Earning Stripes

I recently had the good fortune to attend a lovely classical music dinner gala and the bad fortune of sitting next to a not so lovely character during the dinner session. The thing is this unsavory character is a business mogul (aptly labeled Chairman) who has earned his stripes, but completely lacks decent table manners in terms of small talk and is also well known for his voracious appetite for young ladies who he entices at any open opportunity with his wallet. Well on this night he had met his challenge as he is used to company that constantly sucks up and has made him unaware of his bigoted behavior and I think he has not met a young one who is pro-wallet first! One rude comment from him was enough to elicit a taciturn reply that shut him up a few minutes before he came up with another only to find an immediate sardonic response from my end. This prompted the guy to down a couple of pints and finding no more mocking left in him, left our table to go terrorize some poor diplomat who cringed at the sight of Mr. Bigot’s approach as he yelled his name- Poor guy! After that the tension at the table lifted and everyone looked at me in a different way- considering they were previously unaware of my presence on the table. I had earned my stripes as well ;)