E is for Entitled

So Dave and I are standing outside my favorite Thai restaurant (Indochine in Parker, CO) and there's 2 women also waiting. They are dressed to the nines and talking about how some guy is not a good man, blah, blah, blah. A third woman shows up and they all squeal together.

Dave looks at me and says, "I already hate them." I laughed. Dave hates high maintenance, well... anyone. These women looked like they just stepped off the set of New Jersey Housewives.

The doors open and we all get seated. Dave and I are seated next to the big front window and the women are seated 4 tables away where they are joined by another woman.

We are sitting there waiting for initial service, as are the women. It's actually a few minutes before the sign says they open, so no one seems to mind.

I hear a strange noise like a baby crying and the late woman says, "Did you hear my baby? Do you want to see her?" and pulls her giraffe print, square purse up to the table and pulls out a dog. Dave and I look at each other, aghast. I said, "OK, now I hate them, too."

One woman takes the tiny dachshund puppy out of the other woman's bag and they all ooh and coo and ahh. The waitress walks over to give them their drinks that they already ordered. She sees the dog and very politely explains that they can't have a dog in the restaurant. The woman who owns it sounds surprised, "Oh! We can't? What if I keep him in his little cage here?" The waitress again explains, with great tact and delicacy, that unless it's a service dog, it would be a health code violation to have a dog in the restaurant. The woman, still acting all surprised like this is something new in the world, tries to give reasons and ways she can keep the dog in the restaurant. AND the other women at the table take up her case! The woman tells her friends that she will put her precious puppy in the car during lunch. They all protest saying that it's too cold and the puppy is too small for this cold weather.

The waitress listens patiently, stands firm on her position, and makes a tactful exit. The ladies stay at the table, talking like nothing happened and making no move to leave. Apparently, they asked for another opinion as the other waitress has to walk over to them and, again, very kindly and patiently, ask them to remove the dog (a fucking DOG) from the restaurant.

They snottily said, "Well! We'll just go eat somewhere else!" To which the waitress simply said a cheery, "OK". They got up and huffed out. As they were leaving (which took a few minutes of them gathering up all their assorted accoutrement), the waitress came to our table to take our order. This is Second Waitress who had to confirm for these women the facts of health code violations. Before she can speak, I say, "Wow. How entitled ARE some people??" And she whispers to me, "They are being so bitchy about it." I go on, "What was she thinking?? They can go eat elsewhere but I can't think of ANY restaurant that would risk their license for her precious puppy." She laughs and takes our order to the kitchen.

By this time, the women are outside and one of them must have heard me because she walks over to us and flips off Dave and I (remember, we are by the giant window). I laugh in her face and shake my head.

The one who flipped us off is not the one who owns the dog. Even so, I can only imagine what these women must be like to live with. I keep thinking to myself, "So out of those three women, I can guarantee that at least three of them will NEVER come back to this restaurant. I would hope that out of the three, at least one is secretly embarrassed and hates the other three but is trapped by her lifestyle." In reality, I bet none of them come back and none are embarrassed about how horribly they all acted.

Don't get me wrong. I love dogs. I just can't think of anything much more presumptuous than to bring my dog (no matter how small and precious) into ANY place of business but ESPECIALLY a restaurant and assume that everyone else will just have to get over it and be OK with it. Seriously??

I wonder what restaurant they ended up at, Ruth!