this pretentious establishment. 

As soon as we had given our orders to the waitress, we saw a table for eight being hastily prepared right in front of the window.   The view was gorgeous and the table was perfect.  I called over the waitstaff and said, “ what were you talking about, there is a table by the window ready right now and we were told it would be hours! We would like to be moved to that table. “ The reply I received was “Oh no, you can’t move tables once you have placed your order.”   I asked to speak to the Maitre Dee who came to the table only to reiterate the same party line. I explained clearly and assertively that I was the one that made the reservation and I was the one that was promised a table by the window and we were all told after waiting an hour and a half for a table by the window that no such table would be available for another couple of hours, and no more than 15 minutes later, one miraculously appears! My words fell on deaf ears, and uncaring hearts. We were 4 young couples with no power, no prestige and very little money. They could care less what we were promised; they could care less about doing the right thing.  We were completely powerless or so they thought. 

Injustices don’t sit well with me now in 2021 and they didn’t sit well with me back in 1968.  

They were wrong. They lied and they were deceitful.   

We passed the word around our table and we made a decision together. “On the count of three we rise in unison and move quickly to the table by the window.”  It was a bold and shocking move but it was an important move. 

If we didn’t get much attention before, we certainly had it now. The wait staff ran to our table and said we couldn’t sit there and we’d have to move.  They said, “We’re going to get the Maitre Dee”. 

“Get him, please,” we said.

They said, “We’ll have to get the police to remove you.”  

“Please do,” I replied. 

We ate our dinner at a table by the window that fateful night. 

Honestly, it was a bit stressful and maybe some people would say it really wasn’t worth it.  It was a matter of principle for me.  And, it was a dinner I never forgot.