Vax Cards

So here's the deal. Maybe I eat out differently than you do. But when I go out to eat, I generally want to:

1) Check out the hot new place (I can't help it, I started my career selling program ads and I had to research), or

2) Go to the restaurant or bar where I have developed a relationship. In some places (I'm looking at you, several taprooms), I have developed a relationship with the people there and I'm excited to see them and see how they are doing and bring Brutus. I used to go to Fabulous Fern's (RIP) once a week, and Lisa was alway our waiter. In other places we frequent, I don't know the people, but I know and love their food — the whole range of it, or there's one menu item I just adore (hellllooooo, veggie samosas at Afro Deli!) Sometimes, I just like the feel of the place, and when I know we're going to dinner there, I get excited for it all day. These are places to get excited about — you've seen my cocktail photos.

So first of all, I have no problems with a mask and vax mandate. None at all. It's literally the least you can do to keep yourself and others safe. And I personally don't find it hard at all; my card is always in my purse, and I know others who prefer apps on their phone. But even if I did find it somewhat of a hassle, I can't imagine deciding instead to get dinner at an anonymous Applebee's in Lakeville instead. It wouldn't be worth it to me.

When we were in NOLA over Thanksgiving, there was a vax mandate in restaurants and it was great Our friends down there said that people appreciated it, and that it had actually been good for the restaurant industry because people felt safe going out to eat (and that it seems to have reduced their numbers greatly). Everywhere we went, from Commander's Palace to the Friendly Bar, asked politely for the card as we got there and it was NBD. No one ranted at them for asking for it or got upset; they just acted like rational adults going out to get a drink.

It was really nice, and I know I came back and told a few of you how I felt that the Twin Cities was ridiculously far behind on this. If anything, I think that this recent mandate might fail because it may be too late. Much as I love the places I go, right now I'm not really going out at all (sorry to the tons of people I promised to get together with after the holidays — we could talk on the phone?). Omicron is nothing to mess with, and I'd rather try to avoid it, even if that turns out to be quixotic.

But if you're not going places because you don't want to show a vax card, I would ask you to sit with that for a minute and think about why you go to the places you do generally go to, and what kind of relationships you develop with them. Maybe, showing that piece of paper is respecting that relationship.

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(Note before I post this: I'm going to categorically reject any comments likening vax cards to Nazi Germany. I'm just not going to have that debate. As my friend Kelly says "My wall, my rules.")


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