Fall Back, Move Forward

Mask mandates, change, and moving forward even with fear in your back pocket.

Photo credit: Suzi Pratt on Eater Seattle

I went to dinner with a friend the Friday before last, and when I arrived early so I could decompress from the trip there (have a drink or two beforehand at the bar with my note-taking tablet), but the place was packed. I’d been there a few times since the first local mask mandate lifted, but hadn’t seen it where the bar, lower level and upper level were crammed with people so early in the evening since the pandemic started.

My pulse throbbed.

I turned around and walked a block up to a coffee shop, got myself a decaf, and sat in the mostly empty customer space with my tablet to clear my head.

When the time came for our reservation, the restaurant was even busier.

All the staff and everyone standing or walking around had to wear masks, but the chaotic ambiance and knowing that the vaccine mandate had been lifted chipped away at my chill.

Photo credit: FlintCreek Cattle Co. website (where we dined). Just picture every single seat filled and every open floor space crammed with waiting people, and servers weaving and squeezing around them.

When my friend arrived, I was waiting to be seated on a small bench behind the host stand, even though our reservation was for ten minutes earlier. In my experience prior to that evening, the restaurant always ran like a well-oiled machine—having to wait with a reservation was surprising.

My friend asked if I wanted to go elsewhere and I said everywhere was going to be like that since they dropped the vaccine mandate for restaurants.