When bad manners go out to dine

I enjoyed your article on bad restaurant behavior (Matters of Taste: “The Rude, the Bad and the Ugly,” March 10).

A year or two ago my wife and I were in Las Vegas, visiting a friend. It was her birthday, and we asked where she’d like to go to celebrate. She requested Lawry’s. About 10 minutes into dinner, I noticed that my wife was staring, mouth agape. I followed her stare to a nearby table, at which were seating four people. All four of them were flossing their teeth! I don’t mean discretely removing a small bit of roast beef, I mean sitting straight up and sawing away with the floss. The young man even took out a mirror, laid it on the table, leaned over and flossed away!

John Elfmont MD

Torrance

I have thought for some time that L.A. should be renamed “Entitlement Town, U.S.A.,” not Tinseltown. What a great, yet sad, article. It should be mandatory reading for anyone west of the 405.

Gary Fleck

Pacific Palisades

Someone observed a long time ago that you can tell a lot about someone by the way they treat people they don’t have to be nice to. I’ve found it to be an almost invariably accurate gauge of character.

Thanks for the great article.

William Forward

Mar Vista