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Finding Dinner

A couple of co-workers and went to dinner recently in a town two of us knew nothing about and the third had just recently arrived here so was still a relative stranger. We picked a place that looked promising from the outside - fairly busy but still a few open tables and everyone seemed to having a good time. 

Across from us was a group of three women who seemed have come out to celebrate something - maybe a birthday. They were all wearing evening gowns and nice jewelry. No one else there on a weeknight was quite as nicely dressed. The hostess gave them a table at the epicenter of the place - which only made sense. The place as it turned out was mainly known for their cocktails and the food while nice was not the main event. The ladies were clearly local and knew what they were doing. The drinks arrived soon accompanied by hors d’oeuvres. 

Here at our table, we were not quite sure what to get. It had been a late day and we had an early start the next morning so no one really wanted any drinks. That left us with food options that made little sense on their own. But here we were - already seated and ready to order, it would be weird and rude to walk away specially that the place seemed to make people all around us pretty happy - specially this festive trio. We ended up liking the food - the waitress told us about specials not listed in the menu that worked out perfectly. Walking back to the hotel, I thought of the experience in terms of the emotional components in each phase of it. 

Being drawn to the establishment by seeing how everyone seated there seemed to be having a great time. We failed to notice that it was cocktails were the main draw. Stepping in a still failing to see that and having an epiphany once seated and looking at the menu. Then these ladies show up dressed to the nines to celebrate and we feel compelled to make it work for us too. And we discover there is a path for us to have a perfectly nice dinner without any drinks. It all works out in the end but had any one of the factors been just a bit different, we would have had totally different outcomes. Building on an apparent mistake is not always a bad idea. 

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