Culture Clash, again
One of the hardest things for me to get used to, a Kansas/Illinois girl living in Wisconsin, has always been the clash of cultures. I've commented on this before many times, but I have a fresh example of that which sends me into confusion.Remember me posting on my wonderful baby shower? Well, I have recently learned that something more about that day.
Some of the guests, it seems, didn't quite understand the theme or the notion of a guest of honor. Apparently, they kept wanting to know where the liquor was. Nevermind the fact that this event was billed as a Tea Party. Nevermind the fact that it took place at 1:30 in the afternoon. Nevermind the fact that the guest of honor, 7 months pregnant, couldn't imbibe. The guests still expected adult liquid refreshment.
Beer, booze, who knows?
They even went to secretive lengths to acquire said beverages. Perhaps if they knew the correct password or secret handshake they could gain entry to the big wine cooler in the sky.
This vexes me. This vexes me mightily. First of all, it was a freakin' Tea Party. Now, I realize that "tea party" is sometimes a euphemism for women drinking liquor on the sly, but that would have meant quotes around tea party on the invites, am I right? I mean, the Boston Tea Party was little more than organized patriotic vandalism, but they didn't come expecting to ransack my neighborhood, now did they?
Who throws a baby shower with booze? Tell me! Who?
Why in blue blazes would you have a beverage at a party knowing that the Guest of Freakin' Honor could not partake? This, to me, is wholly rude! It would be the equivalent of offering up a dinner and serving steak tartar as an appetizer at a do to honor a lifetime vegetarian. It is crass and rude. It isn't as though beverages other than tea weren't offered. They were. However, they were equally unalcoholic.
Furthermore, what is this business? I mean, it is one thing to get tanked at a football bash or a strip club, but were are talking about a wholesome baby shower here. I suppose we should have had shot glasses printed with little storks, or something. Tequila shooters all around, and buttery nipples for the Grandmas in the crowd?
Bah! See, this is what I mean. I fear that I shall never really fit in here in Wisconsin. I don't think beer and liquor is appropriate for a baby shower. I also don't think you should have a stripper at a baby shower. (To be fair, nobody as far as I know asked when the 'entertainment' would be arriving.) These are things that belong to a different sort of festivity.
But then again, I wasn't weaned on Miller High Life, so perhaps I can't really say.
Still. I think it was rude of them to badger the hostess about where she was hiding the booze.
