I'm Just Saying No

Over the past couple of days E and I went out to dinner with my family on two separate occasions. Both times, we asked for a table for one more person than we actually had in the party. The thinking behind that was that we would then have plenty of elbow room during the meal. Here's what I don't understand. Both nights, the waiter came to the table to get our drink orders and asked if the last member of our party was going to be joining us still. On both occassions, the mumbling stuttered response from members of our dinner party was, "I don't know. (One member looks at another member and asks) do you know if he/she is still coming? (The other member responds) Huh, uh, no, my dad/sister got sick. He/she called to say they couldn't make it." I'm not sure why it was necessary to fill the waiter in on the imaginary illnesses of our family members, but for some reason, we couldn't just respond, "no." I'm certain that the waiter couldn't have cared less where they were, all he/she knew was that the bill was going to be one-sixth or one-eigth (I hope I did the math right) smaller than they originally thought. I find that, on most occasions, the more words you use to explain something is directly proportional to the amount of trouble that you will find yourself in as a result of your explanation. I try to stay out of trouble at all costs. I'm just saying...

Anyway, I hope that everyone had a happy new year! It's high time that I get back into the swing of things after my extended break. It's one of the few benefits of being a teacher, but I'll take it.