Is It Their Responsibility?

I enjoy reading restaurant reviews. Most of the restaurants I would never eat at, but I like reading about what they serve. Depending on the paper, some of the reviews are basically ads with no criticism involved. Others will point out all the flaws from the decor to the service. One writer who I like is John Kessler, who writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is no longer the restaurant reviewer, but now a food columnist. The other day he did a point/counter-point with a doctor who had written to him. You can read it here. The doctors contention is that the reviewer should be covering the menu from a health perspective, telling calorie counts and nutrition information about what is served. Kessler's counter to that is it is not the reviewers job to do that.

I side with Kessler on this. Last week I mentioned KFC's Double Down sandwich and how it is the purchasers responsibility for what they consume. The same goes for restaurant reviews. If you are concerned about nutrition it is your place to ask at the restaurant. The reviewer's job is to let you know what to expect, painting a broad picture of the establishment. If it peaks your interest and you want to know specifics, then place a call and find out. Putting all that into a review would make the review very boring.

I understand where the doctor is coming from, but once again it seems like he is advocating personal responsibility being placed in someone elses hands. I don't need someone else telling me what I should and should not do. I don't always make the responsible choice, but I live with the consequences of my actions. No one else is to blame. I don't want the responsibility for anyone else.

My smile for the day came from work on Friday night. The frozen foods and dairy truck was four hours late. I went to one of the managers and asked if they knew when the truck would arrive. I was asked, "Are you sure it's not here yet?" That is now the second stupidest thing that I have ever heard a manager say.