How dare you smirk!

[DaisyQueen]

Long time lurker, first time poster here but I had to tell the story of what happened last weekend at my favorite local restaurant.
B/G This seafood restaurant is the only one in town and gets quite busy, especially on weekends. This weekend was state basketball tournaments so it was extra busy. End b/g
I went by myself for a nice meal and was waiting patiently for my 30-minute wait, reading a book in the entry of the restaurant where one server was greeting people and checking them in. In walked a woman, a man, and a man with his son. The first man asked the server a question, she answered pleasantly and he went on his way. Before the server could say anything, the man with the son jumped in and asked a question. Again the server answered pleasantly and they went on. The server turned to the remaining woman and asked how many in her party. The woman (hereinafter referred to as Bitchy Lady) suddenly went bat crap crazy and said "Oh I'm not going to eat here anymore since YOU decided to IGNORE me while I was standing here!" The server looked shocked and I just stared at BL with my mouth open. She left in a huff and the server and I looked at each other and I laughed and said "Wow, does that happen alot?" She smiled and said "yeah about every week." I said "You need a raise" and went back to reading my book.
BL returned a few seconds after this and said very snottily to the server "Why don't you get your manager to come out here?" The server smiled and said "Sure. Let me--" and was cut off but BL interrupting her to say "You know what?! Never mind! Because of that little SMIRK you have, I'll just go in THERE and talk to him MYSELF!" The server smiled again and gestured towards the restaurant and said sweetly "He's in there." After BL huffed her way into the restaurant I said to the server, "If she really talks to the manager, please tell him to come talk to me because I'll tell him exactly what happened." The server was appreciative and said "Thanks but I think it'll be okay. This manager is really cool."
After a while I was seated and immediately after ordering I asked to speak to the manager. He came over immediately and I told him what had happened. He confirmed he talked to BL and said he figured the truth was what I had told him as he trusted the server to not act that way. But he was glad I had taken the time to flag him down and would mention to the server that I stood up for her.
Thanks for reading and being a great source of entertainment to me for the past several months!

[Moirae]

Really glad you stood up for the server. That's very good of you. Some people are just horrible people, and BL should be refused service.

[sms001]

Welcome aboard DaisyQueen. Nice work backing the server up. If only things always worked out that well!

[wolfie]

Really glad you stood up for the server. That's very good of you. Some people are just horrible people, and BL should be refused service.

Actually, BL should be served - either at the hill giant volleyball or tennis tournament, or with fava beans and a nice chianti.

[Food Lady]

wolfie, I love you.

[PepperElf]

that's very sweet!




and i dunno about that, wolfie... it might give someone food poisoning.

[Sarlon]

reminds me of a story from when we were visiting family in Florida a couple of years ago...

there were just 4 of us and hadn't bothered to make a reservation (which ended up not being a problem), but the group of (I think I heard 8 or 10 total they were waiting on more to show up), had called to make a reservation....

But when they got there found out there were getting a booth with no view of the river....they demanded a table, facing the river...oh and it HAD to be on the top level....and it had to be ready for the entire group in 5 minutes.

I don't remember what happened after that....only thing I can explain is that my brain demanded a reboot and shut down, and when the hostess turned to our group smiling with the fakeness that implied "oh god how bad are these people gonna be" mom asked if she could hug her...and said "You look like you needed it, not everyone is like them...we'll take what ever you have available for us. Table or booth is fine."

I swear the hostess looked like she'd cry and let mom hug her.

[Sakka]

I wonder what that SC would have made of me. When I was very little, mom had Bell's Palsy, at around the same time that I was learning facial expressions.
It's been a couple decades since, and still, the right side of my face is very animated, while the left side usually has a very deadpan/unimpressed expression. A smile or other facial expressions will extend to the left side of my face, but it usually takes conscious effort.

I've had more then a few coworkers comment that it is 'freaky' watching my face when I show any kind of emotion or expression.

[PepperElf]

re-reading this I wonder if the woman thought that the employee smiling at you was the "smirk". Cos how dare anyone not take her tirade seriously, right?

[Shalom]

I wonder what that SC would have made of me. When I was very little, mom had Bell's Palsy,

My father had that back in the early 80s. Took years to get back most of the muscle control on that side of his face. Shortly after he first came down with it, he attended my brother's high school graduation. He tried to smile, but only half his face worked... kids were coming up to me and asking, "Why is your father sneering?"

at around the same time that I was learning facial expressions.
It's been a couple decades since, and still, the right side of my face is very animated, while the left side usually has a very deadpan/unimpressed expression. A smile or other facial expressions will extend to the left side of my face, but it usually takes conscious effort.

That's very interesting, how you echoed the way your mom's face looked.

I saw an experiment done once in a book called "Photoanalysis". They took a facial portrait, cropped it vertically in half down the center of the nose, and mirrored each side onto the other, creating a pair of composite images. The expressions in the resulting pictures were totally different from each other. The classic example is Richard Nixon: he was smiling on one side of his face and scowling on the other: literally "two-faced". It might be an interesting thing to try for yourself, if you've got a full face photo and an image manipulation program like Photoshop or similar.

[Rhania506]

I wonder what that SC would have made of me. When I was very little, mom had Bell's Palsy.

I had Bell's Palsy in Dec. 2011, and it took months for me to get any movement to the left side of my face. I couldn't even blink my eye and had to wear an eyepatch on that side. Even now, my smile is crooked. It will act up worse if I'm tired or stressed out, and my face will contort on it's own making me look like I'm winking at people. It's fairly creepy.

The only SC I really had to deal with in reference to it complained to my manager that I shouldn't be at work exposing people to it if I was sick. Never mind that I had been wearing the eyepatch for about a month at that point and Bell's Palsy isn't really contagious.

[mhkohne]

The only SC I really had to deal with in reference to it complained to my manager that I shouldn't be at work exposing people to it if I was sick. Never mind that I had been wearing the eyepatch for about a month at that point and Bell's Palsy isn't really contagious.

How about 'isn't contagious at all'? I get really annoyed by people who can't tell the difference between 'contagious disease' and not. I bet those SCs are afraid of catching Grandpa's cancer, too.

[Rhania506]

How about 'isn't contagious at all'? I get really annoyed by people who can't tell the difference between 'contagious disease' and not. I bet those SCs are afraid of catching Grandpa's cancer, too.

Sorry, I meant isn't "actually" contagious. I explained this to her. And then when she still didn't seem to get it, I told her I just wasn't allowed to "call in ugly" .

[PepperElf]

Sorry, I meant isn't "actually" contagious. I explained this to her. And then when she still didn't seem to get it, I told her I just wasn't allowed to "call in ugly" .

Sounds more like your coworker is the one who'd have to "call in 'ugly'". (and perhaps "call in 'stupid'" too.)