One of Son-Three's high school friends works in the meat department at the local grocery store. I see him around the store often and he is unfailingly polite and we joke about how much he "loves" his job and how often I am at the store (between work and home, it is always at least once a day--sometimes twice or, ugh, more).
Yesterday, he was restocking the front cases from the big multi-shelved cart and saying that he was overdue for his break. I asked him if there were any "big packs" of ground chuck because it is twenty cents a pound cheaper than the smaller packs. He pointed me to the other end of the cases and I wandered down to look with no luck. He then offered to go check the back cooler, but I told him not to worry about it since he was trying to go on break--I would just take two of the smaller packs. We were going back and forth, with him insisting he would and me insisting it wasn't necessary and then he went toward the back room, but was momentarily detained by another customer, a woman about my age. (My age, by the way, is 43.) I couldn't hear what she asked him for, but there was some nodding and gesturing and then he continued into the back room.
When he came back out, he had two large packs of ground chuck, telling me they were the last two available. I took one and thanked him profusely.
He said, "You're very welcome. Now, do you know where that other old lady went? She wanted a pack, too."
The Art of Thriving ~Studio News4U
3 months ago
Ouch.
ReplyDeleteI'm 45. I feel your pain.
When he said it, I just sort of stood there for a second, processing it. A sign of that senility that comes with my advanced age, I suppose.
DeleteHaha! I couldn't figure out what you were getting at. I kept re-reading the last paragraph..."What is she getting at?"
ReplyDeleteBut I see it now.
So what I'm putting together from my over-look is that the term "old-lady" has become so ingrained into my current vocabulary I no longer see it as something that's outstanding. So what does that mean?
Awesome is what that means.
;)
DeleteI laughed uproariously also, and I will hit 60 in September. I'm laughing because I never thought I'd make it to sixty. It's all gravy. Old at 43? Only from the perspective of a high school-aged kid.
ReplyDeleteWith all the creaking and groaning and stretching (or failing to do so) that goes on at my house some mornings, I definitely wonder how old I am some days.
DeleteI have a daughter who is going to be 40 this year. I believe that qualifies me as an old lady, but certainly not my daughter.
ReplyDeleteAs JT said, perspective is the key. :)
DeleteSuch a funny story! I remember when my parents were 44 (and I was 11). I thought they were so old. Perspective, heh? That's the key to so much. Thanks for recounting the incident and giving us old fogies a good chuckle.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! It gave me quite a chuckle as well.
DeleteOuch. Could be worse though- when my little brother was in kindergarden and our father would go to the school to pick him up, the kids would all say "Scott, your grandpa is here!"
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of when my Pap was in the hospital and the nurses all thought my Nan (his wife) was his mother. We chalked it up to the fact that his salt-n-pepper hair was more pepper than salt while her hair was not just gray but completely white.
Delete