Politics in a Diner

Here is a story Mike told me about how he was kicked out of a local diner.

Mike was living on his own at this point in his own apartment in Lakewood.  He was around 35 years old.  He would eat at local diners and other inexpensive places.  He had a phobia about germs, and no amount of dish washing could remove all the germs.  When I would take him to a restaurant, he would bring his own plastic utensils to use to eat his food.  He would order a soda pop to drink, and he would use his hands to describe to the waitress that he wanted a tall, large, ice-filled glass with Coke.  This description doesn't really describe how long it took him to animate the size and amount of ice he wanted in his drink.  The memory of him ordering a beverage makes me smile.

Anyway, back to the diner incident.  One day, I picked him up from his apartment to take him to the store and out for lunch.  He no longer had a car or drove anywhere, and he would have to take a bus to get around.  It was hard to transport large or heavy items on a bus, so I would periodically take him to the store.  As we passed this local diner, he casually said, "Oh yeah, I can't go there to eat anymore.  I was kicked out."  Naturally, I followed up with some questions about what happened.  He said he was just sitting there minding his own business when (his words) "that Bitch Hillary Clinton" came on the TV.  He did not like Hillary, at all.  Well, he could not keep his dislike of her to himself, so he must have started muttering about her and all the other things he hated about our government.  As the TV program continued, he became more enraged about whatever politics were being discussed.  This surely lead to him swearing at the TV, which bothered the other diner patrons.  It must have escalated to the point where the owner of the diner had to ask him to leave.  Knowing how much Mike liked people telling him what to do (insert sarcasm), I am sure he started swearing at the owner about living in a free country and how he had a right to vocalize his disdain and hatred for politicians and anyone or thing associated with the US Government in public.  Well, the owner had to kick him out and tell him never to return.

Poor Mike.  He had so much anger and hatred inside him.  Especially for things like the government.  And doctors.  And the Catholic Church.  But those stories are for another day.