A Comedy of Errors

I have this new friend, I'll call him RS. RS and I met at church and then he found me on facebook (thank you to my weird name). Last week RS emailed me and (assuming that I like country because of my Texan roots) invited me to the Rascal Flatts concert on Saturday night. I was going to politely decline, as I really only like old school country, but I figured what the heck? I need to broaden my horizons a bit and check out a new country band. Plus, I thought I had heard a couple of their songs on the radio and they were pretty good. A bonus, too, was that Darius Rucker was their opening act - AKA Hootie and the Blowfish lead singer. I mean, who doesn't love "I Only Wanna Be With You"?!

So RS picks me up Saturday (of course he had to wait on me because of course I wasn't ready) and we head off to the concert. They were playing at Nissan Pavilion which is a bit of a hike from where I live and the traffic gets pretty bad when there is a concert. It took us quite some time to get there and by the time we did, the concert had already started.

RS was hungry and wanted to grab some concessions before we sat down so we headed to the stand to see what goodies we could find. RS gave his order to the clerk, and honestly, I wasn't really paying attention to what he said, and then asked me what I wanted. I muttered something like, "I'm not really sure what I want" as I was looking for something appetizing on the menu.

I ordered a miller lite and then changed it to a water when I noticed the cashier plunk down two hot dogs. I thought to myself, hmm, that's odd. Why would he order for me? We don't really know each other that well. But I chalked it up to him taking the lead and being chivalrous enough to get something for me just in case I was hungry. Then he took both hot dogs and walked away. Again, I though, that's weird, he didn't ask what I wanted on my dog. Again, I didn't think too much of it when we sat down and started eating. We finished, he grabbed some other goodies and then we walked into the concert.

The concert was good - and it would have been better if I didn't have Miss Drunky McDrunkerson next to me dancing with a man half her age in a space that could only fit two people, and definitely was not made for spin your partner and do-si-do. I really liked the music and Darius Rucker was awesome! He's got a great voice and I loved that he played all the old Hootie hits with Rascal Flatts. I thought that RS was quiet during the show - but it's a concert and loud so you can't exactly carry on a conversation.

The show ended around 11 PM and RS and I headed out. We were chatting on the way home - just getting to know each other better. He's from Oklahoma, so it's nice to hang out with people who understand where you grew up and all the little idiosyncrasies that come with that.

I realized about halfway home that I had taken off my flip flops and had my feet up on the dash of his jeep so I quickly apologized for making myself at home and put my feet down.

He kindly said, "That's OK, no prob. Actually, you know what else you did?"

I replied, "No?"

He said, "You ate my hot dog."

I thought back... OH CRAP.

"I did, you're right!! Now that makes so much more sense!", I exclaimed.

He said, "Well, you said you didn't want anything so I just ordered my food and fixed them and when we sat down you grabbed one. I thought about saying something but I didn't want to make you feel weird."

I told him, "OMG, it would have been fine and I would have laughed (I was laughing then anyway) and I would have gotten you some more food. Now I feel like a total jerk for eating half your dinner! But I did think it was pretty crazy that you ate your hot dog in two bites, I remember thinking to myself, man, he's hungry!"

I felt like such an idiot but RS was pretty gracious about it. He said he wasn't sure if he should say anything and of course I said I was glad he did. Strangely, that seemed to ease things up a bit in the conversation; I guess there had been a hot dog shaped elephant in the room.

Folks, it's not my policy to eat other people's food, so don't be afraid to bring your dinner around me. Next time I'll pay more attention to who orders what and make sure to ask whether or not I'm eating someone's meal!