Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury cartoon of 2/18/06 has two characters working at a restaurant called McFriendly's:
| Zonker: | Hey, Newt, why do you suppose they changed all the phrases in our manual to the future tense? Like, "This will be your table," and "We'll be offering three kinds of bread" and "The chef will be preparing it on a bed of peanut shells." |
| Newt: | Well, they use the future tense in all the high-end restaurants now. It's supposed to make us sound classy. |
| Zonker: | Oh. |
| Newt: | It's also handy if the food's late. |
| Zonker: | Good point! It gives the customer hope! |