At dinner recently, several friends and I observed one of our least favorite diners.  He was a pompous looking individual.  His frequent hand raising and clicking his fingers to get the attention of the server was annoying. An interesting source of conversation.

I recalled an old English tale about another all-important fellow in a London Club.  He felt he was not getting the attention he deserved.  Finally, he said to the server – ‘young man, do you KNOW who I am?’  To which the young man responded, “no sir I do not, but I will make inquiries and inform you directly.”  In other words, the young man had decided the fellow could not help his bad behavior, because he was confused.

The tale is humorous.  The question, we decided, is profound.  Why do some individuals believe they are more important than everyone else?  We acknowledged some, by virtue of their age, longevity as a customer, or special challenges should receive special attention.  They rarely demand it.

Our group included mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers.  We decided these self-absorbed ‘do you not know who I am?’ individuals had missed a chapter in the book of manners. They missed the chapter spelling out the rules of polite behavior, in public and private.  We asked ourselves, ‘should we overlook their demeaning behavior?’ 

Final consensus: We should attempt to fill their missing chapter and teach by example.  Plus, as one of our less forgiving group added, ‘with steely-eyed looks of disapproval of their behavior.

Here’s looking at … who are you?

# # #