Oh no! Not again.

I don't know why this always happens to me, but all of my favorite restaurants seem to go out of business. This trend goes all the way back to my favorite childhood restaurant. Growing up, my family loved a family-owned Italian restaurant. The food was simple (in fact, the salad with nothing more than shredded lettuce), but it was delicious, especially the spaghetti with meat sauce. We went there all the time and then one day, we showed up to find a "closed for business" sign. Then, a few months later, the building was demolished and a fast food restaurant went up in it's place. It was just the first of many similar disappointments.

The next big one came a few years after college. During college, I lived on the tacos from a local Mexican place. Like my favorite childhood restaurant, this place was not much to look at either. (I think there might have even been a bullet hole in one of the windows). I may have been putting my life at risk every time at ate there, but it was more than worth it. I have never tasted a better taco or hot sauce. This stuff was so good, after college, I would make special trips back to the area just to eat at the restaurant. And then one trip back, there was that dreaded sign..."closed for business." Not again!

A couple of years later, my "curse" hit my favorite pizza place. Then my favorite burger place. And just last week, it all cam full circle when my current favorite Italian restaurant "closed for business." So what's the moral of this story? Well, if you own a restaurant and you see me walk in the door...ask me to politely leave. I won't be offended. In the long run, you'll be better off (and most likely, your business will prosper for years to come).