新郎の憂鬱[Groom’s Melancholy]

投稿者: | 2022-05-05

 私が20代前半に結婚式場で働いていたときの話。式場と言っても披露宴を行う宴会場が主な仕事場だった。私はお客様にフランス料理がメインの食事を提供するウェイターの中の一人。一番大きな部屋で150人が着席して披露宴ができ、一日に同じ部屋で2組が披露宴を行うシステムになっていた。俗にいう「2回転」。大体ご昼に一回、夕方に一回という感じで、食事の時間に合わせて予定が組まれている。
 1回目と2回目の時間があまりとれていない時は、とても大変だった。お客様の前では蝶ネクタイをして、気取った感じでフランス料理を給仕するのだが、いざ1回目のお客さんが退室するとタキシードを脱ぎ捨て、シャツの一番上のボタンを外し、怒涛の力仕事が始まる。150人分の食器とグラスや食べ残し飲み残しを片付け、テーブルと椅子を移動して組み直し、2回目の150人分のテーブルセットを整える。引き出物の準備も忘れてはならない。私は当時この仕事を他人に説明する時、「タキシードを着ての土方仕事」と表現していた。客前での仕事と“裏仕事”のギャップが本当に激しくて、慣れると楽しくなれる人もいるだろうが、今考えても本当に大変な仕事だと思う。たまにホテル等で宴会があると、今でもどうしてもウェイターの動きが気になってしまう。

 ある日の日曜日、いつものように昼と晩で2組の披露宴が組まれていた。本当に偶然だったのだが、結果から言うと、その日の2組とも新郎の頭が禿げていた。その頃私もすでに禿げ始めていて、同僚からバカにされて悩んだりしていて、ん~何と言うか、複雑な気持ちで新郎の頭を見ながら給仕していた。結婚するような若い年齢だから、披露宴の場で新郎が禿げているということはあまりないわけで、偶然この日に同じ結婚式場で二人が重なったのは不思議な縁のように感じた。恐らく新郎本人同士は会っていないと思う。

 面白いな~と思ったのは、その二組の披露宴の雰囲気がそれぞれ全く異なったものだったこと。新郎が禿げているという共通点がありながら、1回目の方は、簡単に言うと新郎が友人や親戚から茶化されている感じで、騒々しい雰囲気。「禿げてるくせに、よくあんな綺麗な嫁さん、捕まえられたな~!?」とみんなから野次られている感じ。新郎はたくさん酒を飲まされて顔を真っ赤にしながら、「いやぁ、まいったな~」といった具合に笑顔で恐縮しているような様子だった。「禿げ」を肴にみんなで飲み騒ぐといった印象で、それはそれでありかなと思う。禿げ的にはその方が気楽かな。
 2組目はというと、今度は全く反対に来客の皆さんが新郎を尊敬しているような様子で、全体的に落ち着きがあり、スピーチなどにも多くの人が耳をしっかり傾けているような雰囲気だった。禿げの「は」の字も出てこない。優しい笑顔で皆さんが「良かったね、おめでとう」と心から祝福している感じがした。他人の私から見ても、心が温まるとても良い披露宴だったと思う。

 「同じ『禿げ』でもこんなにも扱われ方が違うのか」と、正直思った。1回目と2回目がもし逆の順番で行われていたら、またそれぞれに対する私の印象が違っていたかもしれないとも思う。そこも不思議な巡り合わせを感じる。
 今日のこのネタから教訓めいた内容で締めくくるつもりはない。ただ、人生って、人って、様々だなと、そう感じた出来事だった。

 何故か、今でもよく憶えているんだよね~

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Groom’s Melancholy

 When I was in my early twenties, I worked at a wedding hall. Although it was a wedding hall, the banquet hall where the reception was held was my main place of work. I was one of the waiters who served the guests, mainly French food. The largest room could seat 150 people for a wedding reception, and the system was designed to have two wedding parties in the same room in one day. In layman’s terms, this is a “two-turn” system. The schedule is usually arranged according to the time of the meal, once at noon and once in the evening.
 It was very difficult when there was not much time between the first and second rounds. I would wear a bow tie in front of the guests and serve them French food in a very pretentious manner, but when the first guest left the room, I would take off my tuxedo, unbutton the top button of my shirt, and the hard work began: cleaning up dishes and glasses and leftover food and drink for 150 people, moving tables and chairs, reassembling them, and then set the table for the second 150 people. Not to forget the preparation of the gifts. When describing this job to others at the time, I used to describe it as “laborer-work in a tuxedo. The gap between the work in front of guests and the “behind-the-scenes” work is very intense, and although some people may enjoy it once they get used to it, I still think it is a very hard job. Sometimes, when there is a banquet at a hotel, I am still concerned about the movements of the waiters.

 One Sunday, as usual, there were two wedding receptions, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. It was really a coincidence, but as it turned out, both sets of grooms that day had bald heads. At the time, I had already started to go bald myself, and I’ve been suffering from being ridiculed by my colleagues. Hmmm…what can I say, I was serving them with mixed feelings, looking at his head. Since the groom was young enough to be getting married, it was not very common for the groom to be bald at a wedding reception, and it seemed like a strange coincidence that the two of them happened to be at the same wedding hall on the same day. Perhaps the groomsmen themselves had not met each other.

 What I found interesting was that the atmosphere of the two wedding parties was completely different from each other. Despite the commonality of the groom being bald, the first one had a boisterous atmosphere, simply put, with the groom being teased by his friends and relatives. How did you manage to get such a beautiful bride, even though you are bald!” he was being jeered at by everyone. The groom was red-faced after being given a lot of alcohol, and seemed to be smiling and apologizing. I got the impression that they were all drinking and making a lot of noise with “baldness” as a side dish, which I thought was quite appropriate. For a bald person like me, I think it is easier that way.
 As for the second couple, this time, on the contrary, all the guests seemed to respect the groom, and the overall atmosphere was calm, with many people listening attentively to the speeches and so on. There was not even a “b” in baldness. I got the feeling that everyone was sincerely congratulating him with a kind smile and saying, “Good for you, congratulations. Even from my point of view as a stranger, it was a very nice and heartwarming reception.

 If the first and second receptions had been held in reverse order, my impression of each might have been different. I feel that this is also a strange coincidence.
 I do not intend to conclude today’s discussion with a moralistic statement. It was just an event that made me realize that life, and people, are so varied.

 For some reason, I still remember it well.

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