So my "dinner alone" never panned...mostly because my husband's plans changed and he wanted to go out to dinner. So, duh.
The whole evening started out odd. Not bad...but odd. A few library stragglers for a book sale we were having dragging their flipping feet. Not flipper feet...but their stupid feet. (Just to clarify. I haven't seen anyone with flippers in the library...yet.)
Anyway, I drive home uneventfully but with a very full bladder-because, well, four teas. Hubs meets me outside and I ask if our son is coming and he said yup so I said, gotta "go" really quick. I ran to the door and literally ran into my son. I tell Son that I have to "go" and he responds by saying,
"Oh, good! I can finish my game really quick!" Hello? We are LEAVING...in like seconds because I am the master pee-er. 30 seconds. Boom. But weirdly, he WAS ready when we left like 36 seconds later.
That should have been a GIANT clue that something was amiss.
We arrive at El Restaurant hoping for a parking place. Boom. One right in front. GIANT CLUE #2.
We go in and it's crazy busy and loud. They seat 3 of us in a two person booth. 3 of us.
CLUE#3. Anyway, they took our drink orders of water, water and Diet Coke.
Because we were shoved in together I was reaching to put my menu up and accidentally knocked over my water and it went EVERYWHERE..because when we go out I am apparently 5 years old. AND three people in a two person booth.
I was getting the stink eye from some old ladies, too. Not a fun. Experience. If there had been actual room in the restaurant I probably would have crawled under the table.
They quickly move us to a GIANT booth because of the Great Spill Debacle of 2019. Well, now we can like move our elbows and stuff so we feel pretty awesome.
The waiter comes and takes our food orders. I decided on something different that my norm. The El Restaurant special. What was I thinking? Anyway, a few minutes later a waiter says our food will be up in just a few minutes. Weird..it was taking a little longer than usual, but then we slowed the staff down with The Great Spill Debacle of 2019. So, it was to be expected.
Food arrives....looks amazing! First few bites of the special....divine! Then...it happens.
A bite goes in and feels "off" so I stop chewing and sort of let it all settle in my mouth. Gross. Anyway, I start chewing again and feel something hard. I thought, probably just a burnt edge of a tortilla or something. Chew. Hard. Chew. Nothing. Start to swallow...STOP!!!
I stopped mid swallow and suddenly had the urge to chew again... crunch. People I was gross in the restaurant. I literally put my fingers in and fished out the hard part.
IT WAS A WIRE. A 4 inch long WIRE in my food. IN my food!
I sat there in total disbelief. I just fished a giant piece of wire out of my mouth that was IN my food. I almost died. Seriously. I could have died.
I sat in disbelief and the Hubs and Son were shocked! Immediately we call over a waiter, who just happened to be the manager. Showed her and explained what happened thinking, gasp! You almost killed me.
She was so nonchalant. She just looks me in the eye and says, "Oh, that's from the pot scrubber." No big deal. Just a part of some weird scrubbing thing was IN my wrapped up chicken burrito. IN it. NOT on it. IN it. ( OK, I realize at this point you understand that the 4 in piece of looped wire was IN MY BURRITO. Which was then in my mouth...en route down my THROAT!)
No big deal. It's from the pot scrubber.
At this point it's important to know two things. One...I hate drawing attention to myself and remember the whole spilled water incident? Yeah, already failing on that. and Two, I hate what I fear will be confrontation. I immediately turn to Hubs and plead with him not to make a big deal about it. He just sort of shakes his head at me.
Manager lady brings us another meal and announces that it's free. (Lady, you just tried to kill me...it out to be free for LIFE.) I eat like 2 bites and put it in a to go box a little afraid of what else I might find in my food.
What to know how it ends? Well, apparently they were very gracious by not charging me for the replacement wire-free meal. But they thought they'd be extra kind by offering me a gift certificate. For $5.00. Yes. You read that right. $5.00. I had to laugh.
The next morning as I woke up it hit me. Holy smokes. I value myself exactly $5.00. I should have either said something, or allowed others to speak for me. $5.00. That's it. I am certain my value is little more than that...so I'm going to remind myself of that when I want to express my opinions, thoughts, desires and needs. I AM worth infinitely more than that. Jesus makes that VERY clear in scripture. He loves me. He values me. I am of worth in the Body of Christ.
So, all in all, though I almost died...it turned out to be a good thing? Sort of...I mean overall. You know what I mean.
No dinner alone, but a lesson learned that is much more valuable. I'm definitely worth more than a $5.00 gift certificate.
