Simply listening

At La Grolla, a restaurant on Selby Avenue in St. Paul, we sat next to a group of four men, all of them wearing shirts emblazoned with business logos. It was clear someone, if not all of them, was on an expense account.

One guy said, "What's the best meal you ever had?" They shouted out cities and restaurants and entrees and pricey bottles of wine. They laughed loud and talked more about it, until they were ready to give their order to the young waiter. Then they talked about the Chicago City Council voting on the minimum wage proposal.

That same guy, who seemed to be the host of the group, said: "They voted for that so-called living wage. So Wal-Mart built a big beautiful store just outside the city limits. I mean, JUST outside the city limits. So they lost the store and the tax base that went with it. And you know, it'll happen again in a heartbeat. The problem with people of the liberal persuasion is they simply don't know human behavior. They simply don't know it."

They all looked down and shook their heads, and then the young waiter set down their four red wine glasses, one by one, around the crowded table.

The guy said, " You're all getting BAGS. BAGS. You know, Big Ass Glasses."

They all looked up and laughed and shook their heads with delight.