Breakfast Meeting Brouhaha

Earlier this year I joined Rotary and became a Member of the Park Cities Rotary Club here in Dallas. Part of the commitment as a new Member is perfect attendance for your first three months. My club meets on Fridays for lunch at 12:00 at the Maggiano's Italian restaurant at North Park mall. It is a wonderful venue and a very welcoming group. I have had to miss a couple of meetings over the past month and in order to keep my attendance up to snuff, I have been attending other clubs in the area as make ups. There are 18 Rotary Clubs in the Dallas area so I have a few choices, but there is one that meets in the Park Cities Club restaurant on the floor above my office in Preston Center. So this morning at 7:15am I went up to this club and signed in as a guest. I mulled around for a little bit looking for some direction or idea as to what came next. I saw people beginning to head for the breakfast buffet and fell in line to join them.
A rather round little woman came up behind me and pulled me out of line like I was in 2nd grade. She asked if I was a visiting Rotarian to which I responded that I was. At this point I thought she might welcome me to their club and then ask me to sit with her or maybe introduce me to some others in the group. Wrong.
She said she saw that I was planning on having breakfast (I figured that would be standard protocol for a BREAKFAST meeting) and then she held out her hand and said that she need $15. I told her that I had looked for a place to pay...and she cut me off and began to tell me that they had to pay for my parking and for my coffee and for me just being there so she needed me to pay here now. I pulled out my wallet only to realize I didn't have cash and that I had used my last check for a parking garage last week ($1, tell me that is not annoying) So I asked if they took Visa. (My club takes Visa, Master Card and American Express) Apparently at this point she thought that I was mocking her and after making a loud noise similar to that of an agitated primate, she told me absolutely not and inquired why on earth a Rotary Club would take credit cards. I told her I would be right back if she would give me a moment and left with a smile.
I went down to my office one floor below and got a check and went back up stairs and paid the wiry red hair CPA working the visitor table when I returned. I got into the buffet line and heard the funniest thing. My little round friend was two people ahead of me rehashing the story of "a young man from some other rotary club just waltzing in here thinking he could eat for free and that we should take credit cards. Have you ever heard of a club that takes credit cards. Anyway, I told him straight and he said he was going to go down to his car and get some money, but I bet we will never see him again." She went on for a few moments more before finishing her last sentence and looked for a nodding sign of approval from the quiet dentist that she seemed to think would be interested in her tales of conquest. I quietly smiled and placed two pieces of pineapple on my plate. When she had finished loading up her plate with as much bacon and powdered eggs as she could fit, she made her way back down the line and saw me standing there. I smiled and let her know that I had paid the CPA and that I was looking forward to joining them for the rest of the meeting.
At that point my little round friend became my very red little round friend and didn't say another thing to me the rest of the meeting.