We drove over to the Smithfield’s Bar BQ & Chicken outside Mebane, NC and as we were at the counter ordering I asked the cashier, “What is that white stuff they give you with fish?” and she said, “Tartar Sauce?” and I said “Yes. And what is the red stuff they give you with Bar BQ and she said, You mean cocktail sauce?” And again I said Yes. And I said, “I’d like some and she asked, “Both?” and I said I did. Then I explained, “When you talk with old folks like us you have to play guessing games with us sometimes on the words we can’t remember.” Jean got a twinkle in her eye and she asked the cashier, “How old do you think he is?” I winked at the cashier and she said, “Sixty two” and Jean looked over at me and said, “With an answer like that you should give her a tip.” I said, you don’t tip cashiers. And the cashier said , “You folks are so sweet I think we could make an exception. So unbeknownst to Jean I reached into her purse that she had sitting on the counter and took out three bucks. and slipped them to the cashier. She gave me two dollars back and said, “I actually thought you were sixty one,” and then she winked. I’m an old fool for winks, especially from young, beautiful and intelligent girls. I gave her $5 and she kept it.
When we sat down and had sucked up most of the tea through that pile of ice in our Styrofoam cups our waitress came up with two pitchers of ice tea, one sweet and one un. She smiled and asked, “Is that half and half? And I said, “Approximately. It depends on the server.” She laughed. A lot. And I decided to tip her a dollar extra. We always meet the most interesting people when we go out dining.
* I must admit that this one is pure fiction. Sure we had some great BarBQ but that stuff about the staff and tipping and such was just an old man’s fantasy. af
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