A Little Pride Moment
I dutifully went to the Pride parade yesterday afternoon. It was alright I guess. Kinda long. Not particularly entertaining- I can't get excited about people waving at me for 90 minutes. There were some highlights though including the Gay Ninjas (though there was some disagreement on whether they were actually ninjas or making a burka-related statement) and the Men of Discipline. I'm not sure what or who Men of Discipline are but they wear black uniforms like stormtroopers and everyone wasn't quite sure whether to clap or not. The Dupont Circle Citizens Association was represented by the dog from the 'Scoop Your Poop' signs that are everywhere. It was cute, but I'm not sure that scooping poop is the best imagery for gay pride.
This was followed by an excruciating dinner (the restaurant, not the company- I was sitting next to my favourite Georgian-accented-hottie/friend crush and he gave me one of his leis from the parade). Americans are very precise about splitting the bill. I understand where it comes from- and certainly, for example, I was happy to pay more as my meal was considerably more expensive- but it takes FOREVER and I find it so painful. You could have had a wonderful, lively dinner then you spend ten minutes dissecting who had what plus what share of tip each person should contribute and you practically need a calculator. As an example, we (it was a table of 10) eventually worked out that we were $2 short of the $368 total and they were about to re-calculate the whole damn thing, so I donated $2. Like I said, I see why people do it and last night the dinner really was quite different for each person (I had steak, some people just had an appetiser) but it really ruins a meal for me.
Labels: Dupont Circle, shennagins
posted by Ian @ 9:02 AM
2 Comments:
You know, I really think that 'making a statement' is something that really detracts from the enjoyment of Gay Ninjas, so that's a bit disappointing.
Meanwhile, splitting the bill like that totally reminds me of a 'prefers quantity to quality' former science student I know. And I hate it. The Australian way is so much better - we each pay for our share, we guess-ti-mate our totals, based on paying attention to prices when we order. And any money left over goes for tip. Now, I know that tipping is more complicated in the US (you are totally going to have to help me out w that one), but surely it cannot be that hard to add a percentage of your guess-ti-mate, to your guess-ti-mate?
Extremely intense post-dinner calculations, usually when tipsy, are so painful, and you often really get to see who is the stingiest.
It is so frustrating...fortunately since we were such a big party the tip is automatically included (though I left extra for our waitress because they must have hated us for many reasons)... the best bit is not only was there a wad of cash but three different credit cards, each of which needed a different amount charged to it.
They (usually the man of the table) takes it so seriously- I find it really sucks the enjoyment out of the end of a meal.
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