Thursday night at the Casino and I'm seated between a couple of older middle-aged gents. One is off taking a break. And the other wants to get another cushion for their butt. He already has one but desires another. He notices that the gent who is taking a break has two cushions and decides to purloin one.
When the gent to my right returns he immediately notices a cushion is missing. And almost simultaneously notices the gent to my left has two cushions. He asks the gent to my left if he is responsible for the cushion missing and the gent to the left admits he took it. The gent to the right is a little upset and gives the gent to the right a bit of a serve and admonishes him for being a thief.
... Several minutes pass.... Then the gent to my left starts staring across me to the gent to my right.... The gent to my right gets upset and, in an agitated state demands the dealer calls the floor. Unfortunately this is happening while I am in quite a big hand. I have two older middle-aged gents acting like three year olds on either side of me while I am trying to make a decision in a fairly big hand....Not the best environment for calm, considered decision making. And while I made a poor decision, and may well have made that decision without the commotion going on either side of me, I was a little put out by the lack of consideration by both parties.
About 90 minutes pass. The gent to my left has moved on. At this point I decide the gent to my right has calmed down enough for me to bring up his breach of poker etiquette. While he had been embroiled in the wrongs he perceived the gent to my left had been inflicting on him, he had himself broken a rule of poker etiquette. That is, don't talk across a player who is in a hand. This is even more of a no-no when that player has a big decision to make. I gently brought this to his attention and, to his credit, he was immediately apologetic. But the learning for me was that I should avoid being placed between three year olds who are inhabiting bodies that appear to be fourty-five years and older...
Update March 3rd: Well, it came to pass that last night I sat at the same table again as the Gent on my left in the story above. To my surprise, as the story does not reflect well on him, he started chatting to me about the scenario. I was even further surprised when I suggested he and the other guy had been acting like rather large 3 year olds. And that I hadn't been impressed with their squabble going on at the table while I was in a big hand. Water. Duck's back. No impact.
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