“Changing Tastes”

~ Elizabeth

2hopewell

A few times a year my husband and I like to go out for a fancy dinner, and last night it was celebrate(belated)my birthday. We chose a quiet small place where we have frequently enjoyed a superb meal with excellent but not intrusive service. The noise usually is a solid low murmur of other diners who, as you can see from the photo of the interior, are quite near by.

Sadly, while I was looking forward to chatting with my husband, I learned the following: “I don’t like people my age. I’m old for 29.” “I always need to sit with my back to the door.” “We are in a book club with older women in their 50’s.” And on and on and on. Yes this too old for 29 young woman trying, perhaps with success, to impress her partner’s parents talked loudly enough for all of us to hear her life story. And it wasn’t even, as I confided to my husband, an interesting life story! She was completely oblivious, failing to read the room and adjust herself accordingly.

After spending upward of $100 for a meal, we left disheartened as well as broke. We agreed that we would have had a much nicer time with a meal I cooked sitting alone at our own table. We show every sign of being well on our way to curmudgeonry!

26 thoughts on ““Changing Tastes””

  1. Some tend to talk loudly when nervous or in a difficult situation (with partner’s parents?). I sometimes do it.

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  2. We don’t do it very often, but sometimes my favorite dinner with my husband is to go through the drive through, get burgers, fries and shakes, and go sit in a parking lot somewhere that allows quiet, shade, and no traffic or noise. ❤

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  5. I know exactly what you mean. I hate to be seated in a restaurant only to realize someone nearby will be talking very loudly for the next hour. And they are usually oblivious. Too bad it happened for your birthday dinner.

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  6. One of my pet peeves is when parents bring very small kids to a restaurant that isn’t really suitable for small children and they shriek the whole time. Believe me, I have nothing against kids — there are several small children in our family that I love dearly and I’m not interested in hearing comments from people along the lines of “why don’t you like children?” If we go to a family-oriented restaurant, we expect to hear a lot of noisy children, and it’s fine with me. But an expensive restaurant where couples want to go for a quiet meal and conversation? The parents need to get a sitter.

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    1. Amen. I once paid a huge sum of money to take my family to the theatre only to have the actors stop mid-performance because toddlers were too loud and fussy for the audience to hear.

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  7. Don’t you just cringe, though, when that loud person is on your table?
    I insisted we invest in the remote control for my husband’s hearing aid so he could turn the volume down when we’re out with my family.

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  10. As with many things in ‘modern life’, manners and good behaviour have fallen victim to being ‘seen to be heard’. Groups talking over each other, noisy diners boasting about their lives, or unruly children left to run around squealing and screaming.
    Even paying a premium to eat in a ‘good restaurant’ no longer guarantees a pleasant evening for two, that’s for sure.
    Best wishes, Pete.

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