THE HIBACHI INCIDENT

At a packed hibachi table, a tired woman got laughed at by the chef and a group of strangers, then her husband told her she was "ruining dinner" for getting up in tears.

The poster is a 52-year-old married woman whose 49-year-old husband has been out of work. She says she makes enough to keep them going, but that Friday had already left her scraped raw.

Work had been brutal. She'd spent the week getting blamed for something her predecessor had done, and even after it was straightened out, she was buried in meetings, calls, and emails. By nightfall, she was exhausted and wanted nothing more than a quiet evening at home.

Her husband had other plans. He wanted hibachi at his favorite place. She didn't want to go, but he kept pushing, telling her, "all you have to do is sit there and eat." She gave in.

The restaurant was loud and crowded, and because they were only two people, they were seated quickly with a boisterous group of six. Then the chef came out and started checking on her. "yes, I'm fine, thank you," she said. A moment later: "yep, I'm good."

He kept at it anyway. "you don't look like you feel good," he said. Then he teased her again: "are you mad?" And after that, leaning into it even more, "are you suuuuure you're not mad... are you mad at meeeee?"

At that point, one woman in the group chimed in: "oh, don't worry about her, she's just..." The poster never heard the rest. A burst of noise cut it off.

What she did hear was the laughter. The chef laughed. The group laughed. They all looked at her. She turned red, teared up, and sat there mortified.

She told her husband to box up her food because she would wait in the car.

As she stood up, he hissed at her to sit down and stop making a scene.

"I'm not going to sit here and be made fun of," she said.

"Nobody's making fun of you! Just eat your dinner," he shot back.

She stayed, but the table had changed. The mood went flat. The chatter turned into hushed voices and gestures. Everyone eventually packed up their food to go and left.

In the car, her husband told her she had ruined dinner.

She kept asking what the woman had said after, "don't worry about her, she's just..." At first he said, "it was nothing," and "it wasn't anything to get mad about." When she pressed him again, he admitted he hadn't heard the rest either.

Even so, he said it didn't matter, and that she had still ruined dinner for the whole table. She says she replied, "I have to take care of myself first before I can take care of others."