An Unexpected Encounter

This past Saturday, my mother, brother, and I went to McDonald’s for lunch. We settled into a booth about two booths away from the corner of the restaurant. In front of our booth, there was an older lady. In some high chairs adjacent to us, there was a mother and her two young sons.


It was all normal; everyone was eating. My brother and I were talking about some Rockband songs and getting excited about seeing The Woman In Black in a couple of days. I didn’t notice that a man had slipped into the corner booth. But when his lunch partner came yelling back to the table, I was definitely aware.


I’ve only witnessed one or two other public nuisances prior to this incident. This one lady, for whatever reason, decided to proclaim her problems to the whole restaurant. It wasn’t just regular language. It was vulgar language. I mean, swear words were thrown out left and right.


The subject of the matter was her order being ‘wrong.’ Supposedly, from what I could hear by her unnecessary declaration, she was upset about not getting some fries that should have come with her meals. I am not one to laugh at this sort of situation. I find it rather frightening. My brother found it a little hilarious. My mom was irritated; however, she works at a hospital, so she is more accustomed to these kinds of outbursts.


After yelling to the man she was going to eat lunch with, she went back up to the counter, probably planning on yelling and cursing some more. She became obscured from my view, but I did see some other teenagers laughing at the scene. I really couldn’t believe that they thought this type of occurrence was comical. I mean, who knows what could happen with these type of people around you?


She ended up coming back with a McDonald’s sack, so I presumed that she got her way. That didn’t keep her from being angry. We still heard the ‘f bomb’ quite a few instances. By this time, my family and I were kind of scared and not talking to each other. We were astonished at the whole scene we had just witnessed. The mother who was adjacent to us, started packing up her things. She told her sons to get ready to leave.


And then came the root of my admiration. This mom, who didn’t even know this angry lady, was brave enough to walk straight over to her table and vocalize her opinion. In no way was it mean or rude but instead assertive enough to get her point across. These were the words she spoke:

“Ma’am, I know you’re upset, but I have children over here, and I would appreciate it if you would not use that type of language.”


After that, she strode off, gathered up her boys, and left. The old lady in front of our booth stated a gracious ‘thank you’ to this woman. Soon after, the angry lady yelled one last time, saying if people didn’t like her language, she should just leave. She pretty much flew out of the restaurant. The man that was with her followed her after a couple of minutes had passed by.


I was soaking up everything in this moment because I was so happy that this woman had the courage to stand up for her values. All I know is that I was just smiling. My face was beaming with respect and appreciation. The old lady was smiling back at me, and I knew that we were thinking the same thing.


I encountered my role model that day. I had never seen this woman, let alone talked to her. But in my heart, I knew I would remember this moment henceforth. I’ve always wanted to be that type of person who’s bold enough to support their beliefs. I had no idea going into McDonald’s, of all places, that I would be the spectator of something so significant. As a tear rolled down my cheek, with a big smile on my face, the consideration I felt at that instant was indescribable.