Didn't know it would be dinner and a show

My husband and I attended a conference in San Diego Thursday through Saturday and went to a nice restaurant on Harbor Drive Friday night. It was one of those times where the other customers provided the entertainment. The way we were sitting, I had my back to the rest of the room so all I could do was hear the conversations, but Ed could see everyone so he would clue me in to the good stuff.

At the table next to us, the waiter led the couple there, pulled out the chair for the woman, gave them their napkins, etc. They plopped themselves down, frowning the whole time. Nothing for a few minutes, then the man said, "It's not my fault - you can't blame me." She glared at him and mumbled something we couldn't hear. Then he said, "IT'S NOT MY FAULT! Don't blame me and quit talking about it." So she did. They didn't say anything to each other for the next 10 minutes which was a bit uncomfortable for the waiter when he came back to excitedly tell them the nightly specials.

Behind me was an older couple who had been there when we sat down. They had their bottle of wine and finally got their dinners. A couple of minutes later the waiter came by and asked the perfunctory question, "Is everything all right?" I heard the man say, "No, nothing is all right." Of course, I assumed he was joking and waited for the laughter to commence. But he was serious! Started talking about how his food wasn't hot enough, took too long to get to the table, and other things I couldn't decipher. The waiter apologized, but the man got up and left the table mumbling something about talking to someone about it. Meanwhile his wife was sitting there quietly eating. After her husband left she took a couple more bites and then threw her hands up and said, to no one in particular, "Now, what am I supposed to do?" As she said this she looked toward the aforementioned glaring couple and they simply glared back at her. So she took one more bite, shook her head, picked up her purse and left. Neither of them came back.

The table was cleared and the "walk out" couple was quickly replaced by a young couple. I could hear the woman say she wasn't too hungry and would he like to split something. To which he replied, in a loud voice, "Heck, no, I don't want to split something. I'm hungry. Man hungry! Real, real man hungry!"

Like I said, free entertainment with dinner. I sat there with Ed. We toasted each other with our remaining wine - both thankful that we weren't any of those other three couples.