Oh Hippies…

I walked into work at 4:00pm the other day.  Coming into work in the middle of the day sometimes requires a table transfer.  This means I have to (or get to) take over a table that doesn’t plan on paying/leaving anytime soon so the lunch server can cash out and clock out. 

On this particular day, the transfer table was a hippie couple; buzzed up and giggling like teenagers.  It was her birthday and apparently they’d been sipping on Grey Goose martinis for a couple of hours. 

They didn’t order anything else from me, but about 45 minutes later after the transfer, they asked for the bill.  The server who transferred the table to me was long gone.  I dropped the check, which consisted of 5 Grey Goose martinis, one margarita and a couple of appetizers.   A few minutes later the man waved me down. 

“Ummm, I think you have the number of martinis wrong.”  The couple looked at each other and began discussing their drinks.  The man started off,  “I had a margarita and you had the martini.  Then we both had one more martini each…I think.  Right?”  She chimed in, “Yeah, you had the margarita first.  Then I had the martini.  Then, hmm… one more each.  Yeah that’s right.”   After a few more seconds of debate, the woman responded, “Yes, we definitely only had one margarita and three martinis total.”  Because this was a transfer table, I didn’t know whether they were telling the truth or flat out lying.

At this point, I suspected they were trying to pull a fast one and get two free martinis out of this transfer situation.  What else could I do but appease the guest?  I wasn’t about to call the server who transferred the table to me and ask her if they had five martinis or three.  If I talked to a manager they’d probably tell me to take the last two off anyway; and apparently it was her birthday.  So that’s what I did. 

I went back to the table to give them their revised check with one margarita and three martinis.  They said, “Oh, thank you so much, that’s very sweet of you.”  I told her, “No problem.  Happy Birthday.”  I smiled and walked away. 

When I returned to their table a few minutes later, they started giggling.   The lady became loud all of a sudden and shouted, “I’m sorry dear.  We’re f***in’ old and confused.”  They both began laughing hysterically.   The guy then said, “I think we DID have five martinis.  Can you put the other two back on?  Hahahaha!  I’m sorry.  We’re more buzzed that we thought, “ and continued on and on about how “old” they were.  And honestly, they weren’t old; probably only in their early 50’s.  Perhaps she just turned 50 and was having an “Oh my god I just turned 50 moment.”

Talk about a shock.  I went from thinking this couple was trying to scam me for a couple of drinks to simply laughing my ass off.  Freaking hilarious!  They were actually two very honest people.  They could have easily gotten away with not paying for those two drinks.  But they decided to take the higher path, even though it included a risk of embarrassment, to resurrect the situation and do what was right. 

As I finally swiped the man’s credit card and returned to their table for the last time, the lady yelled out again with her distinct laugh, “I’m so f***ing old now!  I get confused easily.  I’m so sorry…”  Still sitting next to them was a table of three conservative, true “older” people.  They had become extremely annoyed with the loaded hippies, especially for throwing out the f-bomb so loud for the second time.

Right about then, the lone gentlemen at that table looked up and me and said, “Check please.”

It’s so funny to me how the public can get so caught up in the moment that they forget they are interconnecting that moment with a complete stranger (the server).   In spite of what embarrassing or awkward moment might have developed, we (the guest and the server) will always share that common bond, that moment, forever.

Or perhaps not forever - if that someone involved was too drunk to remember.  

Until then, I'll keep serving humanity, sober as hell watching people people get buzzed and confused.  And enjoying every second of it.  ~ HK ~