On a recent visit, we were seated by the window and ordered our meals as usual. Eventually, an overweight woman and a sloppily dressed couple with their toddler walked by and headed toward the front door. The couple and toddler were seated a few tables down from us but the overweight woman was nowhere to be seen. The guy plunked himself down in the booth so that he was lying entirely across it. I got a bad vibe from him and he seemed very weaselly. Within minutes, the two got into a disagreement so she picked up the toddler and headed for the door. He yelled, “If you leave now, we're through!” After stewing in the booth for a moment, he angrily headed outside after her.
From our window seat we could the couple arguing as she walked dangerously close to the edge of a busy highway just to get away from him. At one point, I thought he was going to push her into traffic. We altered our waitress and she said the police had already been called. Within minutes, one cruiser after another arrived on the scene and the couple was escorted back to the restaurant's parking lot to talk it out. I assumed they would be taken away so we could dine in peace once again.
The overweight woman who had accompanied the couple to Friendly's reappeared and sat at the table right across from us. The mother entered the restaurant and put her toddler on a chair after the waitress's offer for a child seat was refused. Within a few seconds, the little girl slid off the chair and landed on her bum. She cried for a while as the mother tried to comfort her. The waitress took it upon herself to bring over a child seat and the toddler was finally secured.
The couple sat down at the table and got a talking to by one of the police officers. They agreed to behave themselves and decided to stay. Just our luck. The disturbance had caused things to slow down in the kitchen and we waited a long time for our food. Every now and then the couple appeared to quietly exchange insults. The toddler kept throwing her straw on the floor so the mother would have to get up and retrieve it. Was she being playful or was this a way for her to cope with the stress of having argumentative parents?
The group eventually got their food and started to eat. The weaselly guy looked like a drug addict and at one point, he almost nodded off. When a toddler from another table decided to walk around the restaurant with her dad, the girl in the high chair turned around and softly said, “Hi.” Such a sweet moment of innocence made me wonder what kind of a life this kid would have growing up. Would she be able to rise above such lousy circumstances or is she destined to follow in her parents footsteps? I got angry and felt like telling this guy to man up for the sake of his daughter. The economy was still booming and there were plenty of jobs out there for this guy to support his family.
As they finished eating, the staff started to pack up their leftovers. Suddenly, the overweight woman demanded the meal be free since they had been put through such an ordeal with the police. She also tried blaming the restaurant for the toddler falling on the floor even though she was the one who had refused the high chair in the first place. The waitress stood her ground and said if they didn't pay what they owed, she would bring the police back. After a bit of grumbling, they grudgingly paid the bill. Before these people headed out the door, they accused the waitress and manager of swearing at them. It never happened.
As the restaurant returned to normal, the whole incident left me feeling cold. Jesus said to help the poor but it's clear some people don't want help. Instead of working hard to better themselves, they try to scam the system. How do we as Christians respond to that? I certainly don't have the answer.
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