“Thanks for joining us for dinner, Diane and Kevin,” thanked Scott with a laugh. “I um, know double dates probably aren’t your thing.”

“Oh no, it’s ok,” Diane laughed awkwardly. “This is a nice restaurant though.”

“Yeah, it is,” agreed Kevin.

“It’s one of Lucie’s favorite places to eat,” Scott said, turning to his wife. “Isn’t that right, Lucie?”

Lucille was totally detached from the conversation. She had her head on the table and was looking off into the distance with a frown. Scott nudged her head and she turned her face around. She had a semi-angry expression, and was about to say something before the waitress came over with a pitcher.

“Do you want more water, ma’am?” she asked.

“What I want is my food,” Lucille snapped. “So do your job and get it done!”

Everyone fell quiet and just watched them.

“Ok, ma’am,” the young lady coughed, red and embarrassed. “I’ll… um, go check on your food…”

The waitress speed-walked away in shame and Scott gave Lucille a disapproving look. Diane and Kevin felt secondhand shame, but Scott was used to it by this point.

“Honey, remember what we talked about,” he whispered. “Being hangry doesn’t mean you can mistreat the servers.”

“It’s her job,” she mumbled.

“No, her job is to serve us,” he corrected. “Be kind and-”

“I’m sorry ma’am,” the waitress apologized, walking back over ignorantly. “Your food’s been pushed back and it’s going to be another 20-30 minutes.”

Lucille took a deep breath and put on the most loathing expression. She then took her glass of water, dumped it on the waitress’ pants, and set her cup back down.

“I need more water,” she grumbled.

The waitress shuffled away without saying anything, looking like she was about to cry. Scott gave her another disapproving glance.

“Really, honey?”

“I’m letting her do her job.”