I Don't Get It

3 Things I Don't Get

1. What is the deal with Bistros? Whenever we are making plans to go out and eat with another couple, etc, and that dreaded word, Bistro, comes up, I cringe. I can’t understand people who swear by these Bistros, because, I guess, I really don’t know what a Bistro is. What is a Bistro? My experience with these places has been as follows. I am told that we are going to a Bistro, but don’t worry this Bistro has everything, sells large portions at fair prices, and the seating situation allows for optimal privacy and nice comfort. So we go. And guess what? It takes me ten minutes to order because they don’t make anything I want or like (combination wise), the portions are always too small, the prices are outrageous and you have to pay for salad, sides, soda refills, etc, and I am always forced to sit in one of those setups where complete strangers are sharing the same table or right on top of you. Why do people go to Bistros? Is it a nose-up-in-the-air kind of thing? Are Bistros places people go when they want to look sophisticated and classy? I just don’t get.

2. This weekend we went to Saratoga, had dinner at the Circus Café on Broadway. Is that a Bistro? It was overpriced and ordinary, but the ambiance was exciting, so we went. It’s August, right? You can have great food the other 11 months of the year in the CapReg. As we walked back to the car, past the shops, I noticed something weird: the shops were all closed. There were probably 30,000 people on the streets in ‘Toga on Sat. night, there for various reasons, and you can imagine many had good money to spend. Why would the shops on Broadway close down when they know this number of people will be there? Is it because it’s after regular business hours? Huh? You have more walking traffic than you could ever wish for, and you close down. Are you nuts? I don’t get this. Where is the entrepreneurial thinking there? For six weeks out of the year, ‘Toga is one of the hottest spots in the country. These shops should be open 24/7 for those 6 weeks. Why not? Maybe this is the problem with American business nowadays. Everyone is so afraid of working longer and harder. What can I say? There were so many people just ‘hanging around’ Broadway last night, outside all these darkened storefronts at 9PM. I don’t get it.

3. I sure hope you think twice before criticizing the Schenectady Police Officers who shot and killed a gun-wielding suspect this weekend, in broad daylight, on a residential street. Were 14 shots fired excessive? I don’t know. But I do know this: I do not want to find out the hard way, and I would never sign up for the job of patrolling as a police officer in Schenectady. Would you!? Being an officer of the law is the hardest job in the world, especially in a high-crime area like Schenectady. They are targets for criminals and they are forced to make snap decisions when faced with crime calls that take them to places you and I couldn’t even imagine. In many cases, if you make the wrong decision, you might end up dead. So yes, what happened this weekend was tragic. Do I blame the police officers in Schenectady? No, at this point, I don't. Do I get people who believe the cops are out to harm and hurt people? No, I don’t get it.

Brian Huba
8/14/11