Customers from Thursday

So I had some tables on Thursday I was going to tell you about but never got around to it. Let's get to it now.

The Americans here on work: I had a table of 6 people, 4 of whom were American. One of the Americans lives here in NZ and the other three were visiting from the US for a few days on work. It's always fun to see Americans, but most are nicer than this crew. One of the people in the group, and the only Kiwi, was rather overweight. He was a big guy to start out with (quite tall) but he was definitely heavier than is healthy. He was sitting at one end of the table and three of the Americans were sitting at the other end. At one point I walked past the table and heard the three Americans talking about how lazy obese people are and commenting out loud that they need to learn how to take care of themselves. I could tell that the overweight gentleman could overhear what they were saying, not that they were trying to even be subtle about it. I was embarrassed for the Kiwi, embarrassed that Americans (from the most obese country in the world) were going around the world making such rude comments and making us all look like rude people. I was quite tempted to interrupt their conversation, tell them how rude they were being, and apologize to the Kiwi gentleman on behalf of all Americans. I didn't, as it probably wouldn't have done much good for me, but the Kiwi man did not deserve that kind of terrible treatment. Poor guy! And for the icing on the cake, they put the dinner on their American corporate card and didn't even leave me a tip!

Phil, Debbie, and son: I had a family in on Thursday - Phil (father), Debbie (mother), and their son (I can't remember his name....). They were really nice and were telling me about some of the amazing travels they'd had. I believe Phil was the biological father of the son (who was likely in his mid-late teens) and Debbie was maybe the stepmother. Apparantely Phil and his son had spent 3 years living on a boat in the Pacific and had also spent 1 year traveling America in an RV they bought when they landed in Seattle. What an amazing life for the son. He's not even done with high school yet and he has had so many experiences most of us will never have. I always love meetings people like this!

Tracy and Lorne: I had a great couple in Tracy and Lorne. Well they aren't actually together, just good friends. Tracy has a boyfriend who isn't Lorne. Either way, not all that important. These two were amazingly fun. We talked about who should pay on a date, how American men always pay and Kiwi/Oz men do not. Tracy taught me that the term "going Dutch" exists because dutch men are notoriously tight with their money. She told me about a date she went on with a dutch guy who asked her to contribute $10 to a $40 bill. Can you imagine that? It was only $40! She taught me that a flan in England is a savory food with crust (like a quiche) and not a dessert custard food with jell-o like consistency like I'm used to. They were a great couple of people. Apparently Lorne comes in on occasion so hopefully I'll get to see them again soon.

Okay, I'm working on uploading my Raglan videos now. Here's a few links for you. Hopefully the videos will be working soon. I'll add a video of Bridal Veil Falls tomorrow.

A surfer.
Raglan overview.

Oh and I had a 12 hour day at work today. I'm already at my 40 hours for the week and I still have tomorrow left. How nice to make a few extra dollars here and there. I need it!

Best!