Table for One

In the midst of all my business travels, I seem to have conquered one of my minor phobias. I am in Las Vegas and Monday night, I had dinner at a restaurant by myself.

I had always been a little afraid to eat alone. I guess I always thought that once I walked into a restaurant and asked for a table for one, the hostess would laugh and when I sat down alone, everyone would look at me pityingly. I’d be that loser who didn’t have anybody to dine with. Ironically, whenever I see somebody eating alone, I would never think of him as a loser. I always admired that someone would be courageous enough to do something I couldn’t.

I guess I just stopped caring what strangers thought. When you’re in a convention type destination, you can tell that people eating alone are just by themselves on business and are not some sad, friendless losers. I don’t really mind eating alone now. I bring a book to pass the time while I wait for my food. If I’m by myself, I’ll go to a mid-priced place because I feel there’s no point in going to a five-star restaurant unless I have someone to share it with.

It’s better than room service. I do sometimes order in if I’m jet-lagged and don’t feel like leaving the room but the dinners aren’t very good. It’s too much food and something about it just doesn’t sit right with me. I’ll order breakfast once in awhile if I don’t feel like cleaning up enough to go downstairs but mostly, I’ll suck it up and go to the hotel restaurant.

Plus, room service is laughably expensive. With the delivery charge and all the other charges, you can pay $50 for an omelet. The company will pay for it but I don’t want to abuse that. It’s the same food in the restaurants but cheaper.

At times I do blow off the free hotel breakfast and opt to pay for something elsewhere. If I’m in a hurry, I’ll eat the free stuff but sometimes it’s just nasty congealed eggs and limp bagels and I’d rather pay, especially since you can go to a diner and get a perfectly decent breakfast for like $10. When we were in Ohio for Christmas, Steve and I took one look at the Holiday Inn breakfast and decided to go to Cracker Barrel. It was sooo bad but sooo good. I guess I’m a breakfast snob because I think free crap is still crap.

I get sick of eating at these conferences. Las Vegas in particular is a fat festival. I can feel myself actually getting fatter. I can feel the lard accumulating on my carcass. I don’t eat much for lunch at home but I end up having these heavy lunches with doctors when I travel. It can be nice to get home and just cook something simple for myself.