Going out to eat is always an interesting substitution to eating at home. On this particular Friday night, a good friend and I went out to eat at one of our usual restaurants. This evening was going to be different, though, because we had a new waitress waiting on us.
The menus were at the table and we looked through them trying to decide what to have. The waitress came over to the table and filled our glasses with water. She put a straw in my water, but not in my friend’s water. She looked at my friend and asked, “Are you ready to order?”
My friend said, “Sure. I’ll take the fried haddock with a side order of onion rings.”
She looked at my friend again, “What will he have?”
I was still looking at my menu when I heard her say this and I glanced over at my friend. He was definitely as stunned as I was. He looked back at her, “Why don’t you ask him yourself.”
She paused for a second and then bent over. She spoke in a very high kids voice, “What can I get for you?”
At this point my mind went racing, I mean was this lady for real or what? Here I am with my friend, both of us over 21, and she’s talking to me as if I was 6. Several ideas came to mind as she was waiting for a response.
“Well, I don’t know”, I’d say, rubbing my face and fidgeting with the silverware. “I might try the…”, I’d pick up the fork and stab at the tablecloth. “the…is the fish still swimming?” Then I’d throw a spit wad at my friend. “I’ll have the fish.”
No, I couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t prove anything and it was well under any practical joke I might play on someone. No, I had to think of some other way of letting her know how rude she was being.
“What is the soup de jour?” I’d say with a very upper-crust style voice. “I rather feel that a good baked haddock with a light butter sauce and a baked potato would hit the spot right now.”
Again, I wasn’t real happy with that type of response. It would definitely straighten her up, but it’s not me either. I guess the direct approach would just have to do.
I looked up from the menu, “I’ll take what he’s having and ma’am…”. I looked at my friend who was watching to see what I was going to do. I pulled the straw out of the water and said, “Don’t bend over like that, you could hurt your back.”
I couldn’t quite tell if the waitress was blushing or not, because she turned quickly to go to the kitchen. My friend looked at me and we both broke out laughing.
I know I probably didn’t handle this situation the best way. In the end I was just like she was. So I ask this question of you: How would you have handled this situation? How would you have responded, if at all?
