On Sunday before Chrissy, Katie and I came back home (to the freakin' blackout nonetheless), we decided to do lunch at Olive Garden. Carbs are always good after a drunken girly night. Plus I'd never been to one before, so I was geeked.
The food was fantastic, the company great--I had no complaints...up until the end of the meal. The three of us were sitting there, enjoying our full-ness when an alarm when off. Our first reactions were to jump into action since we're all Res-Life dorks. We soon figured out that the alarm sounded because someone went through the emergency exit. So at first I was like "what an idiot, there's a huge sign saying ALARM WILL SOUND." Then I realized that the guy dashed out the door because someone was in trouble.
And older woman fell walking to her car. I don't know how, but she fell and she got a gash on her cheek. I felt so bad for her; partially because she looked so vulnerable and helpless and partly because she looked embarassed. The gash wasn't too bad, but there was some blood pouring down her cheek. Immediately after people realized what was happening, at least half a dozen people ran to her aid and she was quickly carted off to be cared for.
The alarm kept going off. Yes, it was annoying but it was livable--especially if you're used to the fire alarms in the residence halls. The three of us carried on with our meals and were getting ready to go when we heard a man complain. Loudly.
He marched up to our waitress and started whining about the alarm and how rude it was to have it still on. The waitress calmly said that the first priority was the victim then the alarm, but that they were working on shutting it off. The man then hollered at her and said that customer service should be first priority.
Yes, because a bleeding old woman doesn't need to be priority.
I was so pissed at the man. He continued to complain. I was rooting for the waitress to deck him. She eventually moved them to an area where the alarm wasn't so loud. It just happened to be by my table. So Chrissy and I started making snarky comments about how we were sooo happy that people cared about each other and humanity. Then I said that people suck and were selfish. I think he heard us. Good. I personally wanted to march over to him and deck him, but Katie would have been embarassed so I spared her.
The whole incident shook me up a bit because of the lack of compassion that that rude man showed. But also because when that woman fell, I thought of my mom. She's told me at least a dozen stories about how she's fallen and bruised herself since she was diagnosed with Rhuematoid Arthritis. She's gotten some not-so-pretty bruises because of it. When I saw the woman I thought that that could have been my mom. I almost bawled.
It didn't help that later that afternoon my mom called and said that she'd tripped on the dog's leash and hit her head on cement foundation. She got a concussion and bad bruising. Sometimes I don't think I worry about my mom enough. I just love her so much and I'm worried that something really really bad may happen to her and that I won't be able to do anything to help her.
I realize it's a part of growing up, but it's still hard. I can't describe it; I'm just highly overprotective of my mom...maybe because she so fiercely protected me when I was young. There's just a bond and I hurt when she hurts.
I just hope that an Olive Garden incident doesn't happen to her...
Ciao, dahling!
~*Krissy*~