I learned some very valuable lessons last night. We were having a fantastic meal in a restaurant in Upton on Severn. Then three young people walked in, two females, one male. The restaurant is very compact. The women were very loud. As they later admitted, had been drinking.
The peace was shattered, five people left [probably] prematurely shaking their heads. The conversation from the new customers was loud, repetitive and like a banal script off the TV. Looking over at them cut no ice; they were in their own bubble.
Many of my buttons were pressed, especially the [very big] one about those having no regard for others. Anne was getting heated about it too. I said I would speak to them on our way out.
However, one of the women got up and loudly announced where she was going [the toilet]. Something snapped in me and I made a sarcastic comment to her then proceeded to make a list of all kinds of assumptions about the three of them.
They were shocked, which surprised me, as I thought they would just brush it off. The restaurant staff stayed out of it. The young man turned around and said the women were commiserating over the deaths of their respective grandmothers a year ago. The women made some defensive comments.
If true, which I assumed and am convinced it was [about the grandmothers] lesson number 1. Finding an appropriate way to bring to people’s attention anti-social behaviour is not easy. Lesson number 2. Avoiding having your buttons pressed. Lesson number 3.
How would I do it differently? Speak quietly to the waiter and ask him to get them to tone down the volume. Yes. I have no regrets that they learned a lesson too. The young man was very impressive. I apologised to all three of them. It seemed to work. The other diners didn’t seem to be phased. The restaurant staff weren’t either.
Am I over-compensating because it was such a great place and meal? Should the staff have intervened earlier?
As this is written I’m still processing the experience, avoiding beating myself up, not wanting any support for what I did, but finding it helpful to write this. I suspect you have all been there at some time in similar situations.
In closing, I forget to mention earlier that evening we had taken delivery of a box of Diana CD’s. There is an invisible negative ‘field’ of thoughts which has become so real, it can trigger ‘interventions’ to counter seriously positive actions.
So, maybe the field set me up, but I fell for it. And now I know. Or maybe I just dropped a b******. Over to you.
Jack Stewart
The peace was shattered, five people left [probably] prematurely shaking their heads. The conversation from the new customers was loud, repetitive and like a banal script off the TV. Looking over at them cut no ice; they were in their own bubble.
Many of my buttons were pressed, especially the [very big] one about those having no regard for others. Anne was getting heated about it too. I said I would speak to them on our way out.
However, one of the women got up and loudly announced where she was going [the toilet]. Something snapped in me and I made a sarcastic comment to her then proceeded to make a list of all kinds of assumptions about the three of them.
They were shocked, which surprised me, as I thought they would just brush it off. The restaurant staff stayed out of it. The young man turned around and said the women were commiserating over the deaths of their respective grandmothers a year ago. The women made some defensive comments.
If true, which I assumed and am convinced it was [about the grandmothers] lesson number 1. Finding an appropriate way to bring to people’s attention anti-social behaviour is not easy. Lesson number 2. Avoiding having your buttons pressed. Lesson number 3.
How would I do it differently? Speak quietly to the waiter and ask him to get them to tone down the volume. Yes. I have no regrets that they learned a lesson too. The young man was very impressive. I apologised to all three of them. It seemed to work. The other diners didn’t seem to be phased. The restaurant staff weren’t either.
Am I over-compensating because it was such a great place and meal? Should the staff have intervened earlier?
As this is written I’m still processing the experience, avoiding beating myself up, not wanting any support for what I did, but finding it helpful to write this. I suspect you have all been there at some time in similar situations.
In closing, I forget to mention earlier that evening we had taken delivery of a box of Diana CD’s. There is an invisible negative ‘field’ of thoughts which has become so real, it can trigger ‘interventions’ to counter seriously positive actions.
So, maybe the field set me up, but I fell for it. And now I know. Or maybe I just dropped a b******. Over to you.
Jack Stewart
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