Please, thank you, and excuse me. Phrases that have seemingly been forgotten in today's society. (if you don't include the typical, and usually rudely spoken, excuse me, could you move please? Thank you." Now this line is spoken without pauses, more of a "covered up" way of saying, "Get out of my way already!"
I don't understand it. I went out for dinner the other night; there was a family at the neighboring table with two kids running around the place, bumping in to waiters/waitresses with food, in and out of the kitchen, etc. The parents were sitting there waiting for their food. Now I wasn't being rushed for time, I had all night to eat, but I was getting mighty hungry. We all know how long these places can take to cook up a nice big steak. My waitress was on her way out with my food and a refill on soda, and just as she walked up, one of the kids hit the back of her knee, she fell over along with my soda, and long awaited steak (up until this point I can certainly say I was drooling). I quickly got to my feet and checked on the steak before I remembered that my waitress was lying on the ground soaking wet with soda. (I can't complain about the soaked waitress, she wasn't bad looking at all, but I was devastated to see my steak on the floor. I wasn't eating anytime soon, I think I had a tear in the corner of my eye when I came to this realization). I helped the waitress to her feet, I could tell she was furious as she marched back to the kitchen. The kids parents just continued to sit there, smirking now. (I was ready to grab their half eaten food and throw it all over them, see how they like it! But I held my cool.) When the waitress returned, she was washed up, and had a new outfit. She walked over to refill my neighbors sodas, she did this slowly, obviously expecting an apology. But they just stared at her. Sat their staring at her! Seriously, I was awestruck at this. I stood up, marched over to that table and told her that I was sorry for how their kids had behaved, and sorry for the adults that don't know their manners enough to apologize for themselves. (I intended on saying something in the lines of "you need to apologize to this young lady," but it didn't come out like I planned) She kind of turned at me, nodded with appreciation and hurried back. The man at the table stared me down as I walked headed back. After a few minutes, they got up to leave, as the kids and his lady walked out, he came over to me and told me that I should keep out of other people's business. I flipped him off, told him to learn to raise his children better, and waited for him to retaliate. To my surprise, he only walked on out the door. The waitress brought my food out a second time, and told me the food was free. I seen a couple bucks lying on the table next to me, of course they don't know how to tip either. When I finished, I left a $100 tip for the lady. I had just gotten a $20 steak for nothing, and I was feeling generous after that.
