Life, 1922-06-01 · page 24 of 34
Life — June 1, 1922 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical comic strip about restaurant frustration. A demanding customer scans the menu, asking a weary waiter about nearly every dish—Boston scrod, chicken Maryland, beef stew, omelette, lamb fries, veal cutlet, pork tenderloin, English mutton chop, guinea hen—with the waiter patiently assuring him everything is "very nice, sir." The joke is the customer's indecision and pickiness: after interrogating the waiter about virtually every option, he finally orders plain roast beef—the simplest choice. The title suggests waiters face this exhausting behavior constantly, explaining their premature deaths from stress. The comic illustrates the tension between demanding customers and service workers forced to maintain composure through tedious questioning. It's a workplace humor piece sympathetic to servers' plight, satirizing customer behavior that remains recognizable today.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Spring Idyl Gone Wrong Why Waiters Die Young USTOMER (scanning bill-of-fare): Wel-1-1, let’s see C.: How’s the veal cutlet? Pretty good? now ... Anything good to-night? W.: Very nice, sir—very nice indeed. Waiter: The Boston scrod’s very nice, sir. C.: Well... I guess— How is that pork tenderloin? C.: No-o-o. Is the chicken Maryland ready? W.: Very nice, sir—very— W.: It'll only take a few minutes, sir. C.: Y'know, I'd sort o’ like an English mutton chop --- C.: How about the beef-stew ? Could you get me a nice, thick English mutton chop? W.: That’s ready, sir. All dishes marked with a— W.: Oh, yes; certainly— C.: Still, I dunno . . . How long for that omelette? C.: Takes pretty long. Is this guinea hen ready? W.: Not over five minutes, sir. W.: Yes, sir. All dishes marked with a— C.: Let—me—see—now ... Those lamb fries ready? C. (laying down bill-of-fare): I guess I'll have a piece W.: Yes, sir. All dishes marked with a— of roast beef. W. H.W. comicbooks.com ms