Tales from the Potluck Line

Last night Erika and I went to the Ladies’ Night Out event for the month of February. This month we had the gathering at the church building and the menu was taco salad – one of my favorite meals, and Erika’s too.

When Erika arrived at my house for the ride over, we had a few minutes to kill and so I told her the story of my potluck experience at church on Sunday. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten to type it out and tell you all yesterday; but, that’s how it goes I guess. This may end up being the week you receive a rather random post each day. I hope you are okay with that.

The story goes like this (and I’m afraid I really can’t do it justice with words alone as a demonstration is an almost necessary part of this story). A couple of our small group teams were having potluck lunch after church and I was invited to stay and eat with them. I have never been one to pass up a free meal, and obviously decided to stay. I was in line with some friends, talking to them as we were awaiting our turn at the table. When I got to the front of the table and picked up a plate, I noticed there was a different person standing behind me. RR, a lady that has been visiting with us for some time now, had magically appeared between me and the people I had been chatting with. I have no idea where she had been previously or how it came to be that she was all of a sudden behind me, but there she was.

Deviled eggs were the first item in the line and I put one on my plate and then decided to scoop out a spoonful of the congealed salad that was next. As soon as I put down the spoon, RR was all up in my personal space grabbing the spoon to put some on to her plate. I was really shocked at how close she was to me – it actually kind of frightened me a bit. In the meantime I had decided that I actually wanted two deviled eggs and went to put another on my plate, all the while, RR was so close to me I thought she was going to knock me over to get to the next food item in line.

It was at this point, that I stepped back from the line, placed my hand on RR’s shoulder and said as politely as I could, “Why don’t you go ahead of me, you seem to be in a hurry.” She passed me up, declared she wasn’t in a hurry, and proceeded to go down the pot luck line with a passion I have never before seen in my life. RR seriously went down the potluck line so fast it was as though she was the Tasmanian devil in the flesh.

So, last night when Erika and I arrived at Ladies’ Night Out, guess who was there? RR! I told Erika to be sure and watch how RR goes through the line. RR’s daughter was there and it was apparent that she learned her lack of food line etiquette from her mother as she was standing so close to RR in the line that it was difficult to tell one from the other.

I proceeded to demonstrate to Erika and some other folks what my experience was like on Sunday. Needless to say, I plan to steer clear of RR any time we have a potluck dinner on the church grounds.