Unfiltered Story #280730

I have a friend who’s wheelchair bound. About a couple of weeks before her birthday one year, she posts on Facebook her plans to hold a birthday party (on a date, time, and location) and asks everyone to reply if they’re interested in coming out so she could make a reservation at the restaurant. About a dozen people, including me, show interest. About a week before her birthday, she posts that the restaurant wouldn’t take her reservation but she’d like to go and try and see if we could get in, anyway. I have a misgiving about this plan, but it’s her birthday so I don’t say anything.

On the day of the party, my boyfriend and I happen to be the first one to arrive at the restaurant. The restaurant is quite popular and thus there’s already a line out the door. Since it is quite a big group and we need wheelchair accommodation, boyfriend and I decide to see if we can put ourselves on the wait-list even though the birthday girl hasn’t arrived yet.

We get in the line and the hostess comes out with the wait-list and asks us how many people we have in our party. We reply about a dozen, and before I could mention that we also need wheelchair accommodation, she looks a bit flustered and says that it might be a long wait since it is a huge group. She asks us if we still want to be on the wait-list anyway. I tell her, “Yes, and we also need wheelchair accommodation.” She bursts out laughing and says, “Yeah, I don’t think that’s possible” and moves on to the party behind us.

If this was my birthday party, I would just walk away. But it’s not my party. As the man behind us is giving her his name and the number of his party, I call out to her between gritted teeth; “Excuse me, can you please put us down on the list anyway?” She looks surprised and says, “Oh, sure. 12 people with a wheelchair accommodation. And what name should I put it under?”

Maybe her laughter was a shock response and she wasn’t necessarily laughing in our faces. But I really do think she should have asked if we still wanted to be on the wait-list rather than walk away. On the hindsight, I should have asked for the manager, but I was too busy being angry at her response that I only thought of that idea after I left the restaurant.