An unfortunate date

A boyfriend wanted to show off when he invited his girlfriend out for dinner. He said, “I am taking you to a fancy restaurant. A most delicious meal you will get tonight. Eat as much as you want; you don’t have to pay a cent.”

It happened that both the girlfriend and boyfriend were very fat. They went to a fancy restaurant and ate very expensive things. They also drank heavily. They took a very long time and the headwaiter paid special attention to them because they were wearing very expensive-looking clothes. For two hours they ate, and each one narrated to the other his whole life story.

Finally the bill came. The boyfriend rolled his eyes up. The girlfriend said, “You invited me.”

“Yes,” he agreed, “but did I ask you to eat so much?”

She said, “You told me that whatever I wanted, I could have.”

He said, “Then at least let us go half and half.”

The girlfriend said, “I didn’t bring any money with me.”

They started quarrelling and fighting. Finally the headwaiter said, “Let me see if I can reduce the price.” While he was checking the bill, he said, “I made a serious mistake.”

The boy and girl were so delighted to hear this.

The waiter continued, “I have charged you seven dollars too little by mistake. If my boss had seen this, he would have fired me!”

Already the bill was one hundred and ten dollars. When the waiter added another seven, it came to a hundred and seventeen dollars. Immediately the boyfriend fainted in his chair. Instead of decreasing, the bill had increased. The headwaiter went to get ice water and put it on the boy’s forehead. Then the headwaiter took the bill and, because nothing was free in that restaurant, added two dollars more for the ice water.

Since the boy was not getting up, the girlfriend said to the headwaiter, “I have to go home now to get some money. But don’t worry; I will come back, since he is my boyfriend.”

The girlfriend went home and brought the money to pay the bill. When she returned, the boyfriend came to his senses, and she gave the full amount to the headwaiter. This is how the boyfriend treated his girlfriend. After that their friendship didn’t last.

From:Sri Chinmoy,The mushroom and the umbrella, Agni Press, 1981
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/mu