Dining with the Extremely Wealthy

As we sat down yesterday evening for dinner, we took a look at the couple sitting next to us. The guy, a large, white-haired man with a large belly and dour face, was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. His wife was whispering to him in a soft monotone but then he turned to her and proclaimed "I don't care if they think I'm some Ugly American... I want my food and I want it now! What's wrong with that?"

We heard rumors about the service in Barcelona being really laid back. These past few days, we certainly experienced the laid back attitude and service, but that's the way it is in Spain. Dinners start late (usually around 9 PM or later) and are typically a 3 hr. affair to be enjoyed and savored with friends. You "go with the flow" when you get to Spain! By looking at the way this gentleman was acting, coupled with his wife's ultra sheik designer duds... we knew this couple was used to getting the royal treatment.

They ended up starting a conversation with us and one of their first comments was "Wow! You speak English so well!" Grrrr... To humor them, we ended up conversing with them throughout the evening. From the way they were speaking and how they were speaking, we knew this would be a memorable conversation.

We asked where they were from..."We live on the uppah east side, right next to Gracie Mansion". We asked them what their favorite restaurants were in NYC and the husband replied "Our favorite is sushi and we looooove going to Nobu. We're friends with the owners ya know. We don't eat there every night though... not that we couldn't." Jaime told them that she had just finished her MBA but before she could finish... "Our son finished his doctorate at Stanford and is a really important Far-East political strategist at a big consulting firm." Yikes.

On and on and on... they just kept talking about how great their life was and how they knew every celebrity in NY: Robert DeNiro, Woody Allen, Rudy... Itzhak Pearlman played piano in our living room ya know. The name dropping was intense!

They finally paid their bill and left the restaurant. We looked at each other and starting laughing. This couple was loaded and definitely into themselves. We could have told them that we were from Mars and flew to Barcelona in a space shuttle and they still would have continued talking about themselves! We made a pact then and there to never become like that... um... when we get rich?

Ha ha... someday... someday... Mega Millions is bound to go over $200MM again, right?