I’m Chihiro, and I’m raising my five-year-old daughter, Shizuka. Today, we went to a family restaurant with Kasumi and her daughter, Mao (also five), who is in the same class as Shizuka. I was shocked when Mao left half of her kid’s meal and Kasumi just calmly let her finish. To me, that is unacceptable. When Shizuka asked in surprise, “She’s being a bad girl, right?” I told her flat out, “Yeah, only bad girls leave food behind.” It turns out Kasumi is exactly the kind of person I despise most—the type who thinks nothing of wasting a meal.
Since my husband was coming home late that day, I was planning to grab dinner with Shizuka before heading back. It turned out Mao’s family was in the same boat. Since the girls were getting along so well, I thought that if Kasumi reflected on her behavior and changed her ways, I might be willing to keep being friends with her. I decided to give her one last chance and invited them to join us. But Kasumi’s response was a total shock—she turned me down! She just flashed a smile and said, “Since our values are so different, eating together would just be stressful for both of us,” and then she just walked away. I could understand if I was the one cutting her off, but why am I the one getting rejected!? I was left standing there, absolutely speechless.