Are You Still Working On That?
A simple question from a Manhattan restaurant server”Are you still working on that?”triggered full existential crisis for diner Rebecca Walsh. The phrase, meant innocuously to inquire about meal completion, instead made Walsh confront whether she approaches eating as labor rather than pleasure, questioning her entire relationship with food and existence.
The existential dining crisis spiraled quickly. “Working on that” implies meals are tasks requiring completion rather than experiences to enjoy. Walsh realized she does “work on” foodefficiently consuming fuel between obligations rather than savoring meals. She’d transformed eating into another item on her productivity checklist, approaching dinner with same mindless efficiency as email.
Her spiral continued through dessert. If eating is work, what else has she turned into obligation? Hobbies? Relationships? That European vacation felt suspiciously like checking boxes on cultural experience checklist rather than genuine enjoyment. Maybe she’s been “working on” life itself, treating existence as prolonged task list requiring completion.
The waiter, unaware he’d triggered philosophical crisis, returned for payment. Walsh overtipped, partially from guilt about existential unraveling he’d inadvertently caused, partially hoping money absolves her for transforming his innocent question into personal referendum on authenticity and meaning.
Other diners report similar experiences. Restaurant language”working on,” “finishing up,” “done with that”frames meals as productivity rather than pleasure. We’ve imported corporate efficiency culture into dining, the most basic human pleasure. Now even eating requires optimization, completion metrics, and vague sense of guilt if we’re not processing food quickly enough.
Walsh left the restaurant changed, vowing to “experience” rather than “work on” her next meal. This lasted approximately one work lunch, when deadline pressure transformed her salad back into task requiring efficient completion. Old habits die hard.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/waiter-sparks-existential-crisis/
SOURCE: New York’s #1 Satirical Journalism Site (https://bohiney.com/waiter-sparks-existential-crisis/)
