Who is waiting for whom? / Who is waiting on whom?
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The waiter is also a vulture. For some reason they reserved a table and remain seated while the carrion is consumed.
I agree that the waiter is also a vulture, but I’m still perplexed as to what the actual joke is. Is there a reason that the gag works better with vultures than say, bears? Based on the “Who is waiting for whom?” commentary, are we to surmise that the waiter hopes to eventually starve the patrons to death, creating an addition meal?
It would make more sense if the waiter is a lion as they always get theirs first. Also, having the sitting and waiting makes more sense if a preditor is eating.
Judge Mental, I join you in still wondering what the joke is supposed to be.
Sorry if it misled, but the “Who is waiting for whom? / Who is waiting on whom?” was just tossed off, trying to exploit the ambiguity of “wait”. There is a waiter, who is (supposed to be) waiting on them (in the service sense) — meanwhile, they are waiting for him or waiting for their meal. And just for fun, toss in the regional varieties where they can be said to be waiting on their meal.
As for the “Why vultures?” question, I’d say vultures might be considered more possessive of their food. And something like bears aren’t as likely to take another bear’s food. But I’m perplexed as well about the actual joke. Does the fact that they reserved a table as opposed to walking in mean anything? As I type this, I’m thinking no. It’s just “Vultures don’t share. Wouldn’t it be funny if one was a waiter and kept eating their order?”.
I think they are vultures because they are carrion eaters – they don’t kill their food, but eat something a while pre-killed, much like humans do (as a rule – I have heard about lobster restaurants and rabbit trappers and so on). They could as easily have been hyenas, for instance.
Maybe the waiter is a hyena – another vulture nicking those birds’ food is not very brotherly. Or more likely the waiter is some predator animal who kills the dinner as ordered but then gets overcome and consumes it.
I have seen cartoons of vultures boarding a plane, or going thru TSA, and having issues about their “carrion luggage”.
I guess the joke is that carrion eaters eat what they find so…. If they worked at a restaurant and a customer ordered food then…. the food they’d order would be there and the waiters would find it… and since they eat what they find they’d eat it?
It really really really doesn’t work.
“I’d say vultures might be considered more possessive of their food.”
They are? I’ve never heard that.
I think Karl’s idea makes sense. Vultures wait while the predator who killed the animal eats what they want (or gets chased away by a stronger predator).
‘It’s just “Vultures don’t share. Wouldn’t it be funny if one was a waiter and kept eating their order?”.’
But vultures do share. I saw several off the side of the road working on a carcass. There seemed to be no fights and no squabbling as they all ate.
Well, sorry for dissing vultures. I thought they were greedy. Who knew!
They are in a desert, and the saguaro on the horizon shows it to be a North American desert.
Of course, some tourist areas hire foreign students as servers for peak season, so I suppose the waiter could be a lion or hyena.
“and having issues about their “carrion luggage”.”
Maybe that’s the joke here too. No matter how long they sit there, the waiter refuses to carrion the food to the table.
Probably not, though.
Didn’t understand Kyle’s explanation until zbicyclist repeated it.
Now, it makes some sense. The vultures reserved a table and told the predator they’d like some meat, the predator killed the meat and…. ate it and ate it and the vultures wont get any until the waiter is done… so the vulture is wondering what was the point of the reservation in the first place.
It still doesn’t work. The dynamics just in no way resembles a restaurant and although it makes sense to pose vultures and customers waiting hungrily at their table, it makes no sense at all to make any animal a waiter.
“But vultures do share. I saw several off the side of the road working on a carcass. There seemed to be no fights and no squabbling as they all ate.”
That was my thought. A greedy scavenger is almost an oxymoron.
Comics I Don't Understand 
The waiter is also a vulture. For some reason they reserved a table and remain seated while the carrion is consumed.
I agree that the waiter is also a vulture, but I’m still perplexed as to what the actual joke is. Is there a reason that the gag works better with vultures than say, bears? Based on the “Who is waiting for whom?” commentary, are we to surmise that the waiter hopes to eventually starve the patrons to death, creating an addition meal?
It would make more sense if the waiter is a lion as they always get theirs first. Also, having the sitting and waiting makes more sense if a preditor is eating.
Judge Mental, I join you in still wondering what the joke is supposed to be.
Sorry if it misled, but the “Who is waiting for whom? / Who is waiting on whom?” was just tossed off, trying to exploit the ambiguity of “wait”. There is a waiter, who is (supposed to be) waiting on them (in the service sense) — meanwhile, they are waiting for him or waiting for their meal. And just for fun, toss in the regional varieties where they can be said to be waiting on their meal.
As for the “Why vultures?” question, I’d say vultures might be considered more possessive of their food. And something like bears aren’t as likely to take another bear’s food. But I’m perplexed as well about the actual joke. Does the fact that they reserved a table as opposed to walking in mean anything? As I type this, I’m thinking no. It’s just “Vultures don’t share. Wouldn’t it be funny if one was a waiter and kept eating their order?”.
I think they are vultures because they are carrion eaters – they don’t kill their food, but eat something a while pre-killed, much like humans do (as a rule – I have heard about lobster restaurants and rabbit trappers and so on). They could as easily have been hyenas, for instance.
Maybe the waiter is a hyena – another vulture nicking those birds’ food is not very brotherly. Or more likely the waiter is some predator animal who kills the dinner as ordered but then gets overcome and consumes it.
I have seen cartoons of vultures boarding a plane, or going thru TSA, and having issues about their “carrion luggage”.
I guess the joke is that carrion eaters eat what they find so…. If they worked at a restaurant and a customer ordered food then…. the food they’d order would be there and the waiters would find it… and since they eat what they find they’d eat it?
It really really really doesn’t work.
“I’d say vultures might be considered more possessive of their food.”
They are? I’ve never heard that.
I think Karl’s idea makes sense. Vultures wait while the predator who killed the animal eats what they want (or gets chased away by a stronger predator).
‘It’s just “Vultures don’t share. Wouldn’t it be funny if one was a waiter and kept eating their order?”.’
But vultures do share. I saw several off the side of the road working on a carcass. There seemed to be no fights and no squabbling as they all ate.
Well, sorry for dissing vultures. I thought they were greedy. Who knew!
They are in a desert, and the saguaro on the horizon shows it to be a North American desert.
Of course, some tourist areas hire foreign students as servers for peak season, so I suppose the waiter could be a lion or hyena.
“and having issues about their “carrion luggage”.”
Maybe that’s the joke here too. No matter how long they sit there, the waiter refuses to carrion the food to the table.
Probably not, though.
Didn’t understand Kyle’s explanation until zbicyclist repeated it.
Now, it makes some sense. The vultures reserved a table and told the predator they’d like some meat, the predator killed the meat and…. ate it and ate it and the vultures wont get any until the waiter is done… so the vulture is wondering what was the point of the reservation in the first place.
It still doesn’t work. The dynamics just in no way resembles a restaurant and although it makes sense to pose vultures and customers waiting hungrily at their table, it makes no sense at all to make any animal a waiter.
“But vultures do share. I saw several off the side of the road working on a carcass. There seemed to be no fights and no squabbling as they all ate.”
That was my thought. A greedy scavenger is almost an oxymoron.