Dining Dilemma: To check or not to check?

In his Feed Me column in the NYT, Alex Witchel takes an imteresting, amusing look at how people handle the coat check. Do you do it? Don't you? And, oh by the way, if you do would you give a lousy buck, thank you very much! He quotes Joe Allen, he of the eponomously named restaurant: “People have a deep resentment about coat check, tectonic in its origins”.
Good stuff, and something to keep in mind.

Plus, appended is what looks like an amazing recipe for prime rib hash (pic at left).....assuming you have some leftover prime rib in the fridge. I mean, who doesn't??

Picture from the NYT