Unnecessary Rudeness

Now Playing: Snow Patrol – The Weight of Love

I was at a dinner recently at a restaurant that looked as though it had just opened. Around 50 people occupied 3 long tables, so the wait staff were definitely kept busy. I forgot to give the waiter my drink order when he came around, and then when everyone else had a glass of water in front of them, I felt insanely thirsty. Five minutes later, when I noticed a waiter was at the table next to us, I got his attention quietly and asked for a glass of water. A woman seated further down the table, wearing a pair of giant rhinestone-studded dangling earrings and an otherwise unremarkable outfit, had the same problem as me but a rather different way of solving the problem. 

“EXCUSE ME!” she bellowed. “MY FRIENDS AND I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR WATER FOR SO LONG NOW! WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BRING IT?”

“So sorry,” said the nearest waiter, “I’ll bring some right away.” 

As he walked towards our table with a glass of water, Giant Earrings said, loudly, “AND NOW HE’S COMING WITH ONLY ONE GLASS! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?”

The rest of the party was, I think, rather taken aback by this woman and her incredibly awful behaviour. Even her friends who wanted water looked embarrassed, though she didn’t. The rest of the dinner proceeded without further outburst from Giant Earrings, thankfully. 

The incident stuck with me, and it got me wondering, “Why are some people deliberately assholes?” I mean, we all have bad days, but I’ve never inflicted my frustration on a random third party. I’m not saying this as some super-calm, zen person;  a lot of the time, but especially when I’m PMSing, I am often at a Red Lantern level of rage. It’s not that I don’t have the urge to strike out blindly, I just don’t see why I should inflict my temper on strangers. The world is a difficult place, and I don’t see why you would want to add to the general hostility by being deliberately unpleasant. 

TL;DR – as Wil Wheaton says, don’t be a dick.