Me: Standing in line to buy a book at Barnes and Noble
Unknown High School/College Student to Salesperson:
Like. Yeah. I have to get this book called I think Old Man and the Sea (intoned as a question) and I don't know where to find it. I'm not sure if it's fiction or nonfiction. (I was impressed she even knew the difference--this would lead me to believe that she probably is indeed a college student at a local college. Community. Very local.)I think it's like Hemingway or something. (She shook her head and rolled her eyes like how could her teacher/professor possibly expect her to find such an obscure book at a bookstore of all places.)
Salesperson:
Hmmm . . . Let me check the computer for you (she actually had to think about this??)
Me: (silently)
Like Hemingway or something! What the hell . . . Okay, be nice. BE NICE. And wow it's like some crazy author--no one has heard of him. Like whoa. He's so rare. Wow, like I had better check the computer because there is a strong possibility that Barnes and Noble may not carry this book. I mean, it's so rare and all.
Me:
I know I know--I'm a teacher. Like yeah!! And gawd I should understand the plight of our youth today, seeing that they were brought up and raised by TVs instead of people. And it's my job to rub the grit of ignorance out of their eyes, right?? Like yeah! But jaysus there are days I want to beat my head against a very hard door and wonder if, for example, that Old Man and the Sea, which is not the best of Hemingway, will be the only book this poor brain-frittered mind of a girl will ever read in her life and that my friends is the saddest tale of all.
.JPG)
