Did you know that I am a super woman? If you look closely you can see the S on my chest. I am a super woman complete with my very own super power. You'll never guess what it is. Nope, I cannot fly. Nope, I do not have super human strength. Nope, I cannot bend steal or stop a moving train. Are you ready? I can be invisible!!!!! I know it sounds crazy. But I was invisible just the other day. Or wait, maybe I just felt that way. Eventually I was seen but I had to work for it. This weekend I went to see The Perfect Guy. (Good movie!) I had planned to go with a friend but she ended up seeing it the weekend it first came out while I was out of town learning how to build my own empire at Blogalicious. I reached out to a few other girlfriends to no avail. So, instead of waiting for another weekend I decided to go solo. I guess I'm doing a lot of things on my own lately.
I decided to go to one of the theaters where they serve not only popcorn and snacks but actual dinner and drinks during the movie. I'd been to this movie theater many times before and it is always fun. The only difference between this time and the other times is I was by myself and that my superpower was in full effect. It was like I was invisible!
The person at the entrance to my theater did say hello. However no one took my movie ticket or gave me a menu at the ticket stand. They did not see me at all despite me walking right by them. The waitress did come over to me once I was seated. She asked if I was by myself and tried to make some small talk after I said that I was. But then I became invisible to her too. I ordered food but it never came. There was a group of about 6 women on my right who all ordered after me but all got there food before me. During this time the waitress even checked on the couple to the left of me. Now all of this is happening during the movies so I didn't want to yell excuse me for the waitress. Having never had an issue here before I tried to wait patiently. However, when the woman who ordered the same thing as me after me, pizza, got her food I had to say something. I asked the bus person to check on my food. Then I waited some more. Finally my waitress came over and apologized saying the kitchen never prepared my food. I guess my order was also invisible.
Finally my food came, I ate and the bill arrived. Since my order was only about $16 I decided to pay cash. I put in a $20. Then I must have become invisible again because the waitress never came back with my change. She came to collect the bill of the women beside me but still never returned my change. My intention was to leave her the change as her tip but it is not acceptable for her to decide to keep my change as her tip. With my patience running out, I pushed the little light to request the waitress. She was surprised that I was calling her over. When I requested my change she brought it over right away. I did leave her about half the tip I originally planned.
Never have I had an experience like this at this theater before. I can only assume that the poor service was due to me being there alone. Because there was not multiple people in my party I was forgotten about and not even noticed by the staff. Going out alone even to a movie is not easy for some people. They worry that others will think of them negatively for being alone. Fear not. They won't even see you. SMH
Part of Chasing Joy is building positive relationships and doing fun things like going to the movies with your friends. Another part of Chasing Joy is being comfortable doing things on your own and enjoying your own company. It's not easy and often things may not turn out how you want. You may even feel invisible. But at the end of the day you will feel proud of yourself and just a bit more confident because there was something you wanted to do and you did it. I'm glad I went to the movie. I'm even glad I went alone. Despite the bad service It reminded me that I don't need to wait on others to pursue what I want.
Have you ever gone to a movie by yourself? Did you feel invisible?
P.S. The waitress did give me two free movie passes because of the mix up with the kitchen.
