« kismet | Main | yeah, that’s about the size of it »

March 26, 2006

consistency of character

After some solo boating, I visited a restaurant that the AW and I used to frequent. Dining alone with a good book is one of my favorite activities. I find reading and having food brought to me to be incredibly relaxing. And thus was I deep in a don't-talk-to-me trance, engrossed in my book, when the server shattered my peace and quiet. She set her tray down on my table and assumed an alarmingly meaningful tone, looming above me, so near that her waist was all I could see. Utterly mortifyin'.

"I just have to thank you!" she gushed nervously.

I tried to remember even making eye contact with her. "Pardon me?" I said to the waist.

brown ponytail"I have to thank you. On my first day here, a really horrible day where I almost quit, everyone was awful to me and you were the only person who was kind."

That certainly didn't sound like me.

"That certainly doesn't sound like me. I think maybe you're confusing me with someone else?"

"No, it was you. I remember. You were here with a blond woman, seated right at that table over there. You were on your way to the Film Festival."

Oh. That was me. That was me three years ago, but it was me.

"And you saw that everyone was pissed off at me, and you told me that I was doing great, to go ahead and neglect you two so I could help everyone else, and then you gave me a tip that was big enough for the whole room—practically the only money I made that day."

"Anyway, um, thanks. My name's Sarah." And then she got flustered and left.

I thought back to the original incident. Even though she was clearly set up to fail, even though she was obviously hustling her ass off, the other customers—a great mass of preening assholes—bitched about the service when she was absent. That, I remembered. I never forget a preening asshole. But what on earth had possessed me to do the right thing?

As I contemplated my inconsistency of character, the waitress came into full view. I actually stopped breathing. She's utterly gorgeous. And when she turned her head to smile at someone, a silky, bouncy brown ponytail whipped around her neck.

Ah. Order to the universe, restored.

posted by john at 2:01 PM  â€¢  permalink