Whale-ista
Super Nomad
Posts: 2009
Registered: 2-18-2013
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Sunny with chance of whales
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Conversations on the road: 1, Mama Espinosa waitress
Me: (entering restaurant) Buenas tardes! May I sit anywhere?
Mama Espinosa waitress: Si Senora, how many are with you?
Me: I'm alone today, thank you.
Waitress: Alone? Where is your husband?
Me: No husband, just me. May I sit here please? (I sit down)
Waitress: (hands me a menu) Where are your children?
Me: (slight pause, then looking surprised) Oh my gosh- I forgot to have children!
Waitress: crickets...
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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Don't feel bad I am of course not your gender but am asked that question all the time. Then Pilár and Dália come roaring through the door and la
masera runs for cover. Women traveling alone generate intense curiosity with Mexican women. Even on the transpeninsula highway which has a lot more
solitary women traveling it than highways on the mainland, take a gander sometime and count how many lone women you see driving outside of urban
areas. The ratio will raise your eyebrows. A hundred to one? Two hundred to one? it's pretty disproportionate.
When a really nosy female hotel clerk asks me "Where is your wife" I respond with
"Down in the arroyo washing clothes with the other women"
Talk about instant silence...
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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Wow sounds like neither of you care to converse with the restaurant or hotel staff. Maybe they are nosey or maybe they are just being polite and
starting a dialog. Me I like talking to them regardless of what is asked. I personally don't look down at such questions but regard it as a starter
for a more enjoyable conversation.
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dtbushpilot
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3288
Registered: 1-11-2007
Location: Buena Vista BCS
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Mood: Tranquilo
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| Quote: | Originally posted by TW
Wow sounds like neither of you care to converse with the restaurant or hotel staff. Maybe they are nosey or maybe they are just being polite and
starting a dialog. Me I like talking to them regardless of what is asked. I personally don't look down at such questions but regard it as a starter
for a more enjoyable conversation. |
TW x2
"Life is tough".....It's even tougher if you're stupid.....
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Whale-ista
Super Nomad
Posts: 2009
Registered: 2-18-2013
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Sunny with chance of whales
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To be clear: the post ended there, but the conversation continued during the meal. She soon realized my comment regarding children was a joke. It was
levity, not a putdown.
I also told her I was a teacher and we talked about her being a student.
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
Member Is Offline
Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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You guys take these things too seriously. After the "silence" the clerk broke out laughing then took me behind the desk to meet her husband in the
living quarters.
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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EnsenadaDr
Banned
Posts: 5027
Registered: 9-12-2011
Location: Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: Move on. It is just a chapter in the past, but don't close the book- just turn the page
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Geez...do all women need to be married in Mexico? | Quote: | Originally posted by soulpatch
| Quote: | Originally posted by DavidE
When a really nosy female hotel clerk asks me "Where is your wife" I respond with
"Down in the arroyo washing clothes with the other women"
Talk about instant silence... |
Why didn't you say it was date night with Sancho? 
I'd pay to see that reaction. |
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
Member Is Offline
Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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Mala Mujer syndrome Doctora, Mala Mujer syndrome. Novelas, the training manual of how to be the ?????? feminina.....
Latin countries, the land of equal gender rights for all men
When was the last time I addressed a female Dr. in the USA "Miz Doctor?"
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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Shawndy
Newbie
Posts: 17
Registered: 11-4-2013
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I thought that remark about the kids was funny....carry on
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EnsenadaDr
Banned
Posts: 5027
Registered: 9-12-2011
Location: Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: Move on. It is just a chapter in the past, but don't close the book- just turn the page
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I think that is every woman's dream, she could forget to have children. The ultimate birth control.
[Edited on 1-30-2014 by EnsenadaDr]
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CP
Nomad
Posts: 434
Registered: 7-19-2006
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by EnsenadaDr
I think that is every woman's dream, she could forget to have children. The ultimate birth control.
Gosh ED,
Sorry to read that you think that this is every women's dream. I am so blown away by your comment. Even if it is meant as something....humorous.
[Edited on 1-30-2014 by CP] |
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Marc
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2802
Registered: 5-15-2010
Location: San Francisco & Palm Springs
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Mood: Waiting
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I know a FemiN-zi who is REALLY peeED THAT IT'S WOMEN WHO HAVE TO HAVE THE CHILDREN! Not kidding. Have not seen her for a while since she started law
school. She majored in "womens studies" in college. You know...shopping and cooking.... I thought she was going to kill me.
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alacran
Nomad
Posts: 316
Registered: 9-22-2011
Location: Mulege
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Very nice that you talked to the help (owner) it helps all the time.
Muy bonito que le hablo a la mesera(dueña) siempre ayuda mutcho.
(gringo that first spoke spanish and then learned english)
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MitchMan
Super Nomad
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
Member Is Offline
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I once actually heard William F. Buckley, Jr. say, on his show "Firing Line" that it was women's obligation/duty and responsibility to have children.
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Whale-ista
Super Nomad
Posts: 2009
Registered: 2-18-2013
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
Mood: Sunny with chance of whales
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Variations on the "forgot children" theme
Years ago at the same restaurant, I had a similar conversation with a different waitress. That time I was traveling with my husband, and after
chatting a bit she asked us "how many children do you have?" not "do you have children?"
For some reason I found this assumption of many kids funny. We are a "blended family" when it comes to kids, but that day we were on our own. So I
gave him a smile, then slapped my forehead and replied "se me olvido los ninos!" (I have forgotten the children!).
Hubbie laughed, our waitress looked a bit shocked, then she joined in, but probably thought we were completely crazy.
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13195
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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I forgot to have children is a VERY funny line! But I don't think they are being rude when they ask, in Mexico familias are big and it is a social
event to eat out. Their sense of private is radically opposite to NOB.
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
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Maybe a tad off topic, but given that restaurant's iconic status over a half century, I continue to be amazed at the lack of English among their
staff. I've been to restaurants and stores off the beaten path where English was used. Geez. Americans have been stopping in since they opened.
That said, I do speak semi-fluent Spanish, but often have travel companions who do not.
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