Bad customer me
Kris and I went to our favorite, local sushi place this evening. He was craving sushi, and fish is the only animal protein I eat these days, so I was interested in going for that infusion. What I wasn't interested in, however, was going at 7:10 on a Friday night. You know, dinner rush hour.
We arrived, squeezed in through the door behind two groups of three or more people, and let the hostess know we were a group of two, and very happy to sit in one of the three open seats at the bar. Aside from being able to watch the sushi being made, and faster service when sitting at the sushi bar, we like talking to one of the sushi chefs. I don't know if we go frequently enough to this particular sushi restaurant to be on a first name basis, but we do go frequently enough to regularly receive extra bonus chef's special dishes on the house.
So, when the hostess told us "no" to the empty seats, I was a little miffed. When two people walked in after us, and were seated at the sushi bar in the seats we had requested, I was more than a little miffed. I was completely convinced that the two arriving after us but seated before us received special attention because they were Asian, and Kris and I were not. In retrospect, that assumption was a very bad assumption, as one of the groups in front of us was also completely Asian, and they, too, were skipped in the seating line up. Kris went up to talk to the hostess and found out they had called ahead to put their names on the seating list, and so actually WERE at the top of the list. Not that I knew that at the time my annoyance flared.
I was ready to go to another restaurant. The problem was, however, that neither of us could come up with another restaurant, or even cuisine, that we wanted to eat. So, we stood there, waiting by the door, for a table or some bar seating to open up. When a table did, the hostess tried to give us the seating, offering it immediately to Kris. I pointed to the group of three standing a ways off, not paying attention, indicating they were in line before us. No way was I going to inflict line jumping on a group when I was so clearly angry at another group for jumping in front of us. Wasn't going to happen.
As soon as the three sat down at their table, four seats opened up at the bar, and we were able to sit quickly. I couldn't help but think, once again, how my wanting something, how my sometimes light-trigger annoyance at perceived unfairness, nearly spoiled the evening for the both of us. I spent most of the dinner worried that someone was going to spit into my food in retaliation for the stupid American behaviour I had displayed.
Kris seems very willing to accomodate me and my faults, which is part of his charm, but I can't help but wonder when he'll break. When will he just yell, "Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT! Enough already!" I hope I can change before that happens.