I’m in Cocoa Beach and, because we’re hungry and half-way through a journey, I stopped at Wendy’s. After ordering my food I noticed a lady come in who the staff seemed to know well. They appeared to groan when she appeared.
Se asked me if I was in the “line” and then we ended up chatting about fairly dull details involving the time we had to wait. Then, that gem … That comment that I’ve heard a couple of times from Americans over the years…
“I have a lot of friends in Australia”, she said.
I’ll admit it, I snapped. “We’ll, I’m from the UK, so I guess it’s almost the same.”
“Ohh.. The UK huh? I hate you British men. Think you can do whatever you want. My ex was from the UK. The last think I want to see is another guy from there”
At this point I knew I’d stepped into a whole world of… Something..
“Do you have a ring on your finger? Huh? Are you faithful? Huh? Cus he sure wasn’t, let me tell you. I’m half Irish you know. I came over to Florida when I was small. He was in holiday, we got it together, then he went off with some slut.. Are you faithful then? Huh?”
To be honest I didn’t know where to go. This was either a really aggressive chat-up routine or she’d been seriously screwed up by this guy. I chose the latter…
“We’ll, we’re not all like that.”
“You are, you are. The Irish didn’t want you guys, and we got rid of you out of our country too.”
“Eh?”
At this point I figured it was well worth just getting out. I could see a few knowing looks from the serving staff as they gave me my food, so at this time I figured it was time to end the conversation..
“Your first time in the US I guess? Just Disney yeah?”
“Actually no”, I said, “I’ve been lucky enough to come to the US a number of times and came here on our Honeymoon some 7 years ago”, (I showed her my ring at this point), “Oh and by the way, I’m a quarter Irish. Bye.”