The whole evening started out odd. Not bad...but odd. A few library stragglers for a book sale we were having dragging their flipping feet. Not flipper feet...but their stupid feet. (Just to clarify. I haven't seen anyone with flippers in the library...yet.)
Anyway, I drive home uneventfully but with a very full bladder-because, well, four teas. Hubs meets me outside and I ask if our son is coming and he said yup so I said, gotta "go" really quick. I ran to the door and literally ran into my son. I tell Son that I have to "go" and he responds by saying,
"Oh, good! I can finish my game really quick!" Hello? We are LEAVING...in like seconds because I am the master pee-er. 30 seconds. Boom. But weirdly, he WAS ready when we left like 36 seconds later.
That should have been a GIANT clue that something was amiss.
We arrive at El Restaurant hoping for a parking place. Boom. One right in front. GIANT CLUE #2.
We go in and it's crazy busy and loud. They seat 3 of us in a two person booth. 3 of us.
CLUE#3. Anyway, they took our drink orders of water, water and Diet Coke.
Because we were shoved in together I was reaching to put my menu up and accidentally knocked over my water and it went EVERYWHERE..because when we go out I am apparently 5 years old. AND three people in a two person booth.
I was getting the stink eye from some old ladies, too. Not a fun. Experience. If there had been actual room in the restaurant I probably would have crawled under the table.
They quickly move us to a GIANT booth because of the Great Spill Debacle of 2019. Well, now we can like move our elbows and stuff so we feel pretty awesome.
The waiter comes and takes our food orders. I decided on something different that my norm. The El Restaurant special. What was I thinking? Anyway, a few minutes later a waiter says our food will be up in just a few minutes. Weird..it was taking a little longer than usual, but then we slowed the staff down with The Great Spill Debacle of 2019. So, it was to be expected.
Food arrives....looks amazing! First few bites of the special....divine! Then...it happens.
A bite goes in and feels "off" so I stop chewing and sort of let it all settle in my mouth. Gross. Anyway, I start chewing again and feel something hard. I thought, probably just a burnt edge of a tortilla or something. Chew. Hard. Chew. Nothing. Start to swallow...STOP!!!
I stopped mid swallow and suddenly had the urge to chew again... crunch. People I was gross in the restaurant. I literally put my fingers in and fished out the hard part.
IT WAS A WIRE. A 4 inch long WIRE in my food. IN my food!
I sat there in total disbelief. I just fished a giant piece of wire out of my mouth that was IN my food. I almost died. Seriously. I could have died.
I sat in disbelief and the Hubs and Son were shocked! Immediately we call over a waiter, who just happened to be the manager. Showed her and explained what happened thinking, gasp! You almost killed me.
She was so nonchalant. She just looks me in the eye and says, "Oh, that's from the pot scrubber." No big deal. Just a part of some weird scrubbing thing was IN my wrapped up chicken burrito. IN it. NOT on it. IN it. ( OK, I realize at this point you understand that the 4 in piece of looped wire was IN MY BURRITO. Which was then in my mouth...en route down my THROAT!)
No big deal. It's from the pot scrubber.
At this point it's important to know two things. One...I hate drawing attention to myself and remember the whole spilled water incident? Yeah, already failing on that. and Two, I hate what I fear will be confrontation. I immediately turn to Hubs and plead with him not to make a big deal about it. He just sort of shakes his head at me.
Manager lady brings us another meal and announces that it's free. (Lady, you just tried to kill me...it out to be free for LIFE.) I eat like 2 bites and put it in a to go box a little afraid of what else I might find in my food.
What to know how it ends? Well, apparently they were very gracious by not charging me for the replacement wire-free meal. But they thought they'd be extra kind by offering me a gift certificate. For $5.00. Yes. You read that right. $5.00. I had to laugh.
The next morning as I woke up it hit me. Holy smokes. I value myself exactly $5.00. I should have either said something, or allowed others to speak for me. $5.00. That's it. I am certain my value is little more than that...so I'm going to remind myself of that when I want to express my opinions, thoughts, desires and needs. I AM worth infinitely more than that. Jesus makes that VERY clear in scripture. He loves me. He values me. I am of worth in the Body of Christ.
So, all in all, though I almost died...it turned out to be a good thing? Sort of...I mean overall. You know what I mean.
No dinner alone, but a lesson learned that is much more valuable. I'm definitely worth more than a $5.00 gift certificate.
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