The Tale of the Table

Okay so I've been trying to decide whether or not to blog about this, but I think it's too good not to! My relatives from Tennessee were in town this weekend for a visit. We hadn't seen them since 2004 so it was really great to get together. On Saturday we had a girls day out in honor of mother's day. My two sisters and I took my mom, my aunt, and my cousin to Zingerman's in downtown Ann Arbor for some of the world's best sandwiches. The place was extremely busy, as usual, but we waited in line and all seemed to be going well.

Since it was so busy we decided someone should go scout out a table. That someone was me. I found a nice picnic table in the covered tent outside, but after standing there for a minute I realized the tent was really muggy. At about that time my mom came out and together we decided to move to the picnic table on the far end, where there was a gap in the tent and a better breeze. As we got situated at the new table the rest of the family started to come out. My family consists of some big people, myself included, but still, I was absolutely shocked at the next thing that happened. My sister and mom were on one side of the table, while my cousin and I were on the other side. My sister started to slide down to make room for my aunt to sit down and out of nowhere the whole freaking table collapsed! This huge, wooden table with metal legs went down to the ground in a matter of seconds, taking us with it. Luckily no one was hurt, though for a minute I was worried about my mom's legs since she was on the end where the table ended up. The next several minutes seemed to go by in slow motion, almost like a dream...a really bad dream. We all managed the challenging task of getting out from under the table, amidst the stares of fellow diners and shock/alarm of the employees in the tent. I just wanted to get the hell out of that tent, and actually the entire restaurant...I was so mortified!! Once we were clear of the tent and certain no one was hurt, we managed to find two smaller tables outside. The entire time people were running up to us asking us if we were okay. I seriously just wanted to be left alone, but that was not to be the case.

My older sister and I went in to get drinks for everyone, and as we were standing in the line, yet another employee came up to us and (laughing) said she had heard what happened. She asked if we wanted anything and I told her no (at this point I REALLY just wanted people to leave us alone!) My sister had other ideas, and she told the girl she wanted 3 blondie brownies Zingerman's makes. The girl said that was fine and scurried off to get them. We had just finished filling our cups when none other than the store owner showed up. He was very concerned about us and wanted to make sure we were all okay. Despite the hilarity of the situation, he had the good grace not to laugh. After holding the door for me he came over to our table and asked my sister for her receipt. None of us knew what was going on until he came back about five minutes later with the $55 we had paid for our sandwiches. He said there was no way we were leaving there and paying for our lunch after what happened. I'm sure he was concerned about liability too, but thankfully nothing was hurt other than our pride. I wonder if I will ever be able to go back to Zingerman's without feeling at least a little bit embarrassed? I know I won't be sitting on one of their picnic tables again any time soon!