Restaurant with a psychopath

[Carl-Richard]

We were a group of about a dozen people. The person had booked the table. We arrived half an hour before the booking. The waiter said "sorry, you have to wait". The person then asked "can we sit in the bar in the meantime?". The waiter said "no". So we walked around in the city while waiting. The person expressed disappointment and controlled anger, "I've never ever experienced this; I say we just go another place now, if that's how it's going to be". The others did not want that, so we went to that restaurant. We also waited a bit extra, and the waiter told us why he had denied us a table, that other people had stayed for long and were told to leave but they were slow.

We order our food, then a different waiter serves drinks, the wine drinkers including the person have Prosecco (sparkling wine). Then, after everything is served, the person asks the waiter: "I want to taste the white wine. Can we do that?". The most chilling and ominous vibe spreads across the table. The waiter paused for about a second, then said with an almost timid or terrified voice "yes, yes, the white wine.. I can bring it to the table... yes?". The person: "yes, thank you". It was clear that some seething, boiling rage, was subtly spilling out between the words of the person, but the tone, the voice, was controlled, only a subtle hint of anger.

The person tasted the white wine, then asked if the other wine drinkers wanted to taste and tell them if they wanted it. The second wine drinker said "I think it's too dry". Then the rest of the wine drinkers concluded "no thanks, no white wine". The person laughed as the waiter left with the now opened and barely used wine bottle. At some point, the person also asked the waiter "can we get it by the glass?" (meaning they can pay for only each glass and not a full bottle). The waiter said "five wine drinkers means five glasses which is a wine bottle so that would not be possible". The person said "alright alright".

At this point, I had tuned completely out of the conversation. I usually speak more than most in that group; after that point, I didn't speak but when people asked me why I was silent, dropping hints about what the hell was going in in front of their eyes and which they were repressing to not stir the pot too much.

So what was happening was that because a waiter in the restaurant had "slighted him" by having him wait outside the restaurant because he came half an hour too early, he had planned to harass the waiters with wine tasting theatrics where his goal was to be as unpleasant and demanding of a customer as possible, and when it did go that way (the wine drinkers turned down the white wine), he laughed.

This is psychopathy because it's not just impulsive anti-social behavior. It's cold, calculated anti-social behavior. Behavior where you plan, behavior where you know better, behavior where you choose to go down one path over another, repeatedly, incessantly, without changing, until you are satisfied.

Edited 1 hour ago by Carl-Richard