CULTURE SHOCK

I went to the local Chinese restaurant to buy gift cards and there were several people lining up to pay their bills and I said, "Go ahead; I'm not in any hurry." I sat down on a bench next to a man who appeared to be Indian or Pakistani. He said, in a very loud voice, "I've been waiting an hour." I asked, "For what are you waiting?" He said, "I ordered SIX spring rolls and they brought the wrong thing." I said, quietly, "They probably had to make some; I don't think spring rolls are a normal choice here; I think they are either Thai or Laotian." He continued with his rant and it was so bad that a woman emerged from the banquet room to see about the commotion. I said, quietly, "You must stop screaming; don't you understand that there are cultural and language difficulties between you and them!" He said that he ordered the spring rolls for his wife "all the time". One of the waitresses came over to us and tried to explain to him that the man who had taken his order over the telephone misunderstood and had prepared the wrong thing. That only aggravated the situation; he kept shouting that he ordered them all the time and he asked, "How do you think it would be if I ran business like this?" I said, "I can't believe that you are in business acting this way! You probably have problems with communication just as they do!" That obviously angered him as he said, "What do you know; you're an old woman!" I said, "I know this much: YOU are very rude and it's obvious that you DO have language problems!" He kept ranting about their incompetence. I said, "These young people are trying to take care of you and if you continue screaming, I will call the police as you are causing a disturbance and upsetting everyone here!" He didn't say any more.

A young man came forward with a package and the man opened it to look inside and he said, "THIS isn't what I ordered!" I leaned over and I looked inside the bag and I said, "I count SIX spring rolls; are you hoping to cause such a ruckus so you don't have to pay for them?" He took money from his wallet and threw it down on the counter and stomped away.

I yelled, "How about a tip?"

The young woman came from behind the counter with tears in her eyes and hugged me and thanked me. Several other people came to console her. I said, "Maybe he'll go to the Nagasaki restaurant to get them in the future!"