Things That Make You Feel Old
Gather round kids, Brennan’s leading storytime
Hehe. I'm a sleepy, boring middle aged dad so there's not much to it. But I'll humor you.
Just about every Sunday I go with my family to a busy breakfast place to get a quick bite. They don't have table service. You order your food and then look for a table, which can be a little challenging on a busy morning. Fortunately, this place is pretty quick so by the time you order there's usually someone getting up from a table. As we were placing our order (myself, my 4 and 6 year olds, my 39 week pregnant wife), a table cleared and it looked like as usual we would slide in to the newly open accommodations. But that was not to be. Some clever guy that had just arrived with his party at the back of the line took it upon himself to claim the table and set up shop. This denied my family a place to sit even as we stood there with hot coffee in hand, super pregnant wife, and bouncing kids.
I normally wouldn't say anything but I'm sort of living on the edge these last few weeks. Personal and professional life has been great but very stressful. Anyway, this grown man with his grown adult friends thought it reasonable to hawk a table ahead of a family with a very pregnant mom and small children and it just sort of put me in a place I don't often go, which is one of confrontation over an unjust yet trivial matter. So I said my brief piece about it and the gentleman took offense and suggested that I was being disrespectful for mentioning his behavior. This lead to a short argumentative exchange. He happened to mention his own children (not present) after which I expressed my hope that he taught them better manners than he had exhibited in that moment. /endscene
Unfortunately I let it get the better of my mood for the next bit of time. I probably should not have confronted the guy in such an obvious way.