It's a dog's life

Today, I went to Crystal Jade at Takashimaya for lunch. It was a lunch session with my in-laws. Obviously my wife went with me.

We were supposed to meet her parents at 11.30am. But we arrived earlier at 11.20am, very hungry. We ordered some Tim Sum before we were starved to death. Then my sister-in-law arrived. She ordered some more food. We were happily chatting away. Then my father-in-law came. We told him to order too and he did.

The whole lunch session was good until we couldn’t finish the food. My wife’s dad suddenly flared up and threw tantrum. I have got no idea if it was necessary. He started to scold my sister-in-law for poor selection of food and wastage of food. He even vented his anger on the waitress. He insisted to cancel the order even though the order was on its way out. The poor waitress didn’t know what to do. Anyway, she had no power to make decisions. The decision making would fall on the shoulders of the Captain. After that, he preached Christianity. (No offence to Christians intended.)

I felt the whole issue could be omitted. Although my father-in-law had good intentions about the amount of food ordered, he could have considered the position of his daughter that she was being filial to ask him to order his favorite food. (There may not be any favorite food, as my dad-in-law was getting health conscious. He is reducing the intake of fatty and oily food.) Anyway, he should be more tactful in his remark, I felt.

I understood that he was having a hard time in his business during this period, The Hungry Ghost Festival. However, he should not act as if he was the only one with problems and vented anger on others, especially at the expense of hurting other’s feelings. I felt that it was pretty mean of him.

Fortunately, the issue was resolved by asking the waitress to pack the balance of the food. We had some food packed and taken away in the end. The solution, in the end, was so simple. No need to flare up. Without anger overwhelming the logic of thought, problems can be solved easily. I believe that my dad-in-law would regret what he did when he reflected his actions today. However, we do not expect an apology from him. I believe he may want to retain a little bit of his ego as a dad and as children (and son-in-law) of his, we understand that.