Essay: Noisy Restaurant Necessitates Bobblehead Doll Responses
The trigger for today's essay was a little thing, but it followed a big thing so it became meaningful. Included in the paperwork for a new endodontist I was referred to recently was the low key question of the type of music I'd like to hear while under their care. I checked off "the 60's" and forgot about it. As I snugged into the orthodontist's chair, however, "Surfin USA" followed by other Beach Boys’ hits played gently in the background and made me smile and relax. In contrast, a couple days later, my wife and I joined dear friends for dinner at the trendy, relatively new restaurant, Callie, in the East Village of downtown San Diego. We had arrived shortly after 5 p.m. on a weekday evening, which was good because conversations were still possible. But by the time our dinner selections were being made, the animated and elevated voices of hundreds of guests and their parties made it impossible to hear--much less understand--one another. Indeed,