Diners in Ohio USA are up in arms about the right to bear arms in eateries. Nick Harman looks at the wackier side of restaurant rules and etiquette.
Once upon a time a gentleman could be turned away from a restaurant for not wearing a jacket and tie. Or worse he’d be forced to wear a hideous tie produced from a stockpile kept under the restaurant’s front desk. It’s a practice that still continues in the dustier parts of London, but consider the dilemma now faced by hungry diners in Ohio USA. It seems some restaurants are now refusing to admit anyone carrying a gun and no, that’s not just McDonald's.
Is that a gun in your pocket or are you pleased to see me?
The recent Ohio Senate Bill 17 had made carrying firearms into bars, restaurants and nightclubs (and would you believe shopping malls) perfectly legal. The law did however forbid gun carriers to drink alcoholic beverages or be drunk while packing heat, thus removing the element of fun for some.
Many restaurants and bars though have since put up signs saying that gun-toting customers are not allowed in, a stance that could be bad for business. Gun fans have become annoyed at what they see are restrictions on their personal freedom and are handing out cards to offending restaurants saying ‘No guns = No dollars.’ In other words they won’t patronize the place.
According to the gun group Ohioans for Concealed Carry (OFCC), 300 restaurants and bars in the Columbus area have posted signs warning off gun carriers. And those signs haven’t been at all popular with OFCC members.
Lost business
An article in the Columbus Dispatch, the main Ohio newspaper, quotes David Kessler a local lawyer and gun owner, who abandoned his usual place in protest. ‘It really irritated me. I feel like they have said they personally don’t want my business.’
Perhaps one answer would be for people to check in their guns at the cloakroom. There might be trouble when leaving though. ‘That’s not my Glock 9mm; mine had a white handle not black’. Another answer might be to arm the staff; it would certainly make customers think twice before complaining that their burger was cold.
Rules are rules
Of course it’s not the only odd law in America. For example Nebraska has a state law that prohibits bars from selling beer unless they are simultaneously brewing a kettle of soup, while in Wisconsin it’s illegal to serve apple pie in public restaurants without cheese. And in Minnesota be aware that you can’t cross state lines with a duck on your head, just in case you were planning to do so.
Not that we Europeans can be too smug. A young adult college student in Italy can't have a glass of Chianti with dinner, according to the Drug Free Schools and Campuses Act. The question is not so much why can’t they drink, as why can’t they drink Chianti? What’s in it that we don’t know about?
In the UK some old rules still apply. A landlord may show you the door if you ask for a pint of Snakebite, even if you're Bill Clinton. Some restaurants rigorously stick to a policy of ‘no socks, no shoes, no service.’ Personally I’d ban baseball cap wearers and swiftly evict anyone who let their mobile phone ring while they were eating. I mean I am the only person that’s heard of the ‘vibrate’ setting?
Your stories
Have you ever been barred from a restaurant for a bizarre reason? Have you encountered any strange rules or customs while on holiday? And who would you bar if you were in charge? Let us know in the comments section below.
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That’s disgusting! Dishes to make you leave a restaurant