The customer claimed she'd been overcharged a nickel a bag and the drugstore cashier claimed she'd misread the flyer. Things were heating up by the time I reached the counter and I was regretting thinking I could dash in and out to get an emergency print made. I never use the drugstore for photo printing - not to be immodest but I have too much respect for my own work - but this day I needed a temporary print and I needed it in a hurry. I didn't count on the price of peanuts. The cashier fumed and fussed but finally relented and grudgingly handed the customer a $.30 refund before turning to me and muttering hep ya which I interpreted as an abbreviated version of May I help you.
I need you to make me an 8X12 print, please, I said and tried to hand over a dvd, I'll pick it up after five.
You can use the machine, she responded and waved an indifferent hand in the general direction of the self service kiosk.
I don't have time, I said apologetically, Could you please just make the print for me?
She glared. She smacked her gum. She considered.
It don't take long, she finally said.
I'm sure it doesn't, I said slowly, but I don't have time.
Unbelievably, she snatched the dvd from my still outstretched hand, stalked to the kiosk and jammed it in the slot.
Follow the directions, she muttered.
And that was when the internal censor in my head stepped aside for the old woman who wears purple and whispered "Enough".
With a calm I didn't feel and wasn't at all sure I could maintain, I walked to the kiosk and pushed the eject button and then walked back to the counter.
Do you have a manager? I asked.
The glare. The gum. The considering.
Yeah, she finally said, Why?
Because, I said, I want to talk to someone who actually understands English. She scowled but by that point we were attracting attention and I discovered I didn't give a damn. When I tell you I don't have time, I said deliberately, It. Means I. Don't. Have. Time. Your job is to say that you'll be happy to do it for me, not argue about it. So get me someone who understands the language and has some manners.
The old woman who wears purple and doesn't stop to think before she speaks has taken up residence inside my head. I might be silenced by tact and fear of confrontation but having lived too long in an uncivil world, she will not be.
Bless her heart.
Yeah, she finally said, Why?
Because, I said, I want to talk to someone who actually understands English. She scowled but by that point we were attracting attention and I discovered I didn't give a damn. When I tell you I don't have time, I said deliberately, It. Means I. Don't. Have. Time. Your job is to say that you'll be happy to do it for me, not argue about it. So get me someone who understands the language and has some manners.
The old woman who wears purple and doesn't stop to think before she speaks has taken up residence inside my head. I might be silenced by tact and fear of confrontation but having lived too long in an uncivil world, she will not be.
Bless her heart.
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