Love’s Gamble

The customer got up. “Utterly outrageous! Fine, you want me out of this restaurant I’ll leave. The food was sh*t anyway. Call themselves a Chinese place and they can’t even cook a decent Chinese meal! Fu*king ludicrous.”

The customer was about to head towards the door when Freema stood in his path. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” she said.

“What?” said the customer, enraged that his humiliation was not yet over. “What now? What could you possible want from me now? I am leaving, just like you want. Isn’t that enough for you?”

Freema gestured towards the table that the customer had just vacated and said, “You ordered that meal. You ate about half of it and then said you didn’t like it. Regardless of that, you are going to have to pay for it.”

The customer looked like Freema had slapped him across the face. “What?” he said. “I am not paying for that.”

“Stop pretending like you weren’t trying to have a free lunch you asshole,” said Freema. “Eat half the meal, complain and get another meal free. It’s the oldest freeloader’s trick in the book, you’re not nearly arrogant enough to think that you’re the only person who has ever done that are you? Well, I guess I shouldn’t have put it past you like that. An asshole like you would be capable of just about anything at all.”

The customer gaped at Freema and then opened and closed his mouth a few times. He seemed to be utterly lost for words. Freema gave him a vicious look and he said, “Fine, I’ll pay for the damn meal. Terrible service, terrible food. Gotta pay for something that didn’t even taste good. Ridiculous.”

He threw the approximate amount of the bill onto the table and then rushed out before Freema could accost him again. Ken went to the table and picked up the dollar bills. He was shaking. Freema approached him, concerned, but then realized that he was shaking with silent fits of laughter.

He looked at her and then shrieked with laughter. “That was brilliant! How do you have it in you to say stuff like that? I’ve been taught to be polite from such a young age, whenever anyone talks to me like that I just end up letting them walk right over me. It’s quite pathetic really, but what can you do.”

“Is the amount correct?” said Freema. “Did that asshole pay you less than his bill?”

“No, no,” said Ken. “He paid the right amount, do not worry about that.”

“Alright,” said Freema. “You really have to learn to stand up for yourself. If you do not, these assholes are going to be all over you every single day. They are not going to care about how nice you are or how considerate, they are not going to concern themselves with being polite. If you do not show them who’s boss, you’re going to have a tough time running a restaurant in this city.”

Ken looked concerned. “I have been trying to be more assertive. I just do not really know where to start. I do not… I just do not really know how I can start being as assertive as I need to be. I do not know what the line between rude and assertive is, I do not know when I can tell people what to do and when I should trust them to do what they think is right.”

“You think too much,” said Freema. “That’s the real problem here. You think too much and you worry too much about the aftermath of what you do. And you worry too much about what people think about you. Look, people are gonna think what they think, there is no way you can change that. If you try to please everyone, if you try to be the person that everyone expects you to be, you are not going to end up anywhere. You are just going to end up miserable, and everyone is going to have themselves a punching bag that they can use whenever they please.”

Ken sighed and said, “You’re right. I really need to start being more proactive about my assertiveness. Confidence, that’s all it takes. And I shouldn’t really care what people think about me, should I? I mean, why should I? You’re right, people are always going to have something to say about me, they are always going to have an opinion of their own. If I try to please everyone… well, I tried living my life according to someone else’s wishes and that did not turn out well at all.”

Freema was intrigued. “What do you mean?” she said. The way Ken had said that last bit had hinted at some deep ache within him, something that tortured him. He clearly was trying to get away from something, or work towards something, and this aspect of his life might have been the impetus for that. Freema wanted to know what Ken was talking about.

“Hmm?” said Ken absent mindedly. He was clearly lost in thought.

“What didn’t turn out well last time?” asked Freema. “Who were you trying to please?”

Ken gave her a small smile. Smiles are technically supposed to be gestures of friendliness, warmth, symbols of happiness. However, Ken’s small smile was the saddest thing that Freema had ever seen. She felt the ache in his heart profoundly in that moment.

“Never mind,” said Ken. “Now, I’m sorry I haven’t taken your order yet. What do you want for lunch? It’s on me, a little thank you for helping me out with that customer. You gave me a few pointers as well! I’ll apply some of the techniques you used the next timed someone is trying to walk all over me.”

“Actually,” said Freema, “I have to get back to work, my lunch break is almost over. What do you say I meet you here at six? An hour before the game starts. We could have a drink or two and… I do not know. Talk?”

Ken looked surprised, but he said, “Yeah, sure. I… I would really like that. I’ll see you at six.”

Freema smiled at him and then left for work again. She didn’t know what it was about Ken that made her smile so much. She never smiled. It was, in a lot of ways, a show of weakness. Yet, she didn’t mind doing it in front of Ken. It took her a while to realize that it was because she didn’t mind being vulnerable in front of him.