Social

Tonight, after work, several people from the office got together for a happy hour at an Irish pub & restaurant. I wanted to go just to socialize a little, and get to know my coworkers better. I showed up late, but they made room for me. There were around 15 people in the group, and I did get some good conversation.

I stayed about an hour. To leave, I had to walk past all the people waiting in line for tables. The restaurant has less than 20 tables, and our office group was taking up five of them. A woman in the waiting line stopped me, and said, “Can you ask your group if they’re just having drinks, can they go next door to the bar?”

She surprised me, and I looked around at the waiting line and the tables. “I’m sorry,” I said, “I’m the new guy. So I can’t ask them that.” I wasn’t about to damage any good will I might have just established by asking the group to move.

The woman’s husband then asked, “Well who’s the guy in charge in the group?”

“Sorry,” I said, “I don’t know.” I was telling the truth — I had no clue who a leader might be among my coworkers at the tables. Out of the dozen people left at the table, I only really knew one, and only just learned the names of a couple others. The others that I knew had already left — that was mostly why I was leaving at that time.

“Why don’t you know?” asked the husband. But then he answered his own question, “Because you’re the new guy.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Sorry.” I zipped up my coat and walked out.

Hey, I feel for those folks waiting in line for a table. I understand it can be frustrating to wait for a table when you know there’s a big group who probably won’t be breaking up soon. But they’re paying customers. Even if they’re not eating, just drinking, they’re probably spending as much money as a diner. And in this case, the wife and husband team in the waiting line just grabbed the wrong guy for their mission. I truly was the new guy in the crowd — the least likely to take up their cause.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com