Sept. 01, 2003 ~ People are funny.
Really, they are. Husband, College Boy and I went out for an early lunch the other day. I wanted to try a new/old restaurant on the town square. Both the location and the ownership/management are new, since Husband and I had last tried their food. Back then, it was bland and unappetizing, and those owners did not do well. Now, though, I already knew their food was excellent, as they had catered several functions I've recently attended. In fact, I don't know if they are even able to do a bad job or produce food which isn't tasty.
We selected a booth, placed our orders, and helped ourselves to the salad bar. The offerings were fresh and delicious. Our food soon arrived, and as expected, it was absolutely wonderful. We wondered why we were the only customers there, but that wasn't to last long. Soon, some very happy, NOISY tourists arrived. How do I know they were tourists? Because this is a small town, and I did not know them or recognize them, so clearly they were not from around here. Okay, and they acted "touristy," too. Talked about the stores they wanted to check out, stuff like that. There were seven of them, and here's what soon had us rolling our eyes. They sat down at the booth right next to ours. Right... next... to... ours. Did I mention that we had been the ONLY customers in the restaurant, which had at least 25 tables and booths? And did I mention that there were seven of them, and the booth only held four people? They pulled up chairs from other tables, and two of them crowded at the edge of the table, but one of them had to stand. No room at the table. They were having fun. They were LOUD. No, I don't think they were drinking; I just think they were enjoying themselves, and didn't notice or care about their volume. Admittedly, this was slightly annoying. Not terribly so, but enough to make us want to quickly finish our meals and go. But at the same time, it was hard not to laugh, because while this poor guy was standing up at the next booth, there were several large tables with plenty of seating for their party.
This reminded me of the time a girlfriend and I went to an early afternoon showing of a movie (which I loved, and was seeing for the second or third time) which had just about completed its run. I don't see well in the dark, and we stepped into the small theatre and quickly sat down. What we didn't realize until later was that we had sat down behind the only other person in the entire theatre. No kidding. Now, we weren't especially noisy, but we did have popcorn, which might have been annoying to someone who wasn't eating. Boy, did we feel silly when we realized what we'd done! But we also felt like it would have been rude to move, so we stayed put.
The restaurant patrons, though, had the benefit of daylight. I like to see people having fun, and it usually makes me smile to hear them laughing. But my husband wears a hearing aid, and at times, the noise level at restaurants can be so uncomfortable that it is painful. So we had hoped for "quiet and peaceful," and wound up with "let's hurry up and get!" Still, we enjoyed the meal, and the whole experience was pretty entertaining. And I expect we'll always remember that day... and smile.
Because people are funny.
Really, they are.
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