Order Number 52

Ahh...so if you read my earlier post about the Aquarium, I am sure you are DYING to know what happened at lunch today...so let me tell you.

As Nicole and I were heading out of the Aquarium and deciding where to go for lunch, we texted our "friend" who works downtown to see if she was up for meeting up for lunch. Since lunch breaks are not something that this friend...let's call her Mara, is allowed to have at her work, we typically call her when we have picked a place and she claims she needs to "get something from her car", or "grab a cup of coffee", or even "make an extended trip to the bathroom" and then she hightails it out of her office and over to meet us for a few minutes before heading back to work.

Today we picked Noodles and Co, since their mac and cheese is something E cannot live without, and the kids had been so good during our Aquarium visit we decided to treat them.  We emailed Mara to meet us there and got in line to order some lunch. Apparently AT&T has been on the slow side with emails today because I missed Mara's response email about ordering her some lunch too. So as Nicole and I are getting the kids settled into their highchairs and trying to figure out who ordered what, Mara arrives. She must have done the math pretty quickly after seeing only four bowls on the table, and figured out where the messages went astray.

As we all turn around to see the line, which is about 20 people deep now, I come up with a plan.

Me: "Mara, listen you don't have enough time to wait in line, so just go up to the pick-up order window and ask where your chicken pad Thai is, then when they don't have it (because you never placed an order) act surprised and they will make you another one quickly. No harm, no foul, and we hardly ever get to have lunch with you."

Mara: "No, I can't do that. What about all these people waiting in line?"

Nicole and Me: "Just do it.  It is not like you make a habit out of this kind of behavior and no one will ever know."

Mara: " I don't know...okay, I guess."

Mara: Hesitates as she opens the door.

Nicole and Me: "Sell it, Mara!"

Two minutes later, Mara walks out with a take-out bag of chicken pad Thai.

Me: "See, that wasn't so hard now was it."

Mara: "You have no idea!!! As I was trying to play it cool when they were searching for my non-existent order, another guy comes up and tells me he is so sorry I have had to wait so long and because he has made me wait he is giving me my lunch for free! Not only do I feel completely awful for lying, but then they comp my lunch!"

After, we calmed Mara down, and convinced her she was not going to A) jail or B) hell, we had a great lunch catching up, laughing, and watching Mara jump every time an employee would come within five feet of our table.

 And as we Nicole and I were packing up the kid's food and getting them settled back in their strollers to head home for nap time, I am pretty sure I saw Mara stick a ten dollar bill under her free bowl of chicken pad Thai.

xoxo

Daily Mom