Ssshhhhhhh!

Last week a group of us had dinner at Pomodoro, a tiny Italian restaurant in Westwood to celebrate my friend Beth's birthday. Beth, Kari and I had been to this restaurant once before and to our shocking surprise we were 'Ssshhh-ed' even though our voices were normal restaurant speaking voices. Well, Beth does have a naturally loud voice but I'm not pointing any fingers. Nonetheless, we loved the food so we thought it was safe to return with a group of nine on a Thursday evening, about three years after the infamous 'Ssshhhh-ing' incident. Boy were we wrong!

There was a table in the corner consisting of a young boy wearing headphones (apparently he was whistling really loudly when they first sat down mind you) and maybe 4-5 older men and women. As we all sat down and began chatting we did notice that since the restaurant was tiny (no bigger than your average living room) everyone who was dining was talking over each other to try to hear themselves. So naturally, our voices increased a bit- and Beth's got a bit louder too. We were having a grand old time when all of a sudden the table in the corner 'Ssshhhh-ed' us! Oh Lord, here we go again! I hate confrontation so I usually shrivel up like a shrimp and hide anytime something like this happens (I get this from my crustacean mother) but the group I was with was not afraid to voice their opinion. First of all, how rude!!! (In Michelle Tanner's voice) Beth's husband, Kris and her friend, Laura 'Ssshhh-ed' them back and told them how rude they were. We tried to continued on with our dinner but were 'Ssshh-ed another 4-5 times throughout our meal. Not without Kris and Laura giving them a piece of their minds though and me shriveling into my shrimp shell and retracting under the table. I'm still not sure why they were singling us out because every table in the restaurant was as loud as we were...maybe it was because we were directly in the center? It was funny though when another table next to us started laughing loudly and my friend Kari 'Ssshhh-ed' them as a joke but they didn't seem to notice. Really? Were we the only ones who even noticed the corner table and their 'Ssshhh-ing?' Just as our check came (along with a few more 'Sssshhhhs') I was ready to take my shrimp-ish self back home to my fish tank. But as we stood up and left, that dumb table started to clap and hoot and holler! Again, how rude!! Kris told them to turn down their hearing aids and not leave their house next time if they couldn't handle an evening out. He then went outside to the window that was directly next to their table and pressed his face up against it for ten minutes. I peed. Us 1, Table in the corner 0.