I was treated to a cappuccino this week by a true Southern gentleman, with the usual awkward moment in an afternoon encounter: We had needed somewhere to meet for coffee around 3, and our waiter needed to close out his dealings before we moved on ourselves. Is there no better method than having the poor guy approach the table and ask us to settle up? I was a waitress in college (and for exactly one day after dropping out and moving to Lincoln, Nebraska), and even diners (places, not people) had a rule that the customer was always a guest — a new waitress simply stepped in and turned the tip over the next day. I guess this is just another example of how computers have dehumanized the world. And I’d like to think if we had not, at my stupid suggestion, met in the dread TWC it might have been different. But, as they would never say in a city where you can linger forever: J’doubt it.