Tag: family

I’ve been doing intermittent fasting and a low carb diet for a couple of months. Because Koda can’t eat turkey and that’s what I want on Thanksgiving and he eats sweet potatoes while I like my potatoes mashed. Because he wants steamed broccoli and I want corn. Because he eats cornbread and I eat rolls. Because he eats pecan pie and mine is pumpkin, I decided it wasn’t a good idea to cook two complete meals this year, since it was only he and I here to eat.

So, we went out to eat. We had a peaceful morning. No cooking, no cleaning. I had a relaxing bath instead. Then a short drive to a buffet. By this time it had been 19 hours and 48 minutes since I had eaten, according to the app that keeps track for me. When we arrived, the line only had 6 people. There were plenty of seats. Koda went in and put our things on a table, way out of the way of everything so that there was room for my walker and it would be peaceful. I sat on my walker seat in line. And found it was a slow-moving line.

Just as the line had moved up one person, a party of about 10 people started pushing their way in…and past all of us in line. One of the women bumped into me and said…we’re just going to meet our friends in the back room. But they then stopped at the front and each one paid separately. Sigh…

Well, we finally got through the check-in and I went straight to the turkey line. There was plenty of turkey, a ham and beef. EVERYONE in front of me took turkey and there was nothing put on my plate but the scrapings from the bottom. The slicer/server wouldn’t bring out another turkey because ‘there’s some left’. I didn’t even get one SLICE!

Ok, so, I go to get mashed potatoes. They’re empty. I sit on my walker and wait. As I wait, I decide to get a roll, since they were close to me. I turned and a man picked up the last two rolls. So I waited for a roll also. There was enough corn for a spoonful. When I went to get my piece of pumpkin pie, there was none. Are you beginning to get a theme here?

So I went to the table, tucked my walker in beside me and picked at the mess that was turkey. I got maybe 6 bites of actual turkey out of it. I buttered my roll and took a bite. There was WAY too much yeast and the bottom was just plain soggy. Ok, forget the roll. I ate 5 bites of corn and came to a black piece of something that had never been corn. Ok, enough corn.

But here’s where it gets bad. As I’m eating those things, the group from the back room came and got into the line for meat. But they didn’t get in it at the back. They started a new line right behind me. After a couple of minutes, the large group of ‘not special’ people that had been patiently waiting in line came around to ‘my’ side and got in line behind the ‘special’ people from the back room. But there was not room, so they curved down the wall, into the seating area, right beside me! Now I have the group in back and the group beside me. And you know there isn’t much space between tables or table and wall. They were actually standing so close that they looked like they were waiting on our table.

Of course, I tell them that I feel bad that they got moved to the back of the line. One nice lady responded and before I knew it, we were having dinner together. Well, I was eating and they were standing with empty plates, but it was a nice conversation, except for the part about the hair one woman found in her shrimp. You can probably guess that this line wasn’t going anywhere. It was because a new group of ‘Not Special’ (NS) people had started standing in the ‘real’ line again and they were being served first.

Well, I can’t see something wrong and not try to fix it. I had Koda get the manager and I told him that it wasn’t right for them to be put at the back of the line and that they should be able to stay where the original line was located and where it had always been. (There was ONE person serving 3 types of meat on THANKSGIVING!) At least let them stay in the real line and alternate between special and ‘NS’ people. He said they couldn’t move because it would block the kitchen. And then he just left!

But he did take the suggestion about alternating between lines and the line started moving again…SLOWLY. That was because there was another new line of people at the original site and they were being served first. The line did finally move past me and I felt better about eating without that audience. But then they moved those ‘NS’ people to ‘my’ side again. And there were more than before and one had a service dog.

Now I don’t have a problem with service dogs in restaurants, but I do have a problem with them next to me because I’m VERY allergic to dogs. I started coughing, my nose ran and my eyes watered. Then my asthma started acting up. I quit eating to take care of that. And the line wasn’t moving again. Yes, there was another new line in the original line spot and being served first. They weren’t even alternating again.

By this time, Koda couldn’t get out of his chair because they were standing behind him, waiting to get into the line that was along the wall by me and they were also still behind me. The poor women that bussed the tables couldn’t get through at all to the other kitchen door where they take dirty dishes. And there were more dirty dishes being removed than pans being filled on the other, original side.

The next group that was moved by me had another service dog, and when this lady saw what was happening, she asked someone to hold her place in line and moved away from me. A big thank you to her! But in the process of getting through the crowd around my table, the ‘NS’ people in line bumped and banged and jostled even more than had been happening prior to this. This time the plate that banged into my head also left food in my clean hair.

Did I neglect to mention that during this period, I had quit eating because there was not room for my arm to get to my mouth and who wants to entertain those standing around by letting them watch me eating? Also, Koda had no broccoli, pecan pie, rice, or chicken and there was only once piece of very fatty ham. He finally stood by the kitchen door to waylay someone so that he could get food. Then he had to fight his way back into his chair.

Now we had a line behind Koda, down the wall, and now a double line behind me waiting to wind their way behind Koda. Yes, in that narrow little space between chairs there were multiple people waiting for food.

I asked Koda to get the manager for the third time because the second time, no one came. I was still sitting there with my scrap turkey, corn with unidentified objects, soggy biscuit and now cold mashed potatoes. And no pie. I also neglected to mention that when my glass of milk came there was a line of old food around the middle of the cup…inside!

After 35 minutes of waiting, Koda found a piece of pumpkin pie with no whipped cream 😦 and the manager arrived. I explained that it wasn’t a lot of fun to be jostled, stared at, complained about, and dumped on, to say nothing of the quality of food. He asked what I wanted to happen. I said I thought that since I basically ate some mashed potatoes that I should be refunded the cost of my meal. Now I find that he’s only the assistant manager and he needs to get approval from the manager…who is in the kitchen COOKING! Be he did say that he would be me a ‘discounted’ rate.

The manager finally showed up and I explained the situation to HIM. He not only moved the line back, but Koda got his pie and the manager comped the whole meal for both Koda and I.

We’re going out to eat today since we saved money yesterday. I’m going to go somewhere that I can get turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, roll, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream, a clean glass of milk…and no crowds!

On the way home, Koda and I rewrote the words to The Night Before Christmas! We laughed at ourselves so hard that we cried. Did I mention that I lost one pound on Thanksgiving?

So, was that a good or a bad Thanksgiving?