May I vent, please?
In the five years that I’ve been writing this blog, I don’t think I’ve ever used it to get something off my chest. But I need to today.
It’s about an experience I had at a restaurant the other night.
My wife and I went to dinner with our son, daughter-in-law, and two grandkids. It was a pleasant evening, and we decided to eat outdoors in an area bordered by a metal fence. A hostess seated us, and although she saw that I was riding on my little scooter, she pushed together two tables for us at the far end of the seating area. This required me to navigate through other seats, but it didn’t occur to me that it would be a problem until she led our group of six to the table. It was then that I realized that the high-top tables and chairs were very close together. The hostess and the others could squeeze through, but not me. Recommended Reading
What could I do?
Fortunately, no one was sitting at these tables. So, I just kept following the leader. The hostess watched as I pushed aside the metal chairs at two tables with one hand as I steered with the other. I moved one of the heavy metal tables, too. She never asked if I needed help or if a different table would be better. She also never suggested that I enter using a side entrance, which was right next to our table but unseen by me. That entrance had no obstructions between it and our table.
Am I just a grouchy old guy?
When I finally arrived at the table I said to the hostess, “That was quite an obstacle course.” In return, she just smiled. I don’t think she got my message. But my wife, Laura, did. “Don’t be such a grouch,” Laura whispered to me.
I’ll admit I was a little grouchy that evening. Shortly after leaving home, Laura realized that I’d left my scooter in the back of our other SUV. So, we had to make a U-turn to retrieve it. This didn’t leave me in the best of moods.
In a post two weeks ago, I finally admitted that there are times when I need to accept help from people. It’s a bit ironic that I wasn’t offered any help at the restaurant.
Should I have kept my mouth shut?
Should I have expected the hostess to have noticed my scooter and offer help? Was I right to be annoyed with her? Should Laura have been annoyed with me? Should I have spoken up sooner or not at all?
What do you think?
(A version of this post first appeared as my column on the MS News Today website.)
(Featured image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.)
