Becoming Happily Unreasonable Again

I'm so glad Isobel and I decided to come home last night instead of staying, and camping, like we'd planned on.

This morning, I'm sitting in my office and rain's splattering the glass while I'm reading. It's been doing that for hours. Apparently, it's supposed to keep going for a bit, too. I'm actually fine with that—I'm settled into my chair, with a coffee mug that's just radiating heat in my hand, and I'm reading Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara (finally). It's been on my to-read list for years and, admittedly, I'm really not sure why I picked this of all moments to dive in. I once spent more than a decade working in hospitality, so it seems like any time in there would've probably been more fitting.

But hey... better late than never, I suppose.

Will Guidara's best known for his role as the former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park. Under his leadership, it became the #1 restaurant in the world. It also won multiple James Beard Awards and three Michelin stars in the process...

Outside, the rain's really coming down now and I'm equally as glad to not be running the Vermont City Marathon taking place today. I have been thinking about signing up for another race, but I tend to do so much better with ones that happen in the fall. It's just that I'm never race-ready in the spring. Winter always throws me off my training, and so I use spring and summer to get back into it. Hence, fall races.

I digress.

I'm finding Will's simple, "unreasonable" ethos very intriguing.

I particularly like how he cites Danny Meyer's Setting The Table, and its belief in "going above and beyond" as a primary influence of his. He uses the example of asking restaurant guests about which mode of transportation they took, and having staff members feed the meter for any who parked cars nearby; you know, before pay-to-park apps were a thing. It reminded me of interactions I've had with guests in the past. Specifically, I started thinking about one from a time when I managed a brewery. It started when I saw these two guys looking over at our tanks through the glass wall. Truthfully, that's exactly why it was built like that... to make people curious. The place was busy, but I walked over, introduced myself, and started answering their questions about our brewing process. They were on vacation, and turned out to be brewers themselves back home in Georgia. I answered what I could, and brought over some samples for them to try before letting their server take over from there. Then I comped them a round of drinks as a "thanks" for chatting and sharing their brewing knowledge with me. They came back every day that week. A couple weeks later, a package showed up for me at work filled with swag from their brewery.

Pulling myself out of my nostalgia, I leaned forward and took a sip of coffee. After settling back into the cushions, I kept reading to find out what else I'd forgotten about that might be useful to work back into my present-day life.

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Our Daily MAP Year Prompt
266/365

What's your version of "unreasonable" hospitality? How can you show up in your life that far surpasses all expectation?

onward.

For more on this daily column and The MAP Year Project, read the backstory here. And if you know someone who'd appreciate this, pass it along.