It happened again—I had a great topic (I thought) for a blog post—and there was another national tragedy, the shooting and murder of police officers in Baton Rouge.

May the officers who lost their lives rest in peace, and may their families find comfort. I pray that the wounded will heal fully.

But, as I said the last time, maybe we need a distraction—or a reassurance that life, indeed, does go on and yes, we will survive.  

With those thoughts in mind,  I offer this blog post.

TV in Restaurants

I enjoy TV. I like watching favorite shows, and DVR many of them so I can enjoy them at my leisure.

But—and this is a big but, I hate TVs in restaurants (another thing I enjoy!)

First of all, I am highly visual, and I find TVs perched high on a restaurant’s walls to be terribly distracting. When I go out to eat, it’s not only because I don’t want to cook, but because I like the sociability of eating out. Conversations with friends, enjoying the restaurant’s ambience, and eating tasty food should be part of the experience. But, for me, those pleasures are diluted by the ever-present TV show that plays just above my companion’s heads. And because I am so visual, I find myself quite distracted by the TV.  I assume that other people feel the same way.

I wonder who thought that folks who are eating out needed the stimulation of TV.  I can understand it in a Sports Bar, where people go to cheer their favorite team, but  are they necessary in a restaurant that doesn’t necessarily cater to a sports crowd? And having a TV in the bar section of a restaurant might be a good idea—but placing TVs in the room dedicated to dining makes no sense.

There’s another problem with TVs in dining areas. In my most frequented local restaurant, the choice of programs can be questionable. First of all, I resent being forced to watch Fox News, but more than that, I hate to gaze at a dining companion, and catch sight of a gory “criminal procedural” program. What is less appetizing than pictures of the wounds someone sustained when being murdered? Or the reenactment of an autopsy? Why should I, as a patron, have to get the attention of a server and request that the station be changed?

I am not the only one who finds TVs distracting. Friends have been diverted from conversational topics by whatever is on the nearest TV—sometimes appearing to be more interested in the TV than their dining companions.

Wearing blinders when I am dining in these restaurants seems extreme— so maybe I need to think about eating in more upscale places!

Image courtesy of Pixabay