utterly baffling encounter at the supermarket today
we’re behind a random guy with tattoos (cool). While he’s packing his purchased goods into a bag, the cashier gestures to some non-latin writing on his arm and says ‘is that arabic?’. Valid question. I don’t get a glance at it but it probably looks like arabic if you don’t know what it is. ‘No, elvish. From lord of the rings’ he says. Cool! Nerd spotted in the wild. He elaborates that he has his son’s name in elvish on his leg and his daughter’s in viking runes with a raven, because she has a nordic name. All very cool, family guy. I’m eavesdropping like hell but they are discussing this in a supermarket so it’s not exactly secret. Cashier gears up to respond when the man pauses. She’s continuing the conversation, good for her.
‘so you like star wars, then?’
Tte background music (metaphorically) cuts. He blinks. i blink. Everybody in the shop blinks. Everybody in the world blinks. The whole world spends a second unobserved and during that second what happens will remain unknowable.
‘yeah, i guess,’ he takes it like a champ, ‘prefer lord of the rings, though’
10/10 response. Well done. No dignity lost, stranger.
the conversation continues. She admits she’s never read it. He jokes that she’s missing out. Life goes on.
i remain, standing. Baffled. I paid more attention than that the time my seven year old cousin tried to explain wax crayons to me. I know what wax crayons are, and have done since i was seven myself. (Unlike miss i’ve never seen lord of the rings). I did not ask if she liked acrylic paint or if she liked pencil sketches or if she liked sculpture, because i am capable of listening. I should be calmer about this one error a random person made. I am not. How do you fuck up that bad?
