Dining Morals

I love moral and ethical debates.  I love them even more when they're about mostly "fluffy" topics far away from the weight of religion, politics, child rearing, and such.  I also really loved the biomedical ethics class I took in undergrad, but that's fodder for another post.

So here is a scenario that may or may not have recently happened to someone that may or may not be me, despite the fact that I'll write in first person.  We had fun debating our own morals over the dinner table.

We headed out to a popular chain restaurant for an early dinner, figuring we would beat the dinner rush if we arrived before 5.  Instead, we were greeted with a 90 minute wait.  We put our name on the list and took a buzzer to at least hold our spot while debating whether our stomachs or patience could handle an hour-plus wait.  We were leaning toward leaving and finding another place.

While deciding, we were approached by a young man.  He said he and his date had arrived about an hour earlier but were going to be late for an event if they didn't leave asap- did we want their buzzer?  There would be a table for two ready under his name very shortly if we'd like it.  We didn't hesitate and thanked him profusely (and gave him our buzzer to tell the hostess she could take "us" off the list).

I did a little happy dance under the fake tree in the corner while hubs tried not to smile too big.  Then we wondered if it was a poor moral choice?  Was it line cutting?  Or just line.... replacing?  After all, we didn't have make the line any longer.  Impersonating another person with their permission?  I had a lot of fun with that last one.

And we had done appetizers, dinner, and dessert in a leisurely manner, paid the bill, and were heading out the door a good 20 minutes before we would had even been seated otherwise.

"Tsk tsk" or no big deal?