Restaurant bigotry in the time of the Pro-Health and Diet Laws

As many FatLand residents noted, it wasn't so much that restaurants kicked them out before and during the first couple of years of the Pro-Health and Diet Laws. It was more that the maitre d's made excuses not to seat them -"Sorry, the restaurant is full now"- or gave them the least desirable seats in the restaurant(s). "Um, I'd really prefer something a little further from the kitchen? There isn't anyone sitting in the front at all."

Or they said that a special party had rented the restaurant. "All of it?"

Or they said that all the empty tables were reserved. "All of them?"

Or they said that the restaurant only seated couples during the last two hours. "Really? Then I guess single people are out of luck here."

Or they said that a special tasting dinner was being served at $120 per person that night. "Are they tasting gold crumpets?"

Or they said that there were no seats that could fit us.

Or they said that the bathrooms were too small for us to fit in them.


It was an atmosphere, more than anything else - an atmosphere of fear and loathing, of hate, of bigotry, of discrimination at its most blatant.

This is how one knows that it's time to leave...