But What Did You Order?
By Cynthia Jenkins
Dear Sugar,
My husband and I were out at Brussels Bistro the other night with another couple when my friend’s husband told me I was beautiful. I’m sure he just meant it as a compliment, but now my husband thinks he was hitting on me and my friend (the other husband’s wife) is suspicious.
Beautiful Bummer
Beautiful,
Let me start by saying that I won’t pretend to be an expert on such matters, having never been called beautiful myself. “A real firecracker,” maybe. And I’ve certainly been told on numerous occasions that I’m “good with the grandpas” at weddings and funerals. But somehow this classification eludes me. I do, however, have several beautiful friends who are told so by other people’s husbands all the time. This, in my observations, is for two reasons: 1) The women come right out and ask, “Do you think I’m beautiful, Frank? Because my husband here seems to only have eyes for our cocktail waitress.” In which case Frank is obliged to say, “Sure, Connie, you’re really hot.” 2) They simply are so beautiful there’s really nothing else to talk about.
I don’t know which category you fall under, B. B., but my advice to you is to write that other couple off and to hang out with people who are your physical equal. I’m a big believer in conflict avoidance, commonly referred to as the “Head-In-The-Sand Technique” in coastal and desert regions. And so far it has worked for me. My hunch tells me that it works for beautiful people, too.
As a side note (and I don’t mean to hammer on you, Beautiful, especially now that you’ve lost your good friends), you should know that it is mandatory for all inquiries involving local restaurants to include a mention of what was consumed at the event in question. I’m a big fan of Brussels’ green bean salad, for example. I’m not saying my advice would have changed to something more favorable had you too admitted to being a fan, but I could have gleaned some valuable information regarding the other husband’s mindset had he, let’s say, ordered the Tartare de Boeuf.
Fondly,
Sugar
Laguna local Cynthia “Sugar Mama” Jenkins is a nationally-award winning writer who enjoys telling people what to do – a service she now offers free of charge in an effort to give back to the community. Write to her at [email protected].
