Don't Make Eye Contact With the Animals

For years now I’ve listened to my internal dialogue becoming more and more judgmental.  I honestly struggle to keep my mind open and my opinions to myself but I fail a minimum of ten times every single day.  Now I fear I’ve completely lost all interest in being “fair and balanced”….all because of a late lunch.

Larry picked me up at the office last week to sign some papers and enjoy a late lunch together.  When we’re operating on a tight timeline we often hit a buffet; easy to get in and out and no waiting for food.  My favorite food is Chinese; he tolerates it well, and so we stopped for lunch.

We were sitting in a booth talking when our attention was drawn to the table across the aisle from us.  A group of eight was being seated.  They were loud and boisterous and (here I go) looked as if they’d come from central casting for the movie Easy Rider.  Wrapped heads, tattoos and large purple sucker bites seemed to be their dress code.  They took their seats and managed to hold the attention of everyone in the place as they loudly decided who was going to hit the food bar first.

As I sat watching this group of unkempt exhibitionists I was glad we were finishing up because I sensed the entertainment factor with this bunch was going to tank quickly.  After filling plates they returned to their seats to hurl four letter words and insults at one another as they stuffed food into their mouths.   It might have been their version of good natured banter…but it could just as easily have been the set up for a knife fight.

One extremely obnoxious fellow wearing a cowboy hat summoned a waitress by snapping his fingers and calling loudly, “Hey you, girl!  Over here, now!”   

Just as we finished our desserts one of the men laughed and loudly called out “fart fight”!  This was followed by a loud noise that led me to understand he was not joking.  Their entire table erupted in laughter, hoots and clapping of hands.  Then a second man loudly announced, “You ain’t heard nothing yet,” and he proudly became the obvious trophy winner.  

We grabbed our bill and headed out.  I didn’t take time to look around and see if anyone else was leaving to escape this bunch of louts.  I really felt sorry for the servers who had to deal with them until they decided they had offended enough people and moved on to a fresh audience.

I have never witnessed such dreadful behavior in a restaurant in my life.  In an effort to avoid that, I will not set foot in that particular restaurant again for fear that bunch might be regulars.  The thought of following one of those people through a food line makes me cringe.

It’s hard enough to understand how some people leave home looking like an unmade bed; it is another thing to figure out what they say to themselves to make this kind of behavior acceptable.

My internal dialogue tells me it’s not right to judge people; my common sense tells me some people make that nearly impossible with their behavior. 

                                                            Life is Good