Yes, it has come to this. I had to make plans a month in advance to have dinner/drinks with one of my dearest friends ever. Every time we make dinner plans I always have a teeny bit of guilt for whatever poor waiter/waitress who happens to serve us. You see, we don't get to see each other all that much, so when we do..... Oh Nelly! We take advantage! A minimum of four hours later we finally drag ourselves, reluctantly, out of the restaurant. Where the feeling bad comes in is that although the waiter did not necessarily need to worry about us (except to keep the drinks coming) he or she most certainly loses tip money when we show up. Our table most likely would have had at least a half dozen other people sit there during our lengthy stay! Opps, sorry for cutting your college fund or weekend beer money short dude. We got stuff to talk about. National world problems to discuss and people to laugh at. (This is the same friend that will engage in a hour long conversation with me regarding salad do's and don'ts, and the inner workings of anything, just about anything.)
So this dinner outing with my friend I am so excited to be out without people who order chicken nuggets, that I get to the restaurant 30 minutes early. Yeh, bellinis! As I sit there by myself sipping my lovely drink I wonder what one does while waiting in a restaurant alone. Of course the obvious answer is to people watch, which I must say I am very proficient at. I secured a seat near the door and I am carefully watching all incoming patrons. Watching people eat makes me want to vomit so I am out on that activity! The next step is to, of course, listen to other peoples conversations which at this moment is proving to be certainly interesting. A chick and her Mom are sitting in the booth to the right of me and she has been talking on her cell phone the entire time and eating. At the same time! (oh, and I know its her mom sitting in front of her because when she answers the phone she loudly tells the caller that she is having dinner with her mom) Talk about a combination platter of rude and disgusting at the same time! I mean, come on lady, I could totally see if you were perhaps the President of The World or maybe the Queen of something or other but seriously, to sit in front of your Mother and talk on your cell phone WHILE eating is just flat out rude and disrespectful. Ack. No respect.
Its about this time that I am multitasking effortlessly and with the swiftness of a lazy house cat. You see, I am not only watching the door, listening to the people around me but I am also emailing myself. Ok, I know this sounds odd but I, sometimes in the moment, email myself the blogs you read (after careful editing and swear word removal). This is when I get a call from my dinner date. Call goes something like: fuzzy, fuzzy, bleep - late, fuzzy, crinkle - work, leaving. Huh? The only answer I could give is: "Dude, I'm at the restaurant, having a drink, see you when you get here." I hang up and hope she shows up and curse speaker phone. I resolve myself to possibly eating alone. Whatever. Bring me a martini and some chicken nuggets! Ha ha.
Friend shows up. We talk like a couple of chicks hopped up on Red Bull. During this time, the booth beside us to the right has couples come and go without us really noticing. We visibly upset the poor young waiter (and laugh about it later) and realize on the way home that this is not the first time some poor unsuspecting waiter has misunderstood our reason for spending six hours in his section and resolve ourselves to continue the legacy. From this day forward, we shall continue to 'celebrate' just because we can and always because we want to.
