I Am Not Now, Nor Have I Ever Been, Interested in Exchanging Pleasantries

-

I found myself at the grocery the other day—I know, shocking. I had no grand scheme in mind, I was out of fabric softener, and the all natural brand that I use—which you can only get at a particular type of store—was all I had on my mind. I walked in, with a moderate amount of duty in my stride, and went straight to the cleaning aisle. Fabric softener in hand, I did a quick tour of the facilities, looking at the sales items, snagging a bite of cheese from the sample trays, and ogling the organic halloween candy on display.

I began a debate with myself as if I should actually buy the bag of individually wrapped organic dark chocolate peanut butter cups. They looked fantastic. My heart said yes, my brain said no. “They're organic! Dark Chocolate! That's good for you!” my heart said. My brain gently reminded me “Uh, yeah, didn't you just fill a bowl full of mini peppermint patties and place them on your desk?” The week in question was a stress filled one, and I came to the conclusion that I deserved some peanut butter cups.

Cups and softener at my side, I went to the check out lanes. Upon reaching the check out section of the store, I noticed a familiar face behind one of the registers. A young lady that I used to spent a great deal of time with about eight years or so ago. Every lane, except her lane, was a little crowded. I like to think that I'm a jolly old soul who does make a modicum amount of effort to keep things civil with the various women that I've encountered over these years, so I made my way towards her lane.

I was midway in my approach when she glanced over and saw me. I was smiling, a smile that I thought indicated “I'm happy to see you, and hope to learn that you are doing well.” Yet as I got closer, and in what seemed to be the flash of a second, she produced a sign that said “Closed. Please use next available lane.” She was in the middle of checking out someone, and I was so surprised by it that I slightly stumbled as I stopped my body from moving towards her lane. She was icily staring ahead at the person she was checking out, and not once did she look again towards my direction.

My joyful mood quickly changed to one of slight bemusement. The rapid fire move on her part to keep from having to interact with me was something I had never encountered before. Sure, there are those on this planet that will go to all costs to avoid seeing me, or even being made aware of my presence, but the sudden reaction movement cause me to pause for a moment and ponder it. That short pause quickly gave way to my desire to be on my merry way, and I went to the lane that was open besides her.


 That particular check out person was more than happy to smile and engage in quick chatter while I bought my cups and softener. The funny thing is, you see, while I was at the “here's your receipt” portion of the transaction, she who denied my cups and softener, quickly motioned on someone to check out in her lane. Receipt in hand, I left the store, drove home, did the laundry, and ate a peanut butter cup.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Exploring The Archive

-
Image
You want to know something? It's an obscenely great time to be a classic movie fan. Especially if you're a young classic movie fan, something that I am, and something that it seems is growing in numbers every day. Young people—mostly 20 somethings—who are passionate about classic films, and realize that they are important, and must be shared with others. It's easy for us to take for granted how spoiled we are. We can access virtually any movie we want to. We can get a DVD, we can go to Netflix, we can rent it on iTunes, we can spend a day watching them on TCM. It's truly an embarrassment of riches. But what for those movies that have fallen through the cracks? Those obscure gems, cult classics, and forgotten favorites that never managed to hit home video in the days of VHS? There is a facet of hardcore movie lovers who want to own as much as possible. But home video is a business, and the mega chains aren't going to stock the odd titles that only hardc...
Read more

Red, White, and Blaine

-
Image
In 1996 Christopher Guest returned to the mockumentary genre with his look at regional theater “Waiting for Guffman.” Guest, most famously, being one-third of the fictional rock band Spinal Tap in the perhaps the best mockumentary ever made, “This is Spinal Tap.” “Guffman” also kicks off the cycle of Christopher Guest directed mockumentaries. The films all using the same group of actors, and all written by Guest with Eugene Levy, both of whom also act in the films. Guest’s films are largely improved by the actors, with the written material serving as an outline for the film’s story. “Guffman” takes place in the fictional town of Blaine, Missouri—a small town that is celebrating its 150th anniversary. Big dreamer and New York Transplant, Corky St. Clair (Guest) has created a musical celebration of the town called “Red, White, and Blaine.” The show within the show appears towards the end of the film, Guest teamed up with his "Spinal Tap” cohorts, Michael McKean & Harry S...
Read more

It's The Holiday Season

-
Image
Now don't get huffy at me, but let's face it. Once Halloween is over, it's the Holiday season. The stores have cleared away the spooks and spiders, and the snow and evergreen begins to make it's appearance. Everyone bemoans over the fact that they forget about Thanksgiving, but what do you want to do? Walk into Target and buy a plastic pilgrim? Thanksgiving is the holiday that you celebrate at the supermarket, while freaking out over the coming tidal wave of family and expectations. On the first of the month, I found myself out and about running errands. One department store I visited was already playing Christmas music, trees and glittery snowflakes up all over the place. With the Halloween paraphernalia all marked down to the lowest price. The only stores where you're not bonked over the head with Christmas, would be those food and kitchen specialty stores. They want you geeked up to cook a giant turkey dinner for the family, using their amazingly handy b...
Read more