Mike’s Daily Rant 10/30/2012 Topic: Burger Buddies

When you respect a person, whatever the reason may be, they usually know by the way you act around them. They also know that you respect them by how you treat them. For example, I respect my mother enough to filter my conversation in front of her. Yes I curse, tell inappropriate jokes and I have provocative conversation topics but when she is around, that does not happen.
This weekend I learned that a few of my friends, formally known as, my burger buddies have a respect for me. It’s a bit interesting but I accepted it and kept it moving. Saturday we decided to go watch the Florida versus Georgia game at bar. We get to the bar 30 minutes before kickoff and can’t wait to see the menus. We have all established that we are pretty hungry while waiting to be seated. As soon as the waitress comes back to the table we order a drink while looking at the menu. I order a cup of water and a Carona with lime. I’m not sure what everyone else ordered to drink because I was so focused on the menu. When drinks arrived we all started drinking them right away.

The waitress asked if we were ready to order or if we needed more time? We all said that we were ready. Everyone at the table looks at me and says Mike you order first. I realize what is going on here. Not much explanation was needed but I understood loud and clear. I have had quite a bit of success with weight loss so I am the measuring stick whenever we go out to eat with my burger buddies. I didn’t realize until Saturday how much my food choices affect everyone else’s decision at the table. However, I am now under the microscope so I feel a little pressure. I order a Portobello Mushroom Burger with cheddar and Blue Cheese crumbles, tomatoes and lettuce on a toasted Kaiser roll. Oh and hold the beef please. With a Side of Sweet Potato fries and a pickle. I nicknamed this sandwich the fungus burger.

Now I look up and see them all looking over the menu again. One of my friends asked me where did I see that on the menu? I tell them that I saw it under burgers and just asked to hold the beef. Now it’s their turn to order. Now the pressure is off of me since I have ordered. I then become a little curious to see what everyone else order. They all act as if they don’t know what they want anymore. It’s quite interesting how their minds went blank after I ordered. It almost seemed as if they wanted to go into a huddle and change the play. They ask for more time after the new found confusion over comes them. She comes back after about 5 minutes and now they appear poised enough to order. My friend Adrian looks at me and looks at waitress and orders 20 piece wings with fries. My friend Brice orders the house burger with onion rings. My friend Larry orders a salad and then changes his mind in the middle. This was the strange part that tickled me a little. Larry orders the Philly Cheese hoagie with fries and then apologizes to me after ordering it. When the waitress walks off they say well I’m sorry but I had to order what I wanted.

The part that puzzled me is that they felt the need to apologize to me. That’s when I figured it out that they have a respect for me. They somehow felt that ordering what they ordered was disrespectful so they felt the need to apologize. I told them that we are adults and make our own decisions. I am not offended. I actually would have ordered any of those had I not “Wanted” The Fungus burger. If we are all doing what we are supposed to in our everyday lives, it is ok to order whatever your belly so desires.

However, I know that not one of my former burger buddies are my current gym buddies. So I know that there is a slight difference between me ordering the house favorite and them ordering it. I work-out extremely hard every day and I told them that as long as those calories are burned off, it’s a happy day for us all.

Realize that when you are living a healthier more active lifestyle, people look up to you and respect what you are doing. Dont let them down and even more importantly dont put them down. I could have said a few slick things but I chose not to because I learned that there is a level of respect between us and I certainly dont want to lose that by running my mouth the way that I normally would have with a smart comment.

MikeMontana1914