For what seemed like eternity, I wondered why this seemingly bubbly and cheery waiter would give hot towels to every patron in the restaurant, except us.
Was it our skin color?
Our demeanor? People in this country are generally very calm.
Or perhaps she had just forgotten?
But we walked in at about 5:30 pm while the restaurant was rather empty, with only 3 tables occupied. How could she have forgotten?
As as the night progressed, I got angrier when patron after patron came in, and was handed the hot towels. Yes, I kept checking. Its a pretty open restaurant and from our table, I had a good view of the restaurant.
“I can’t take this anymore”.
“What do you wanna do?”
“I’m gonna call her out”
“Come on, just let it go”
“Why should I?”
“Picture this, the waiter has been so nice to us. She brought the menus as soon as we arrived. She engaged us in small talk. She laughed at our jokes.
“We’re trying to have a baby!”
“And even when you spilled your drink, she quickly transferred us to another table while the other waiters just watched.”
“Come on, you can let it go.”
“Do you like her?”
“And where did that come from?”
“It’s just the way you’re defending her and yet she’s on the wrong.”
“Look at it this way, she probably just forgot to give us the towels.”
“Don’t give me that BS.”
“Seriously, and by calling her out, you’ll just ruin her evening. She had really been great and has definitely enjoyed serving us”
“Doesn’t matter! What she did was inexcusable”
“And besides, what value does calling her out add? Is this about you? Or about her?”
“Do you realize I could have contracted deadly bacteria by not having a hot towel to clean off the germs?”
“So what difference does it make at this point? If you already have the bacteria?”
And the exchange went on and on and on and on…
“Okay, looks like you really want to do this. Go ahead and call her out”
“I’m no longer interested!” I ended up letting it go. Though with a sour taste in my mouth 🙂
I’m almost certain this kind of encounter is not unique to me alone.
When we’re treated ‘unfairly’, suddenly a meal that was sumptuous becomes tasteless, and our entire day is ruined.
But what about those moments when people send undeserved gestures and favors our way? Aren’t we usually super quick to embrace them with open arms? And to an extent even try to justify them?
While I may not have liked the idea of being dissuaded to call the server out, I got a lesson from this experience. It’s only fair to use the same yardstick. Both when we face these presumably unfair judgments; as well as when we get the undeserved favors.
Won’t you strive today to keep a level head both when you feel wronged as well as when you get undeserved favors?
Share with your experience in the comments below.
