At times, I’m flabbergasted as how we can treat each other so rudely. I’m guilty; I’m not throwing stones at anyone here except the 20-something man who reached new levels of rudeness, because he didn’t get his tacos.

After attending the opening game of the Nashville Soccer Club, we went for a bite with our friends. Sitting at a restaurant on Elliston Place, a man walks up to our table, puts down a basket of half-eaten tortilla chips and salsa and says, “You had my other food; thought you might like these too.”  At first, I thought he was kidding as the rest of our table had gotten their food while I was still waiting for my food.

But looking at him, he was not kidding. He was angry. (My girlfriend says my jaw dropped in disbelief.) He was actually mad and accusing us of having taken his food. Mind you, this restaurant brings your food to the table. So, we didn’t take anyone’s food. We were given our food by the restaurant staff.

When my friend realized what was happening and the level of rudeness this guy was exhibiting, he became irked and asked the guy to take the chips and leave. After a few more smart remarks, the guy walked away with his red basket of chips.

Mind you, he didn’t say anything to the restaurant manager or the guy delivering food to the tables. He reserved his anger for two couples playing the board game Would You Rather, laughing and theorizing over the benefits of having turtles for thumbs.

To this young man, there are no excuses for your rudeness. However, I will accept your apology should this blog post reach you. To throw your basket with half eaten food on our table is unacceptable behavior. And, I’m happy to speak to you on the benefits of Southern manners and to provide a couple of suggestions for how to handle yourself should your food be wrongly delivered to another table in the future.

I implore each of you who take the time to read this…as humans, we get upset; we get angry. Life isn’t fair though. Sometimes the tacos you ordered go to the wrong table, but that doesn’t give you the right to behave like a jerk to the guy who got the tacos instead of you. Be patient. Your tacos may be coming, and they may be better than the ones you missed out on. Geez, they might even be free if you behave yourself and address your issue with the person who can impact the change or right the wrong. If you’re not a jerk, you might just get the best free tacos ever.