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5.
I was out for dinner with my then-fiancée (now wife) and her dad, my (now) father-in-law. He’s a bit of a jerk to her—he got divorced and remarried, loves those kids more than my wife, gives her grief over too many things, etc., etc.
So we’re at the end of dinner, and my father-in-law offers to pay for the meal. OK, that’s nice. My wife asks to get her leftovers boxed so she can take them home. He starts with, “Well, you’ll just leave them in the fridge, then they’ll just get thrown out, blah blah.” I tell him, “Listen, it’s not your fridge. Leave her alone.” (She and I live together at this point.)
He gets all mad and says, “Don’t tell me how to raise my daughter!”
I reply, “Then don’t speak to my fiancée that way!”
He literally throws the bill and folder thing at me and says, “FINE! YOU PAY THEN,” and storms out. The table goes silent, tension hanging in the air like it might explode any second.
OK, now everyone is upset. I am. My fiancée is saying, “Why did you have to start something?” etc. So I pay the bill and am just waiting for the receipt. Like, we’re waiting 10 minutes here—what the heck is going on? Tensions are rising. Her dad is waiting outside, just building up steam and ready to blow once we get out there.
I ask the waiter, “Can I just get our bill and go?”
The waiter says, “Oh no, sir, you have to wait for the manager.”
Turns out they have a contest running where “every bill is a winner.” Normally, you’d win a free drink or appetizer with your next meal. Well, we won the GRAND PRIZE: a trip for four to Florida.
Whoever pays, gets the prize. WELL, GUESS WHAT? I PAID BECAUSE YOU STORMED OUT LIKE THAT. KARMA’S A REAL THING. The moment it sank in, the anger at the table turned into pure disbelief.
