Special treatment?
I'm not going to lie. Sometimes (see: all the time) I say what's on my mind before it has a chance to be filtered by the censor that is my own brain. That doesn't mean that it isn't true. It just means that it's inappropriate for the situation at hand. And yes, a "for example" is coming right up.
So a family comes into work today and it's my table, so I go out there, put on that same old shit-eating grin and greet the table. For the purpose of this story, I'm going to pretend they were the only ones sitting there.
It's a mother, a daughter and a father. Sound boring yet? Well, the daughter and father were deaf. It's sad, but I bet half of you just skipped down to this sentence because you saw the word "deaf." Whatever. I probably would have too.
Anyway, so the mother orders and then "translates" the hand gestures of the deaf daughter and father. The girl wants a Shirley Temple (Sprite with cherry juice stuff). She also wants extra cherries. I bring the Sprite mixed with cherry juice stuff and proceed to tell the mother "I'll be right back with some extra cherries." She responds with a raising of the (no lie) right nostril, a scoff, and a "umm...can we get some umbrellas in this thing? You know...a Shirley Temple?"
Strike one.
I get the umbrellas and the extra cherries and as I turn to answer another customer, another scoff with this accompanying statement:
"Ummm...this umbrella is a little crooked. Can she get a new one? Preferably a better color than the yellow you picked out..."
Strike two.
I get a blue umbrella to match the shirt of the deaf daughter when I am greeted with a third request. "Can I also get some chopsticks for my daughter?" "Sure," I reply, "I'll bring them out after I get the drink orders for these other customers."
She then leans in and says "Can you not see she is deaf? Don't you think these two should get a little special treatment?"
Strike three.
"No. Do you?" At this, the other customers are obviously taken aback. "Yes," she replies, "I do believe she should get some extra attention at a restaurant."
"Why?" I ask.
"Because..." she says.
"Because why?"
"Because I say so." she snaps back.
"Ma'am," I say, "if that didn't work for my Mom, it sure won't work for you."
"She's deaf!"
"Yes ma'am...she is. She also probably wants to be treated just as equally as the rest of the customers at this table."
At this she looks at her husband who has the smuggest grin on his face. I later found out he could read lips and I'm guessing he understood the entire conversation I had with his wife. I'm guessing he's had this argument more than once with her. I'm also guessing I was on his side.
P.S. He was paying and I got a 40 dollar tip.