Article posted Wednesday, July 9, 2014 12:48pm

Dear Mary Pat,

My mom and I stepped into a busy Door County restaurant on Sunday morning for breakfast. I held the door open for a gentleman who passed me by and went right up to the hostess stand. “I need a table for nine,” he said. “Excuse me, we were here before you,” said my mother. He acted like he didn’t hear her and the hostess said, “Well, lots of people come in at once, it’s hard to keep track.”

My mom and I were both livid. We had to wait while the hostess and servers set up table of nine when they could have sat us in just a moment before helping him. Wasn’t that so rude of him?!

Signed,

Passed By

Egg Harbor

Dear Passed By,

This was very rude. I know that it gets busy up here this time of year, but that is no excuse to throw your manners out the window and operate on an “every man for himself” philosophy. I think your description of the man as a “gentleman” was a little too generous. A gentleman would have been fully aware that you were there first and would have made sure your place in line was secured. And it sounds like the hostess probably was too busy to notice.

It was unfortunate that you had to wait, however, you still did the right thing by being considerate and holding the door. The fact that the man thought you were the doormat doesn’t change the fact that you were the better person.

Sadly, this will not be the last person you will encounter who is only concerned for himself. Thankfully there are still a lot of nice people out there and I’m sure one will cross your path soon.

Good luck,

Mary Pat