Before Mahjong was Trending, the Mahjong Wanderers Were Making Wednesdays a Tradition
Every Wednesday at City Works Eatery and Pour House in Vernon Hills, IL, five longtime friends settle in for lunch, laughter, and about five hours of Mahjong.
Debby Lamden, Estelle Karp, Ellen Samson, Sandy Reckles, and Debbie Hoffman, better known as the “Mahjong Wanderers,” a name they gave themselves because they choose a restaurant and play there for years before eventually wandering to a new spot, have been playing together for 15 years.
Finding Their Wednesday Place
The Mahjong Wanderers were friends long before they became a Mahjong group. For the past 15 years, they’ve made it a point to gather around the tiles, almost always choosing restaurants as their meeting place.
Even during the pandemic, they found ways to continue connecting by playing at one another’s house. But hosting a five-hour Mahjong game is a lot of work, and when they returned to playing in restaurants after COVID, they found their way to City Works Vernon Hills.
Today, the City Works team adjusts tables before the women arrive to create a setup that works for their game and has water waiting for them. Then, the Mahjong Wanderers settle in for their afternoon.
For the women, those hours provide more than friendly competition. Mahjong keeps their minds active, gets them out of the house, and gives them dedicated time to socialize without their husbands.
And their connection to City Works doesn’t end when the tiles are packed away. A couple of times a month, they’ll bring their husbands and families back for dinner and are proud Bottleneck Management Rewards Club members.
Hospitality is About Paying Attention
At Bottleneck Management, one of our goals is simple: make someone’s day better.
Sometimes, that means recognizing the routines happening right in front of us.
The Mahjong Wanderers choose to spend five hours of their Wednesday at City Works. Our team knows what kind of table they need, has water ready for them before they arrive, and gives them their space to enjoy the afternoon.
Recently, we had the chance to return some of that appreciation. During one of their regular Wednesday games, we surprised each of the five women with a $25 gift card.
The gift cards were a small gesture, but the bigger idea is one we believe matters: regular guests shouldn’t feel ordinary just because we see them regularly.
When you pay attention, you learn which guests need their usual table, which families return for milestones, and which five friends will be arriving on Wednesday with Mahjong tiles in hand. Those details give restaurants an opportunity to turn routine visits into genuine relationships. To read more about the Mahjong Wanderers, read more in the Daily Herald.