...Fake Happy Birthday To Me!

A few weeks ago, Fermin and I were eating at our local Mexican food restaurant, Mariano's.  It was another customer's birthday, so a big group of servers came out and sang the happy birthday song.  At the end of the song, a very rotund Mexican waiter held out a note for a very, v-e-r-y long time.  It was off key, but yet, still impressive and exciting based on it's loudness and longevity.  It was exciting and funny.

So the other night, Fermin met me and my friend, Kerri (that's right, I've got a friend, Kerri, who spells her name just like I do!) up at the same place.  Fermin sat down at the table a little after we had arrived, and when the strong-lunged, rotund Mexican waiter came to take his order, Fermin said, "I would like a Dos Equis, and I really want you to sing to me because, dammit, it's my birthday."  Of course, it wasn't Fermin's birthday, and we all just thought it was a little joke.

After we all finished eating, Fermin rushed off a little early to get home after a long day at work, while Kerri and I settled up our bill.

I started wondering why it was taking our waiter so long to get back to us... And then all of the sudden, a group of about 6 servers, plus our own waiter brought out a big sombrero and had a sopapilla in tow.  I felt sort of panicked, with no fake birthday boy in sight, so I quickly said to my waiter, "Just sing it to me!"  He put the hat on my head, they all sang their version of Happy Birthday, my waiter belted out the final v-e-r-y loud note and I gladly accepted the sopapilla on Fermin's behalf.

Ole!

And that is how I got my fake birthday celebration.  It was funny.  But a little disappointing that Fermin had already left and missed the whole thing!

Afterwards, our check arrived.  I left a bigger than usual tip, thinking, "How nice that they brought us the dessert, sang the funny song, etc."  But the even funnier thing, upon further inspection of my bill after I paid it, was that they charged us $6 for the Happy Birthday Sopapilla. 

Ole!