A few weeks ago I was in a restaurant in Jefferson City. I have eaten there several times, alone. Man, I hate eating in a restaurant by myself. This is a Denny's, or Perkins, or Country Kitchen or something, and at 7:30 pm is nearly empty. I don't really know how waitressing works, but it really annoys me that you get clumped together. I don't mind that they try to close sections down, but the hostess sat me right next to this normal looking young family with 2-3 kids. Frankly speaking, it might have been my family 10 years ago. The whole time I am walking in, this 4-year-old starts giving me the eye, and I am getting pissed off. Why do they have to stare like that? Of course, the hostess puts me right behind their booth, and this little nightmare is eyeballing me the whole time.
Fine, I think to myself. I will just sit with my back toward them and ignore them. Big mistake. If I sat facing their table, I could have given a few mean looks and most likely she would have stopped. However, with my back toward them, I could hear absolutely everything going on at their table. I ordered a coke and just started to simmer. I heard them moving silverware around. I heard the father talking to the kids in a way that was so annoying it made me want to take his fork and drive it through his face deviating his septum forcing him to snore for the rest of his life like a V8 running on 5 cylinders. (He sounded like he was showing off the fact that he was a parent talking to his kids. I can't really describe it, but some people have a way of making their family a public performance.)
On the other hand, they were not doing anything wrong at all. I was just ticked off about being seated so near them. I looked across the room and saw a guy sitting by himself eating a salad. Where was his surrogate family? Why did he have it so easy? I got so mad I got up and walked out. I don't even remember if they had brought the drink, but I didn't care. I ended up at a German restaurant in a whole room by myself eating schnitzels and several manner of sauerkraut.
A day later I was on my way home and tried to eat at a restaurant called Steak and Shake in Columbia, MO. This time the waitress was the one seating me, and sticks me next to all of these smoking customers with ashtrays all over my table. It was like eating in the Dark Ages or something. Amazing how living in a city with all smoke-free restaurants makes you so intolerant of a little pollution. I just was not in the mood for it. I used to put up with that, and now I am turning into my old man. Either that, or this particular trip put me in a foul mood. I told the waitress that I didn't smoke and didn't feel like eating around it. On my way out the door I heard her pleading with me that she could find another table.
So, walking out twice in two days. I was thinking that I turned a new chapter in my life, an assey one. But, I recovered once I got back to the 'ville.
--gh
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2 comments:
I didn't know you got mad...
I have this new thing developing where I just say whatever is on my mind...like that organ that is somewhere between your brain and mouth that regulates speech...mine just shut down. It's like a form of Tourettes.
-m
I know, I do not like to lose my composure like this. I was sort of freaking out thinking that I was morphing into something new. But this was almost a month ago, with no relapse.
Maybe that's why we get along so well. You have a tourretes-like penchant for speaking your mind, and I have an autistic tendency to not read people's emotions well.
--gh
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