CCinNJ
If walnuts were in the dish...you'd eat it?
What does African American have to do with anything?
A) If I could remove the walnuts, I do. Otherwise, I don't.
B) In our culture, there is a certain sensitivity, such that if a white person suggests not sitting next to an African American person, it is normally assumed that he or she doesn't want to do so BECAUSE the other person is African American, which will usually lead to ill-will or even violent reactions. Therefore, even though the woman looked like she was ready to bite someone's head off (or especially because), I did not want to let anybody in the restaurant hear that I didn't want to sit next to her.
Adding: Based on other statements, let me make several things clear:
1) I knew walking in that the woman was spoiling for a fight. But if I made it clear that I didn't want to sit next to her, it would have been assumed that it was due to racism regardless of what I said. As a couple of you are already assuming, here.
2) The menu said that it was with shrimp. From the discussion, it was clear that she did not tell the waiter that she was allergic to shrimp, although she may or may not have asked for shrimp not to be included (the waiter denied that she asked it, and the boyfriend did not back her up). The fact that she insisted on leaving instead of getting something else, and not paying anything for two platters of the highest price item on the menu is what brought it to butthead level.
If someone's so allergic to shrimp that she can't even eat food that touched shrimp, then that person has an obligation to make it clear when ordering a dish that contains shrimp; note that even if the platter is served without shrimp, there is a high probability that shrimp would touch some of the other items on the platter during the preparation.
Bart
<message edited by bartl on Wed, 01/16/13 12:15 PM>
