A Mark on a Glass is a Sign of the Times

My last day in Europe my eye caught something on the glass of wine in the airport hotel. Here's the takeaway: When culture changes businesses conform with or without legal mandates. Or go out of business.

(Aside, offsite airport hotels are pretty universal. In the right mood they are the caravansarai of people off on fantastic adventures. They can also be human warehouses for the disgruntled victims of flight delays. My hotel out under the flight path of the Frankfort airport, with its cold bleak view of tarmac, warehouses, and service roads felt a little more like the latter.)

Anyway, on the wine class were small marks indicating .25 liters and .125 liters. In German a viertel and and achtel. respectively. These are ubiquitous in bars and restaurants. Mandated by EU law they insure that you know what you are getting, whether its soft drinks, juice, wine, beer, or hard liquor (smaller measurements on smaller glasses.)

Very different from the ambiguous "large" and "small" found in the US, or the even vaguer "generous pour" of the typical American bar. We know that the folks selling drinks are measuring how much they sell. That is just inventory control. But why not specify the amount?

Its really another manifestation of cultural difference with regard to how much Americans want to experience (either as consumers or sellers) regulation. AND I note, there are variations in what we want to know. Increasingly we want to know calories even if it doesn't actually keep us from ordering the slice of cheesecake.

Its worth nothing that in this respect American culture is moving closer to Europe, albeit faster in some places than others. We think of these as shifts in law. But they are driven by changes in culture. And when those changes take hold even without mandates restaurants begin to conform to culture. If your American restaurant isn't indicating calories and content it will be soon. 

And yes, Europe is getting closer to the US. A few months ago Austria banned all smoking indoors in restaurants and bars. Going where Starbucks led 22 years ago with their first restaurant in Vienna. Back then everyone said Viennese would never give up their coffee/beer, newspaper, and cigarettes. But they have.

In my neighborhood one bar owner preferred to go out of business and left a sign on the door making clear his protest. But I doubt the economy will miss him (he was 76) or his last 4 octogenarian customers coughing their lungs out at the bar.  Like a mark on a glass, his too was a sign of the times.