Minding One's Business

A couple weeks ago, I had an early dinner at my favorite haunt, the Corner cafe. I had Porky with me, so we had to sit outside in the sweltering heat for the entire meal.

A few days later, I went down for a coffee and a puff. We were the only table and our waitress also sat down for a puff and we chatted on.

She said, "Remember the other evening you were here with Porky and we talked and laughed as always? I was feeding Porky bits of bread and you were saying how great the sole dish was. You completely ignored the person sitting opposite you as if that person did not exist!"

I laughed right out and told her I ignored that person on purpose. I thought that my being so rude would cue that person into taking off and leaving me to take my supper in peace. For some unfathomable reason, that person stuck around and watched me eat, without ordering anything.

That person made remarks about me and my life that irritated and irked me, which I thought were out of bounds and downright rude. This person was just an acquaintance. At first I really wanted to defend my lifestyle choices, but I decided against it.

An acquaintance is merely that, an acquaintance. The conversation should stay in the area of "Hi, bye" and "How do you do?". The decorum calls for just being polite. This person has really overstepped the boundaries. Too bad that person did not take any hints to shut up or go.

After paying the bill, I finally had to say, "I assume you have something else to do, so I'll say goodbye." I do not agree with some of that person's life choices, but as an acquaintance, it's not proper to blurt them out. I think that one should really mind one's own business before going out making a fool of themselves.