I'm always amazed at the things people say out loud in public. I had a strange (yet, funny...to me) experience at our local Frisch's restaurant this week.
First, my waitress, who was very sweet and courteous, proceeded to take my order in a familiar way. But, when she repeated my order back to me it was in a loud tone of voice ("SO YOU'LL HAVE THE SOUP AND SALAD BAR, WATER AND A SMALL GRILLED CHEESE"). "Yes," I said quietly. I really think the people in the drive-thru were aware that I wanted the soup and salad bar, water and a small grilled cheese. I decided to let that one go, maybe she had been dealing with some elderly customers who couldn't hear during the lunch shift.
The second incident occured as I returned from the salad bar. There were two ladies (assuming it was mother and daughter) sitting directly behind me. They were talking in normal voices, but I think they forgot there were other patrons in the restaurant...i.e., sitting directly behind...meaning me. As I began to eat my salad, the younger lady was telling a story about her last visit to the doctor. She began to explain about the medicine she was taking, she said and I quote..."It was something like Diflu..Diflucan...oh, something like that, it's just one pill and should clear up my yeast infection with one dose." (Cue the dreadful music here) I was just about to a bit of cottage cheese as she said the words "yeast infection." I was officially ready to move on to some soup at this point. It gets worse...don't worry. When I returned, they were on to a discussion about her doctor. She assumed her doctor was going to be from India based on his name, but when she got there he was British. The older lady then said, "Well, maybe he has a parent from India, you know the one drop rule? Barack Obama is black, but his mother is white. Therefore, he's a black man. And, you know...he has to help out the black people in this world while he is in office. That's his job now. He doesn't care anything about us white people." REALLY?? Are you kidding me? My blood pressure was on the rise, but I bit my tongue and sat quietly.
After they left, my waitress began a conversation with the people across from me. I can't recall the entire conversation because I became extremely distraught over one particular comment. The waitress said (more like yelled), "LAST YEAR I WAS ROOFING IN THE BELOW ZERO WEATHER AND MY EAR GOT FROSTBITTEN, THEY HAD TO CUT PART OF MY EAR OFF. IT WAS MY BAD EAR TOO, THE ONE I CAN'T HEAR VERY WELL OUT OF." Well, that explains why she was screaming at me when taking my order.
I can't believe the things people say in public. I will now be very cognizant of what I say when I am OUT AND ABOUT. I'm still having trouble getting over the frostbite part...I might be scarred.
