Imagine that it's going to be in a restaurant you've never been to, but you have faith in your friend's food choices so you're looking forward to it. And, of course, it's your good friend's birthday, so no matter what you're hoping to have a really good time. But you're unemployed and a little nervous about how much it could cost.
Imagine that you go to the restaurant's website and verify that the food looks good, that the restaurant is where you thought it was, and that--hurrah--the menu prices are within your week's budget. And, yet, on the drive to the restaurant you suddenly become nervous that you're going to be asked to kick in for the birthday girl's birthday dinner--which is decidedly not in your budget.
Arriving at the restaurant, everything goes well. You reacquaint yourself with the other guests, you settle in at the table, and you verify which menu items you know that you can afford. The fear sets in, though, when people start talking about ordering "family style" and sharing, while you were planning to drink water and order the least expensive entree on the menu. But this is your friend's birthday and you want it to go well, so you just keep going along, figuring that you'll just blow your budget for the week and everything will be okay.
Imagine that the check comes, and you've resigned yourself to simply going over budget. And then, from a hushed conversation at the other end of the table, you hear and see two of the other guests discussing the bill. And you hear one of them whisper "...well... yeah... and Robert's unemployed, so..."
And imagine what it's like when the conversation comes back around, that same person sets the bill on the table and says "The two of us are covering the birthday girl's meal as our gift to her, so the rest of you just owe..." And, with that gift to you, as much as to the birthday girl, miraculously, you come in right at budget--with an overwhelming desire to say thank-you, but the knowledge that this was supposed to have been done without you ever knowing.
Yeah. Just imagine that.
3 comments:
You and your good hearing... :-)
Oy. I hate that. Been there. There was a friends on this you know--since you're such a TV guy :)-- only they weren't nearly so nice to each other about it.
Laura - I know exactly what episode you're talking about! I was thinking of that on my way to dinner, too. Luckily my friends were nicer than that!
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