Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Cruise Post #3: Why think while on vacation?

Some people like to read on their vacations, and I'm one of them. I actually read 4 books during the week. Some people like to stop reading altogether during their vacation.

For example, Mrs. Nocheese didn't read the menu. One night, my cream of broccoli soup was served to me and she was astounded to find that it was on the menu at all. Another night, Mrs. Nocheese ordered the chocolate mousse. When it came, she got all pissed off because it wasn't chocolate mousse cake. There was no hint of the chocolate mousse being a cakey dessert.

Another night, both Josh's mom and Mrs. Nocheese were shocked to find that there was corn chowder on the menu. Josh's mom complained about the richness of the food all the time. She didn't seem to realize that there was a "spa menu" on the right side of the menu, which offered the regular main courses, minus any rich sauces and sometimes substituting healthier sides.

Clearly, they decided not to read their menus that week.

During the first night, we didn't have our regular dinner table. The cruise was offering "open seating," and gave two times to eat, depending on whether you were a 6:00 or 8:00 seating for the rest of the week. According to the instructions left in our cabins, we had to show up at 8:45 to eat dinner. Mr. Nocheese made us leave for dinner at 7:50, only to find that we couldn't get into the dining room. I kept saying, "Dinner is open seating tonight at 8:45."

ME
Dinner is open seating tonight at 8:45.

MR. NOCHEESE
No, it's open seating. We can eat whenever we want starting at 8:00.

ME
No, open seating means that we don't sit at our assigned table. We don't get to eat until 8:45.

MR. NOCHEESE
[Repeats his belief]

ME
It's in the newsletter they gave us in the cabin.

At 8:15, Mr. and Mrs. Nocheese accost a busboy about when they can eat and he tells them the wrong time of 8:30. We wind up waiting until 8:30, and they accost another dining room employee who gives them the correct time of 8:45.

Yeah, so what's with the thing "grown-ups" say about us young people not following instructions?

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