Somebody Go First!

Do you ever find yourself in that uncomfortable situation where there is a smorgasbord of food on the counter but no one will go first to eat it? There are two times when this happens, at a party and at a family gathering.

Perhaps at the party everyone brought some food. So all the hot food is sitting on the counter but no one can eat because there's still one or two people who haven't arrived yet. You're really hungry though, and dying to get a plate. Or perhaps everyone has arrived but for some reason the host won't release the starving guests to get some food. All of the food is getting cold. This is just no good. I have no solution to this problem other than just let everyone start eating...but that just won't happen as long as well-mannered people are at this event.

Then there's the family gathering, and this is my real intention on the subject. All the food has been prepared, maybe it's Thanksgiving or Christmas, maybe it's just a time when the family is together. Perhaps there are friends around, maybe not. Any situation you want, the bottom line is that there is food on the counter, a stack of plates and napkins, the food has been blessed, and no one will go first!

You would expect females to go first, after all...'ladies first'. But in my experience that just won't happen. Mostly because they don't want to be the first one picking out food and there be someone who thinks they are getting too much food....not that they are getting more than their fair share, just that they are getting too much and it could hurt their female physique. Then you ask whoever prepared the meal to go first, but they don't want to. Men feel awkward to go first because it's our duty to let women and children go first, make sure they have what they need before taking some for ourselves. Of course, if there were children in this scenario they would probably go ahead and get some food...but more often than not there aren't any in the age of 8-12 that would qualify to unabashed digging in.

So you're standing there, the food gets colder by the second. "You go", "no, you go", "I don't want to go first", "you look hungry, you go"...the cycle continues. The men don't want to go, the women don't want to go. The small children need their plates fixed by their mother. The older children want to be like the adults. You're hungry, the food is getting colder, why can't somebody just go first!

Well, it seems like I usually step to the front of the line here because I just don't care for everyone to have to wait a bicker about who should go first. I want to eat, and if no one will get food than I'll go ahead and serve myself first. Is it wrong, should I wait? Well, I want to wait for people. Not people talking.

JB