I went back to the restaurant on which I based my blog post a few months ago that I entitled “The Regulars.”  I went back not because I missed the place, but because someone I needed to meet with suggested we meet there.  You see, though he may not be aware of the fact, he is a regular.  I never mentioned that this was the restaurant upon which the blog post was based.  He arrived just a few moments before I did and was sliding into the booth when I arrived .  I motioned to the hostess that I was with that man just now sitting down.

Yes, I do have some further observations.

  • The server approached as I sat down and asked me if I wanted coffee, to which I gave a hearty ‘yes’. She reappeared instantly and asked what we wanted for breakfast.
  • Which leads to my second observation, regulars know what they want. Us non regulars have a harder time.
  • The last time eating here, I ordered pancakes and they were terrible, which I found amusing since the name of the restaurant is a nickname for pancakes.
  • And this leads to my next observation if you are named after something you ought to really be good at the subject! Sort of Like First “Christian” church, Church of Christ and Church of God.  We really ought to emulate the Father and our Savior.  Grace church showed be the first to dispense grace and so on.
  • I guess I learned that the name in no way reflects what is happening inside a place. Because of the previous experience I passed over hotcakes and want with eggs and toast.  I can heartily say they were average.  Not bad, but after all we are talking eggs, bacon and toast.
  • I also learned that no matter how hard I tried, my past experiences with this place came with me this morning. When anything happened out of the ordinary, I caught myself thinking well what did you expect?  Or, it figures they would mess that up!
  • I also learned that regulars really like their regular place. My breakfast mate always wants to go to this place and his family and friends say it is their favorite breakfast place in town.
  • I also further learned that when I don’t have the same opinion as the regular, I just remain quite about it knowing that of my own choosing, I would never being sitting here. I come just because I want to be friendly and I love meeting with my friend.  My friend really registers high on the loyalty scale.  You see he is of the generation where loyalty is next to godliness.  The restaurant was reasonably full.  I am sure they are making their payroll.  From the owners perspective things are going quite well.  Which is exactly what I thought when I pastored larger churches.  We had people, programs and some resources.  There was always a victory or two to celebrate.  I must confess that a time or two,  I was lulled into a false sense of well-being.  We may not be growing as rapidly as we once were, but we are larger than most of the churches in our area, so we must be doing something right! Right?
  • I really like regulars as a pastor, you could count on them they would eat what we fed them and not complain, at least to our face, on the parking lot maybe, but never to our face. I don’t remember which class taught me that if people are not sharing their discomfort, it must not exist. I must have gotten a good grade in that class.  Let me share something with you: We are all guilty of “selective data bias.”  We interpret the facts based on how we desire them to be.  In essence we interpret things the way we hope things are going.  Yes stats are curious things.  We can bring our own outside meaning and push and prod them into whatever it is that we want them to say.

I enjoyed the breakfast with my friend, yet it reminded me of something I have been pondering, is the restaurant in the business of serving regulars, or is it in the business of serving everyone?  You might want to make the application to other places, just saying……

 

 

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