17. Karma Decked Him Good
My buddy and I were having a drink on a large wooden patio at an ocean-side bar/restaurant. A middle-aged couple was sitting next to us. Our tables were next to each other, and they were relatively close to us.
As my buddy and I were just taking in the view, he caught eyes with the dude and said something innocuous like, “Good evening.” The guy retorted, “Mind your own business and keep your eyes to yourself.” My buddy and I looked at each other with a “Did that just happen?” expression.
My buddy looked back over at him and said something like, “Relax, buddy, sorry to bother you.” At that point, we were a little put-off. We got back to our drinks and enjoyed the sunset. Two minutes later, the guy pulled out a ring for his partner. It was a large diamond. She was excited, and he had a sufficiently smug, self-satisfied look on his face.
She went to hand it back to him. Then disaster struck. When he grabbed it, he fumbled. It fell to the deck, rolled an inch or two, and then promptly disappeared, falling between two slats of the deck.
I felt bad for the woman. The guy’s face went white and then immediately red. He was barely able to maintain his composure. It looked like he wanted to strike his lady friend. The dude looked over at us, and now we were looking straight at him.
We just smiled casually. He called a waiter over and started discretely explaining what had happened. He wanted someone to pull up the deck slats. However, that was NOT going to happen. The waiter was cool as ice.
Despite the guy raging at this point, the waiter flatly told him something to the effect of, “Look, man, you can come back tomorrow and talk to the manager, or pay your bill and leave now.” The guy sat down. His lady friend was visibly shaken.
While enjoying our drinks and the sunset, my friend and I remarked about how karma, while certainly inspiring, is almost magical when it’s instant.
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