Tsehay uttered what I suspected was a curse word in Amharic as we both turned our heads, looking to where Sam was seemingly having an argument with two men who had been in the middle of their meal.

“What the fuck?” was all I could say. I leaned to take a closer look as Elias rushed over. When I finally realized who the man was, I groaned, hoping this didn’t end up a complete disaster. When I turned my head to look at Tsehay, I saw she was also watching the unfolding scene with a horrified expression.

“Please tell me Sam didn’t interrupt Mr. Dawit’s lunch to pick a fight,” I said, doing my best to keep my voice down.

Tsehay sighed as she got up. I stood as well, deciding they might need reinforcements. There would have to be some damage control, that I was certain of. This man oversaw all the supplements and food delivery the clinics got. It was not a relationship we could afford to lose.

What was Sam thinking?

“Sam, what are you doing?” I was almost proud of myself for managing to get that out without a string of expletives.

Meanwhile, I noticed Elias quietly speaking with the other gentleman at the table as Mr. Dawit sat there, a bite of his lunch still in one of his hands. He looked annoyed and completely put off by Sam’s presence.

“What do you mean, what am I doing?” the asshat in question asked me, his hands crossed over his chest. “I was just following up about the clinic. I wanted a straight answer about who oversees the distribution of supplements on the government end.”

And he thought interrupting the man while he was eating lunch and yelling at him in a crowded restaurant was the way to do that?

I looked over at Elias and Tsehay, who were now tag teaming the table, and got closer to Sam, figuring I’d heed Elias’s words and deal with the American while they cleaned up the mess Sam had made. “This is not how you approach these things. You’ve been doing this work long enough to know that being aggressive and overly direct is not the way to go. You’re being rude,” I said as quietly as I could. I was pretty sure both of the men at the table spoke English.

Thankfully, something of what I said must have landed, because Sam moved away from the table and stood with me to the side. I smiled and lifted a hand to the men at the table, and gestured for Sam to follow me to where our team was witnessing the whole sordid scene.

When we finally sat down, it seemed Sam had realized that he’d completely mishandled the situation. “I just need this guy to tell me when he’s going talk to us.”