100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do...

This New York Times article lists 100 things (well, 50 for now) that a good restaurant should never do.  Some of them are obvious--though often overlooked--such as:
1.  Do not let anyone enter the restaurant without a warm greeting (as opposed to the "why are you here?" look I sometimes get).

and

21. Never serve anything that looks runny, or creepy or wrong (duh! especially 'creepy').

Some items on the list are more subtle, like:
2. Do not make a singleton feel bad; do not ask "are you waiting for someone?" (although assuming that you are probably alone might not be good either).


and

6. Do not lead the witness with "Bottled water, or just tap?" Both are fine.  Remain neutral.  (And in particular, don't push that stupendously overpriced imported 'artesian' water -- the one that comes in a bottle that looks nicer than the vase I just bought at Mikasa.)

Two reasons for bringing this up.  First, because I think most of us have an opinion on this.  Try this with your friend-group; ask them if there is anything that waiters do that "drives them crazy."  I don't know why, and I don't know when it happened, but complaining about restaurant service has become an art.  I suppose this is because it is a not-so-subtle way of saying how sophisticated we are.

More on that at another time.  But the second why I bring this up is because I kinda feel like people go to  churches with lists very similar to this one...  I suppose some of this isn't a bad expectation to have (like being greeted warmly), but there is this 'I want great service' mentality that people have that might not be congruous with worship.  Churches bending over backwards to make people feel comfortable, 'be a guest' -- in some ways -- might not helpful in dislodging the mistaken understanding of what we are doing when we gather for worship.  (Hint: it's not about you; it about Him!)

Trust me, I want our church to be warm, friendly, inviting, non-exclusive, and do everything in reasonable means to make people feel genuinely welcomed.  But we ought to remember the difference between what makes for a good church and what makes for a good restaurant.