Ordering lunch

Standing at the counter of a local sandwich shop recently, I was struggling to decide what I fancied for my lunch. The young man behind the counter, whose badge indicated his name to be 'Chad', was losing patience, and an elderly couple were waiting behind me. I decided to step aside and let the couple go first, ushering them forward with an encouraging smile and a courtly bow.

"So, what looks good here, Betsy..." said the man, scanning the blackboard on the wall behind the counter.  Betsy apparently could not read the blackboard because it was so far away. And the printed menu seemed to be too close, even though she held it as far away as her arms would allow.

"Tom, I can't see a darn thing on this menu. What are we gonna have?" Tom made a couple of suggestions, the merits of which were carefully debated. One was too heavy for lunch, another not heavy enough. Another possibility was discounted because it apparently made Betsy gassy.

"What would you recommend, Chad?" Tom asked. Chad was a heavily overweight chap, sporting a neatly-trimmed goatee. Due to the size of his face, the goatee seemed to hover somewhere in the middle of it rather than at the bottom, giving his aspect a slightly, how can I put it, gynecological quality.

With Chad's help, Tom and Betsy finally made a decision and shuffled off, and I made my order.  But I was left to reflect on a quality that I have seen time and again in this country. It is the uninhibited way in which Americans will tend to their own needs, and then think of those around them - whereas we self-conscious English often find ourselves doing things the other way around.

I don't think one way or the other is necessarily better. But each nationality would do well to be aware of the difference, otherwise Americans may continue to be seen abroad as obnoxious, and the English in America as quaint.

Next time I am at the lunch counter, I won't be giving way to the people behind me, even if it is Tom and Betsy. Actually, especially if it is Tom and Betsy.