Manners Revisited
Tonight Mike, Hannah, and I ventured out to a new restaurant that my parents recommended. We arrived at the restaurant at the same time as another woman who barged in front of us, and upon being greeted by a waitress began very bossily telling her where she wanted to sit, how many would be joining her, that she needed a booster seat, etc. She was loud and obnoxious, but perhaps her obnoxiousness was just her eagerness to meet up with her dining companions and eat delicious Chinese food coming across the wrong way? Even still, I was not very enthused when we were seated at a table next to her, but I decided to ignore this loud woman and get Hannah settled in and look over the menu. The woman was soon joined by her (loud) son and (presumably) grand daughter. Mike and I exchanged a look- that is a great thing about being together so long. I knew exactly what he was thinking and he knew exactly what I was thinking. We ordered our food, and were soon enjoying very delicious egg-rolls. My yummy dining experience was soon interrupted by the loud woman telling the waitress that her order was wrong. The waitress asked if she had ordered the #1, the woman replied (loudly) that she had indeed ordered the #1, but what was sitting in front of her was not what she had ordered. The son loudly intervened, and asked the waitress had she brought out the lunch special? (It was 6:30) The waitress responded that again the #1 was sitting in front of her and perhaps she had meant to order the combination #1? Now the waitress was not trying to be sassy- and was being very polite and simply trying to clear up the confusion. The woman demanded to see a menu and then very rudely told the waitress that she should have gotten the order correct because she had pointed to the page. The son then snapped at the waitress who had already said she would get the correct #1. Mike and I were appalled at their boorish behavior. They were (loudly) discussing child support, custody issues, etc. and were swearing in front of the young girl (not to mention everyone else in the restaurant who could hear). Completely inappropriate. I was appalled. But do you know what I found the most offensive? The woman happily shoveled her dinner into her mouth and chewed it with her mouth wide open. Oh yes she did. Luckily for Mike, he had his back to their table and he only had to hear their bad manners, but unfortunately that meant that it was I who had the misfortune of having this unpleasant and unappetizing view in my sight line. OH MY GOOD GRACIOUS! The entire meal this woman with her terrible table manners just kept shoveling the food in and chomping it with a wide open mouth. Now you may know how I feel about manners, my dining experience was deeply affected (and not in a good way) by this woman's lack of BASIC manners and respect for her fellow diners. But honestly I think that anyone would have been annoyed by this, even if you don't really think that manners aren't that important. (which you would be wrong- they are so important!) I resisted the urge to say something, and made it all the way out to the parking lot before exchanging another look with Mike. He laughed, he knew what I was thinking- but I had to say it anyways, "OH MY! MOST ANNOYING TABLE EVER" And with that we buckled Hannah into her car-seat, and drove away. Perhaps her fortune cookie contained a message about manners.
