Expectations...

Sitting in Dennys waiting for my eggs over easy with wheat toast and a side of hash browns, as one does, the following vignette played out...
Little old lady, probably late 70s, polyester shellsuit, glasses on a string and shuffling, was met by Alex the fiercely efficient waitress.
"Can i get you a coffee?"
"Er..well..."
"OK, you got it, i'll bring it right over, you sit down..." and she is off
"Actually i dont drink coffee..." but Alex is gone.
Less than a heartbeat later she returns with a mug of steaming Joe and places it in front of our little lady, who meekly smiles and says thanks.
A minute later and Alex is back, forcing the poor woman to choose, and almost scared she bleats "Sourdough bagel" and Alex is gone again with the menus and the woman looking forlornly into the coffee, another victim of the average American's terror of offending a waitress (by, say, tipping less than 20% at self service buffets).
And then this little old lady reaches into her pocket and pulls out an I-phone, starts scrolling away at the screen, takes out her little ear phones, plugs them in, and is lost in what one can only imagine is a world of Michael Buble or James Last...