I'm Beat-The Party, Part 4- A Snafu Becomes a Blessing in Disguise

I had reserved a private room at a local restaurant back in February for a sit-down dinner on Saturday night (May 15th) for 30 or so friends. I was faxed four or five menus to choose from or at least get an idea what was available. I decided on the Tuesday before to touch base and confirm the room. I called my contact, a manager and was answered curtly, "you never sent in your contract or followed up." I told her I had never gotten a contract. The not "following up" was correct, but I didn't realize that I had to. I asked if the room was still available and was told politely but firmly that it wasn't. My usual reaction to things like this is to "go off," but something told me that would not be good in the long run. First, I love this restaurant and I wanted to be able to go back there to eat. Second, this is a small town and being a complete ass to the locals is not wise. Third, I felt a good bit responsible for not making sure the deal was actually closed. Fourth, I didn't have time to chew someone's ass, I had to regroup quickly. I made a couple of calls to other places but they all wanted like $4,000.00 up to cover the room and the food and the booze. I love my friends, but damn.
Jane had been urging me to get the Friday night thing catered by Roland's Bar-B-Q instead of doing a bunch of grilling and cooking but my mind was set on burgers on the new Char-Broil, plus I had bought all the meat and stuff. So why not Roland's on Saturday. I went by and talked to Roland (another benefit of living in a small town is that you know everyone) and can get things done in a blink. I settled on a 60 pound suckling pig, 50 pieces of chicken breasts and a gallon of slaw. All I had to do was pick up the pig-cooker, hitch it to the car, tow it to the house, push it into the back yard and fire it up-the pig was already fully cooked at Roland's while the boardwalk party was going on. The more I thought about this, the more it beat the hell out of sitting in a restaurant at a table-everyone could talk to everybody else and stay as late as possible. Disaster avoided-blessing in disguise.