Thai people have an expression that a person has a good heart. It is a great compliment because it means you care about other people more than yourself. Sort of "Do until others as you would have them do unto you."
Today I met with a good friend, his GF, and his mother who was visiting Thailand at Robin Hood, a pub we frequently patronize. This pub attracts a mostly farang crowd and today was no different. We arrived at 4:30 pm and I suggested to Thavorn that she and Jaidan join us about 5 ish as Jaidan's attention span is about 1 hour. Robin Hood was at about 50% capacity and the table beside us went through about 2 customers before Mr. Ugly showed up by himself. By this time there are two Thai ladies, one elderly lady, 2 farang males and a toddler of 18 months at our table. Remember, half the tables are empty.
Mister ugly sits down about the time that Jaidan is getting a little angsty and is making some noise, although not too much. Mister sends a few glares our way and I suggest to Thavorn, that Jaidan is hungry and perhaps she should go get some pork balls for him. She disappears for about 10 minutes and arrives back with a quiet Jaidan and some pork balls but accidentally bumps Mr. Ugly's table and his beer spills over the rim a tiny bit and he shows his displeasure by body language and some glares and mutterings. Thavorn has already apologized as has my friend but Mr. Ugly continues on!
I do not suffer fools gladly. Mr. Ugly had his choice of many empty tables and we had been there for over an hour before he sat down. He could easily have moved tables if he did not like having a child beside his table, but he was either too stupid or just liked to complain. I decided I did not like his continued mutterings and asked him what he was upset about. He suggested a pub was not an appropriate place for a child and I asked him where he was from and he said Germany. I was hoping he would ask me why I wanted to know so I could reply that I wanted to avoid visiting countries where assholes come from, but before I could, my friend suggested I leave it alone so I did.
Perhaps they don't permit children in pubs in Germany but in Thailand it is no problem and I, Thavorn, and Jaidan have frequented Robin Hood many time and are well known to the staff. Perhaps Mr. Ugly should consider, "when in Rome ...", but there was probably a good reason he was by himself and preoccupied with banging away on his cell phone. I just did not like him being rude to Thavorn. Now if he had been a Thai I would have backed off quickly as you are never going to come out ahead of a Thai in Thailand, but he was simply an ugly farang visiting for a week.
However, I backed off and left Mr. Ugly to his muttering and we left after about 5 mins.
Tonight, as I write about this incident I reflect back to when I was 19 and my Mom's millionaire friend and his wife visited us in Canada. They decided to take us (mom, sister, and me) and them out to a fancy French restaurant over in Quebec by the name of Cafe Henri Burger. It turned out that a young couple with a baby had the table beside us, and the baby cried throughout the meal. He threw a fit and got very upset. If I was the young couple I would have asked for the food to be put in carryout and would have left early. However, I do feel the millionaire was also out of line. He had no kids and would probably not understand that parents just sometimes, have to get out, and do not have a trustworthy baby sitter at all times.
So how does this different than Mr. Ugly. Mr ugly was simply having a pint for a couple of bucks, not spending over $250 for a fancy meal. Mr. Ugly had control over where he sat and came after us. My mom's millionaire friend had to take his assigned table and the other folks came later and all the tables were full. There is a difference, I would think, but both were wrong to get their knickers in a knot, as I was as well for letting Mr. Ugly ruin my time with friends.
Sometimes blogs are good for reflection and putting feelings to rest with words.
TTYL
You silly billy, that's not our Anne Murray, that's an Irish Ann Murray. Good thing you got new glasses....now just remember to wear them, lol.
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