To Your Room Without Supper

THE PHRASE town-gown conflict usually conjures up a battle between Harvard officials and Cambridge residents over real-estate or taxes. But the phrase took on new meaning for me the other day when I was tossed out of a local restaurant because a manager didn't like my attitude.

To make a pathetic story short, as a friend and I wandered into Pizzeria Uno's for dinner, it seems that a manager mistook us for a pair of youths who had just rudely stormed out of his restaurant after hearing that the wait for a table was 15 minutes. To say the least, he displayed his displeasure at our nerve to return to his establishment after our alleged misbehavior. In fact, he put his face right up to mine and yelled at us, as if we were his kids who had just told their father to drop dead.

When we denied his accusations he begrudgingly seated us. After all, we were paying customers. But I wasn't really in the mood to eat at place in which I had just been treated like dirt. And I knew that this whole incident would never have happened if I had been about 10 years older--or 6-ft., 6-in., 250 lbs.

So I decided to get the real name and position of this self-styled "owner." Not only did the gentleman refuse to give his name, but he also grabbed the menus out of our hands and told us to get out. And he turned out not even to be the owner.

Unfortunately, the fact that I was obviously a college student, meant that this manager knew he could act with impunity.

OF ALL THE age brackets, ethnic groups and other social subdivisions, it is the college-age group that is least cohesive politically.

Just look at the raising of the drinking age. Despite the fact that statistics show that people age 21 to 25 drink and drive just as much as 18 to 21-year-olds, no politician would have dared suggest that the drinking age be raised to 25. Politicians just don't lose any votes by acting against the best-wishes of college-age students, but they know that slightly older, working people will get their revenge at the next election if they feeled wronged.

In the same light, Harvard Square businesses just don't lose any business by treating students badly. Some in fact seem to thrive on it. Yet, if it weren't for Harvard students the owners of Square restaurants like Pinocchio's and Tommy's wouldn't be able to drive their fancy cars.

At this point I could make a call to arms, but I know that students are more interested in the party that night than in letting a local merchant know that he's acting like a jerk. I should know. When I was booted from Uno's, I was more concerned about my lost dinner than being mistreated.

Still, if more students lodged complaints, perhaps managers and waiters would think twice about mistreating paying customers who happen to be young.

I called the general manager at Uno's, complaining about the rudeness of one of his managers, but he didn't do a thing. He didn't apologize. In fact, he didn't even believe my story.

It was a student's word against the word of one of his employees, and, as we all know, the employee is always right. But that's o.k. Uno's doesn't have a monopoly on pizza in the Square. I'll just go to Pinocchio's and admire the owner's BMW.