Several weeks ago, I stumbled upon the website Archive.org, a site that allows you to enter a URL and see that website on many different dates from the past. When I was first starting to blog, back in High School, I simply edited an html page, added my own timestamp, and uploaded my own pictures…this was just before I began using versions 1.2.* of WordPress. Anywho, I went back through some of the archives and found this gem, which I thought I would repost.

Ok, how many of you have been hungry before? Let me see a show of hands; and out of those, how many of you have jumped in a car with friends, family or strangers (if that’s your thing) only to have someone ask the inevitable question: “Where do you all want to eat?” Yea, just about all of you! Well, this is a common occurrence in my daily life and living in a large city with tons of places to choose from, the conversation can go on for quite awhile unless someone REALLY knows what they want to eat and no one else minds. With that in mind, I’ve come up with the Official Rules of Choosing a Restaurant when Eating out with Friends. They are as follows (and yes, I’m willing to make amendments if they are valid ones.)
RULES FOR 2 PEOPLE IN A CAR:
1.) If someone asks you go to a specific restaurant with them and you agree, the discussion is over.
2). If someone asks you what you want to eat and you reply with “It doesn’t matter” or “I don’t care”, then whatever he/she suggest goes…end of discussion.
3.) If you are allergic to any type of food, or if a specific type of food upsets you, you must make this known up front so there is not confusion later.
4.) If someone suggests a restaurant and you do no want to eat there and you make your desire known, it is now up to you to suggest the next choice.
5.) If someone pulls the “I choose last time, its your turn to choose” card, you must play it…it is a valid rule and trumps most others.

RULES FOR 3 OR MORE PEOPLE IN A CAR:
1.) If someone suggests a restaurant and no one in the car has a strong disagreement with the choice, accept it and eat. End of discussion.
2.) If someone suggests a restaurant and another passenger refutes it as a choice due to any number of reasons (price, quality, service, reputation, etc) it is now the refuter’s turn to suggest a restaurant. This rule may repeat itself as many times as necessary.
3.) If a food allergy or preference is held by any member of the party, the others in the car must respect that preference without asking possibly embarrassing questions such as “Does it give you gas?” or “Does that make you sick?”
4.) Once a restaurant is decided on by all members of the group, the discussion is over and all should make an attempt to find something on the restaurant’s menu that appeases them. They can always refute it on the next go’round.
5.) Once a restaurant has been refuted (for any reason) it may not be brought up for discussion again unless it is by the person who refuted it.
6.) At any time the driver of the car in which the party is traveling in may veto any suggestion for a restaurant. So as not to have a loophole, the driver may only veto as many restaurant’s as there are passenger’s in the car, and referring to rule #5, a refuted restaurant can not be brought back up by another passenger.

I hereby declare these the official rules for choosing a restaurant to eat at amongst friends. These rules may be amended at any time I see fit. These rules are to be held to the strictest standards. Feel free to print and distribute the rules to your friends whom you are likely to eat with so that there is no question about proper refusal procedure. If you adhere to these rules as they are written, the process for choosing a destination should be swift and without bodily harm.