A long-lost high school friend (who is not the subject of this rant) is in town from Manila for a short visit this weekend. So of course, I invited her to dinner, right? A dinner to welcome her to Singapore, to allow her to taste the flavours and spices of this island. (And since she is travelling with a colleague, we extended the invitation to this stranger too. Out of courtesy.) I haven't my friend, K, in 20 years, so I was very excited and looking forward to catching up.
So, dinner. My husband and I arranged to meet K and her colleague/travelling mate at a Starbucks along Orchard Road after their Night Safari jaunt, after which we were to proceed to Lau Pa Sat, a popular night-time, street-side hawker centre eating place here that serves all kinds of Chinese, Malay and Indian dishes and desserts.
A few minutes before the meeting time and the hubby and I were already walking toward Starbucks. I was craning my neck while I walked, scanning the crowd sitted outside the coffee joint for a glimpse of my friend. I immediately saw her and her male colleague, who I saw was talking animatedly to another man. My first thought was, wow, he sure made friends so quickly at Starbucks!
When we got to the table, we said hi all around. I couldn't help looking inquiringly at the other man there, so K's colleague (let's call him C1 for Crass No.1) introduced him and said he was also from Manila and was in town on official business.
Curious, I asked the second guy (let him be C2) how he came to be in Starbucks with his friend and K. Did they bump into each other here of all places, I asked. His reply just floored me: 'No. I've been waiting with them for you guys. C1 invited me to dinner.'
INVITED YOU TO JOIN US FOR DINNER, DID HE? WTF? WTF?
I couldn't help but hyperventilate in silent anger. Who the fruck asked this sampid guest C1 to invite more sampid guests to my dinner treat for K?? I mean, hello, when did it become open season to invite your own friends to a hosted dinner without you asking your hosts first if it was okay?
The hubby saw the extreme annoyance in my face and knew immediately that there was going to be hell to pay soon. So he took my arm and said, 'Hey, didn't you want to go to the loo?' while dragging me to the general direction of the pee-place.
He: Hey, relax. Relax.
Me: @%^&@#$*#$&#%. Who does he think he is? Tell me, can you just invite other friends with you to dinner hosted by folks who have just invited you out of frucking courtesy! Invite him to dinner, did he? Why stop at one, tell me? Why doesn't he call more people so we can have a party on my account! The blinking nerve!
He: Whatever it is, don't put K in a spot. It's not her fault that her friend is misbehaving. Remember, you haven't seen her in years! Just focus on that. She could be ill-at-ease about the whole thing too, you know!
Me: What are you suggesting? That I just grin and bear it?
And yes, folks, because I'm Pinoy and long-suffering and unable to say point-blank to C1, 'I see that you have your friend to keep you company tonight. You won't mind then if I steal K away from you for a few hours so we can catch up, would you?', I ended up playing hostess for the night to a friend and her buntot and his buntot. To get through the extremely grating crassness of C1, I just took my hubby's advice -- I just concentrated on K and made sure she had good food and was enjoying her time with me.
Eto pa. To top off the C duo's hateful quotient, when it came time to paying the bill, well, you would expect that C1 and C2 would at least make a show of reaching for their wallets to insist kuno on paying for their share, right? (Lalo na dapat si C2 kasi I didn't invite him at all.) Well, walang balak ang mga kapalmuks to pay -- no overtures, no moves, no inquiry later to ask how much their share was. Grabe.
But really, this isn't remotely about how much it cost to feed the C men, cos it's a small sum and is beside the point. This rant is about the utter gall of a stranger in taking liberties of a stranger's generosity.
But I admit I am the bigger fool, for allowing the evening to start and end without me saying anything to protest the imposition on my time, space and resources. I should have uttered the dialogue I wrote a few paragraphs above but in my defence, I was totally caught unawares and left shocked in the face of brazen bad behaviour.
You can bet however that if such a situation should present itself to me again, well, I've got the scenario studied and the quips readied. So be warned, crass creatures! Don't you start on me or boy, are you gonna get it!
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