Couple Refuse To Sit Next To Cops, Regrets it Later
George felt his blood pressure rise the moment he saw the men sitting inside the restaurant. His gut instinct was to turn back through the doors and run, but he thought the inconvenience of finding another restaurant wasn’t worth the tremble. But what he didn’t notice was that the cops knew what he’d done and were looking to get him back. George couldn’t help but play it safe. Cops in Dallas often had a bad rap for a few examples of misconduct. He didn’t outright hate the police, but he would definitely rather keep his distance. He was taking his girlfriend, Mindy, out for an early evening dinner. He thought he’d spoil her, but he had no idea what kind of situation he’d put her in by offending the cops.
The cops definitely noticed the couple do a 180 as soon as they saw them. They promptly turned around and decided to sit at a table that was on the other side of the restaurant. The five cops all looked at each other with the same expression. They quickly enacted a plan to get George back for what he’d done to them. It would be something he’d never forget.
George didn’t want any problems, and that’s exactly why he moved away from them. But in doing so, he drew way more attention to himself than otherwise would have. The cops quickly got to work discussing what they would do to teach George a lesson about crossing cops. That’s when one of them got up and approached his server. There were hushed voices, and George couldn’t hear what the two were saying, but whatever the cop said had the waitress looking surprised. All she could do was nod her head in agreement before he sat back down.
George felt adrenaline rush through his system as he started to put two and two together. He nervously called the waitress and asked her for his check. That’s when the tears started.
George Resner grew up in a community that didn’t have the best relationship with the police. Often times he would hear stories through the grapevine about brutality and just overall abuse of power. That’s what instilled a distrust of the police in George’s mind, even as an adult. He remembered what it was like growing up. At the age of twenty-one, George thought he could get away from all the stories and violence by moving to a new city that seemed to have a more prospective future for him. But three years after moving there, he still felt anxious whenever he passed a cop, and just like in his old city, the stories came creeping in.
But it wasn’t all bad. Even if cops might have been similar to his old city, George found two things that kept him going. The first thing that made life worth living was Mindy. George found Mindy cashing in food stamps at his local grocery store. After they were refused, he decided to do something no one else would do. George paid for Mindy’s groceries, not expecting anything in return. But after keeping in contact with her, he quickly learned who she really was and found her undeniably attractive. The two hit things off, and after a few dates, they were officially a couple.
The second thing that kept George going was his job. George’s job was one of the biggest reasons he moved to Dallas. A recruiter from a pharmaceutical company reached out to him and offered him a job with good pay and benefits. George couldn’t pass up an offer like that and took it gleefully. But if he’d known that everything would culminate the moment he walked into this restaurant, he might have done things different.
To celebrate their six-month anniversary, George decided to take Mindy out in the early evening to the same restaurant they had their first date at. They had everything arranged perfectly and even thought they’d be sitting at the same table they did six months ago. But he was about to get a rude awakening. George hadn’t made a reservation since he knew the restaurant would mostly be empty. It wasn’t the fanciest place, but it was the same place where he and Mindy first felt that electric spark. He just assumed everything would go according to plan, but he’d be shocked when he walked through the restaurant doors.
They parked their car and headed inside, but just as George turned to look at their anniversary table, he noticed it was taken. There was only one other party of people inside the restaurant, and they had chosen the very table he wanted for a special night. But there was more to it than that. That’s when he noticed their badges. It was a group of five armed police officers.
His anxiety suddenly started to shoot through the roof. He knew he had to act quickly. He grabbed Mindy’s arm and immediately spun around to guide her to the other side of the restaurant. They sat down and hailed the waitress to help them, having no idea what they’d done.
The waitress came over and greeted them politely. They ordered the exact same meal they had six months ago. That’s when she recognized them.
“You’ve been here before and ordered the same meal, right?”
George was impressed by her memory and admitted the fact. That’s when she realized what was going on. That’s when the waitress said:
“Oh, you guys are doing something special tonight. I saw you going towards the table you sat at last time. Sorry for it being taken.”
She smiled and walked away with their order. But no one in the room knew what the cops thought—that what George did was a big deal, and they were going to make sure he knew that.
The cops sitting around the table stared at George. They weren’t subtle about it either. Maybe it was some kind of intimidation tactic. That’s when they huddled together to speak to each other quietly. George had no idea what they were doing but didn’t like it. It seemed as if he offended them somehow when he turned to move to the other side of the room. It wasn’t personal. For all George knew, the cops could have been good guys. It was just all the stories he’d heard that made him want to keep his distance. He thought that this meant that nothing would happen, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. The cops definitely knew he didn’t like them now, and they were out for blood.
George watched the cops reach some kind of agreement. He saw them nod their heads as one of them slapped his hands on the table and slowly got up. All his movements were slow and deliberate. Was he trying to intimidate George? He looked in his direction and started slowly walking across the room.
George’s heart was racing. George tried his best to prepare himself for a confrontation. He hated what was happening but couldn’t do anything to stop it. He just watched helplessly as the cop approached his table and stood in front of him. He looked straight into George’s eyes and said:
“Do you have a problem with cops?”
That’s when George’s blood ran cold. He didn’t know what to say without offending the man anymore.
“Oh, not all cops, but I do try to keep my distance from the stories I’ve heard.”
George waited for the cop’s response but could tell that the man hadn’t taken his words very well. His face contorted into an unpleasant expression. The cop’s expression was something George had seen before; it was the look of someone’s pride being hurt. This cop didn’t seem open to criticism and spun on his heel to walk away.
George let out a sigh of relief, but it wasn’t over. The cop approached the waitress who’d been serving both plates and enacted his devious plan. The cop whispered something to the waitress, who whispered something back. After he said one final word, she looked shocked to her core and couldn’t speak. She nodded her head as she looked over his shoulder at George. He knew something had happened. What had the cop said to the waitress, and what would happen?
George didn’t know what else to do. The cops all got up at once and promptly left the restaurant without paying. The man who confronted George just minutes earlier looked at him as he walked out the door before saying:
“I hope you have a great anniversary.”
He had a malicious grin on his face. What had he done, and why did the waitress tell him about the anniversary?
George needed to know what the cops had done. He called the waitress over and asked her what they’d done, but he wasn’t ready for the truth. The waitress nearly burst into tears at the mention of the policeman. They clearly had done something to draw such an emotional reaction. George urged her to tell him, but she wouldn’t budge. All she could say was:
“You’ll see when you get your bill, sir.”
She walked back off to the kitchen. George’s head was spinning. He thought about rewards until he formed a theory about what was going on. Had the cops really sunk that low to get him back?
George called her back and asked her to return with the bill. He could feel his palms start to sweat at the injustice that had just happened. Then he noticed the waitress looking out of the window and saw the cops piling into their cop cars. Then he saw a bumper sticker on one of them. The bumper sticker on the car was playful; it read: “Got Donuts?” But now wasn’t the time for laughing. George had to get the mess he’d been put in cleared up. If the cops had really intimidated the waitress into sticking him with their bill, he’d be fuming.
She came back and passed it back to him. It was the moment of truth. George mentally prepared himself for what he was about to be in for. He didn’t have the most amount of money in the world and just hoped the damage wouldn’t be too bad. He slowly opened the leather cover that the bill was hiding in.
But what he saw inside would have tears rolling down his face. George didn’t understand. There had to be some kind of mistake. Inside the cover was no bill, but a receipt. Everything he and Mindy had gotten was already paid for.
He looked out the window again and saw the cop who confronted him earlier. He was smiling at him before revving his car and going on his way. George would never look at a cop the same way again.
