The attitude

I had a blind date. Yes, I could recall I got a phone call from someone some months ago. How he got my number was a mystery, until I discovered that a colleague in the office gave him.
I was eventually able to put a face to the voice when a friend introduced me to the famous Sam at a poetry party. It was there and then I uncovered the mysterious one.

And so, one Friday evening, we met again, and this time, at a photography exhibition at Ikoyi. After the exhibition, we decided to hangout in the company of one of Sam’s friend, Dafe. I never knew I was in for a nerve-wrecking hilarious outing. Our destination that evening was unknown to me as we rode on the smooth Bourdillion Road . “Where do you guys want us to go,” he asked as he turned into Bar Beach Road . “I will stop at the closest restaurant around here,” he added. The closest was Terra Kulture, but he quickly had a change of mind when he remembered he had to do some shopping. And so, The Palms was the next point of call.

Our short journey was marked by argument and counter argument on current issues and I was amazed when Dafe claimed he still writes. He was a journalist before he took on a corporate job. And his new found mediums of expression are Facebook and Twitter. “I write too,” he said, as a response to Sam’s question on writing as a medium of expression.

It’s interesting for me how Facebook and Twitter are making writers of people all over the world. Citizen Journalists are taking over the industry, even as I remember now an argument we had back in classroom when I was in Holland about journalism without journalists.
Journalism is taking a new turn today, which makes it possible for someone like Dafe to claim he is a writer. And of course, he is in sense, as Citizen Journalism makes that possible. Anyway, that will be a topic for another day.

Meanwhile, let’s go back to the issue of the day. Cafe Virginano was the place Dafe chose we hangout because the salad there was his favourite. We ran into another Sam’s friend when we got in and we decided to share his table. After a while, Dafe excused himself to go shopping while we ordered some drinks and club sandwich.
Sam, his friend and I touched on various issues about Nigeria , our president, Christine Amapour of CNN, among others. It was an eye opening experience, I’d say.

After a while, Dafe returned from his shopping spree with a satisfactory look and smile, bars of chocolate in hand. He dropped the chocolates on the table and beckoned on the waitress for his order. As she walked towards the table, Dafe was smiling and looking serious at the same time. Initially, I did not understand Dafe’s ‘moves’ until the waiter returned to remove the plates in front of me. “Should I take this,” she asked somewhat agitated. “Yes, you can. I’m done,” I replied not sensing anything. “When you are through, come back for my order for drinks,” Dafe said sternly.

“Why did you do that?” I asked Dafe. “She has an attitude,” he said. “Really, I did not notice that; she does and you will see when she returns.” And so, she returns and Dafe asked her name. She did not answer the first time. “What is your name,” Dafe asked again.

“Me, I don’t have a name o,” she said, while walking away. She never returned to our table to pick up the bills. Another waiter who later came for the bills told us her name. She actually benefitted from the generous tip Dafe left in the bill pouch.

Most waitresses and waiters don’t know the importance of customer relation to their businesses. In fact, people have complained bitterly about being badly treated by these waiters. What some of them do not understand is that attitude is really important to their business.