PlazaJen: Passion Knit

Actually it wasn't the lunch itself, but what happened right afterwards, that was jaw-droppingly hilarious. Kristin and I dined at Cupini's (I had the salsiccia sandwich and am now Dragon Garlic Breath Extraordinaire...) After we finished eating, we went back towards the entrance so I could refill my soda. There was a man who had just ordered, getting ice/water from the soda machine - precariously holding his little wire table spike that held his number, so the servers would bring him his order. However, this man wasn't succeeding in his efforts - the ice had gotten stuck in the spout. He was shoving his hand up into the spout, trying to dislodge the ice.

Now, that kind of freaked me out a little, but it seemed like he was mainly touching the ice in question, so I just stood back, waiting patiently. (Thinking, "Self, we will not get ice. THE GERMS.") He was slamming his cup under the spout, alternating with the clawing, and I finally said something like, "Not co-operating, huh?" He grunted something, and then the clawing began with redoubled fury. I was thinking, ok, don't burst out laughing, even though this is kinda funny. I tend to assume most people find uncooperative machines (soda, fax, copy, computer) to be generally amusing and frustrating at the same time. In other words, nothing to have a heart attack over. This guy? The recalcitrant ice somehow unleashed some sort of holy fury within him. He started dropping his glass, ice fell on the floor, he FLUNG his table number & holder at the lemons & coffee pots, to free up his other hand, and once he got his ice and water, gathered his table number (leaving the wire spike with the lemons) and huffed off in A Great Pique to await his lunch.

I stood there with my mouth open.

Kristin broke into a hundred peals of laughter. I was looking around & finally caught the guy's attention behind the counter. I gestured to the ice on the floor with big swooping arm movements:

"Number Three? He just had a MELTDOWN."