Newcomer becomes older and wiser
Image Credit: Pille Riin-Priske on Unsplash
As businesses slowly return to normal operation after the lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and I wait eagerly for our favourite restaurant to reopen, I am reminded of a funny incident from when we were very new in Canada.
At this same restaurant which we discovered soon after moving here, they serve a huge selection of vegetarian dishes and it became our go-to place for my weekend breaks from cooking.
Along with the a la carte menu, they also have a lavish buffet. I knew, of course, from our bills at the end of a meal, that children under six ate free and those under 10 were charged half the price of an adult buffet.
One evening, the young girl serving us asked my husband this unexpected question: “Are you an adult, sir?”
I burst out laughing, while my husband looked a little confounded by the query.
He describes me as garrulous – I prefer chatty or friendly – someone who can strike up a conversation with anyone, over anything. “He sometimes doesn’t behave like one, but still, I don’t think that qualifies him for a child’s discount!” I responded teasingly.
The girl smiled back and made a quick exit.
On our way out, I noticed a sign posted at the table where they ask diners to wait to be seated. There, in plain letters, were the rates for the buffet. For children, for adults...and for seniors!
She’d been asking us if we were eligible for the seniors’ discount!
My husband who went grey early, huffed that he didn’t think he looked a day over 40, his age at the time, and said that he wasn’t impressed by the staff’s lack of training in how to approach diners.
“I don’t think we will be coming back here any time soon,” he decreed.
Well, as you may have guessed, that’s not how it turned out at all and we continued to go back, and were greeted effusively by the same girl.
When I recently said I couldn’t wait to go out for dinner, he said with a smile, “Specially now, since we are finally eligible for that seniors’ discount!”
What’s your story? Every newcomer, no matter how savvy or where he or she comes from, has a Fresh Off the Plane (FOP) story to share about their early days in Canada. Do you want to share your story? E-mail it to us at canadaboundimmigrant@rogers.com