French
Woman in the Middle | June 4, 2012Friday night Hubby, Eldest Daughter, and I went to Sizzler for dinner. It is near by and it was late and we were very hungry! I am thinking that most of my dear readers know what a Sizzler is, but just in case you don’t let me explain: large salad bar, steaks, chicken, senior menu, order at the register, waitress brings it to your table. I enjoy the occasional trip to Sizzler but I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary. As we stood in line waiting to place our order we overheard the two couples in front of us discussing the menu in animated detail. They were speaking a foreign language…it was French! They were French! Now, that is out of the ordinary!
I realize that from afar Southern California may appear to be one big tourist’s playground. However, in inland So Cal we live our lives pretty much off the path beaten by the average tourist. We are not near the beach, not in the mountains, not near Palm Springs, and not near any big theme parks. We are about half way between Los Angeles and Palm Springs, but I have to tell you that my neighborhood Sizzler isn’t ANYWHERE near the freeway you need to take to get from one of those places to the other. So to see four bona-fide French people who were obviously tourists at Sizzler, well that was quite a surprise!
What was even more of a surprise was watching these people order. I have never seen someone run up such a bill at Sizzler before. They ordered steak and shrimp and salmon. They added the salad bar to each of their meals. They each had a beer. They each got a glass of water (free, of course, but how did they have room for water?) And they got the staggeringly high bill of $93.45! In comparison, the three of us got out of Sizzler for just under $39.
The person who was paying had a wallet full of brand new 20 dollar bills. The poor man was struggling with our money, as most people from foreign lands do. I have been told that they really don’t understand our paper bills: They are all the same size and color. We are used to them but for someone who is not, apparently it is very confusing.
My family would not let me sit near the French folks. I guess I was hoping to have an opportunity to find out how the heck the ended up in my neck of the woods. I bet it was a story! And I bet it had to do with being lost….
Why didn’t your family want to sit near them?
Because they knew they would have to deal with me trying to talk to the French people!